Inside the 1919 Stanley Cup Final The year a pandemic ended the NHL season

When Governor General of Canada Lord Stanley of Preston first awarded his namesake cup to the Montreal Hockey Club in 1893, it started the oldest tradition in North American sports. Since then, the Stanley Cup has Kyle Fuller Jersey been awarded to the champions of North Americanhockey every year, with just two exceptions: in 2005, when a lockout canceled the entire NHL season, andall the way back in1919. Now, the year 2020 is looking like it may become the third. that it was pausingthe 2019-2020 season indefinitely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. No one knows when, or if, the season will resumebut with le s than a month until the Stanley Cup playoffs were scheduled to start, it's safe to say things aregoing to be drastically affected. NHL and the coronavirus: While the situation in 2020 is unfortunate, it's not unprecedented. The 1918-19 season, one of the onlytwo without a Stanley Michael Ojemudia Jersey Cup champion, was also stricken by an epidemic. The difference is thatthe 1919season was canceledjust hours before the decisive game ofthe Stanley Cup Final. Thatseriesfeaturedthe Montreal Canadiens, who took down the Ottawa Senators in the NHL finals, squaring off against the Pacific Coast Hockey A sociation (PCHA) champions, the Seattle Metropolitans. Montreal's roster featured icons includingGeorges Vezina, Joe Hall and "Newsy" Lalonde, while Seattle's captain Bernie Morris was unable to take part after being arrested for draft dodging. The games took place at the Seattle Ice Arena beginning on March 19, 1919, with the rules alternating between PCHA and NHL regulationsevery other game. The rules back then were much different than they are today. For example, according to ,forward pa ses of the puck were still banned in the NHL at the time. MORE: Seattle dominated Montreal Rod Smith Jersey in Games 1 and 3 under PCHA rules, winning 7-0 and 7-2, respectively, while the Canadiens wonGame 2 by ascore of4-2. Game 4 ended in a 0-0 tie despite 20 minutes of overtime, before Montreal took Game 5 to tie upthe series at 2-2-1. That set the stage for a decisive Game 6to be played on April 1. Unfortunately, that game never happened. Just hours before it was scheduled to start, Game 6was canceled after five Montrealplayers fell ill with the Spanish Flu, sufferingfevers ranging from 101 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. At that point, North America was at the height of the Spanish Flu outbreak. The epidemic lasted almost three years from January 1918 to December1920, spreadingacro s the globewith devastating consequences.It infected500 million people,over 25 percent of the world's population at the time, and killed between 20-50 million. Montreal Saivion Smith Jersey coach George Kennedy offered to forfeit the cup to Seattle, but Metropolitanscoach Pete Muldoon refused to accept it given the circumstances. Just days later, the Canadiens' Joe Hall died at age 37 from pneumonia brought on by the flu;Hallwould be inducted into the HockeyHall of Fame in 1961. Kennedy also contracted the disease and never fully recovered, dying several years later. MORE: In the end, no winner was officially declared and nothing was engraved on the Stanley Cup. When the trophy was redesigned in 1948, an inscription was added reading "1919 / Montreal Canadiens / Seattle Metropolitans / Series Not Completed." Now, almost a hundred years to the day after one of the strangest and most tragic chapters Bobby Massie Jersey in NHL history occurred, hockey is on hold again. It remains to be seen what, if anything, will be inscribed on the Stanley Cup for 2020.