The world champions did not make the right start. Charlie Querrie's Arenas outplayed the Canadiens for three-quarters of the game in the opening pro fixture at the Arena last night, but came out on the small end of a 4 to 3 score. The local squad were ahead for fifty-five minutes of the play. McDonald slammed in the tying goal here, and old Newsy Lalonde netted the winning tally a minute later. Canadiens then were unbeatable. Give the Frenchmen a goal lead and they are the hardest team in the game to score on. All six men dropped back, and the game was over.
The fans, about 2500 in number, were out to look over the new rules in vogue. The no-offside space in centre ice is the order this year, but the fans are still hazy about it. Both teams resorted to the old style of one and two-man rushes, and practically left the centre ice zone alone. The Canadiens used the forward pass in centre ice a couple of times, but the Arenas left it alone.
The Toronto team had condition on the visitors, and had a big margin in the play, but wasted a lot of useful energy by circling skating. Corbeau was making his first appearance on skates for the Frenchies, and Odie Cleghorn his second effort. Both tired easily, and the whole team showed that they need hard work to round them off. Torontos were a lot better.
The locals lost many chances in the opening round by not passing the puck and failing to bore in. It was a draggy round and the Canadiens made very little effort at effective offensive tactics. They left it to lone rushes. Torontos went down two and three at a time, but failed to utilize the chances by selfish play.
Holmes was the bright shining light for the locals. He played in midseason form and turned aside a dozen shots that looked dangerous. Vezina was the same old boy. The Torontos found him in front of nearly every effort. The Toronto forwards were brilliant in spots. Noble played a useful game and his checking was very effective. Meeking tore off some good rushes. Skinner, while lacking condition, was a bear at the checking. His shooting was away wide of the mark. Little Dennenay [sic] was the life of the squad. He was not used much, but put ginger into the contest every time he appeared on the ice. Crawford was effective on his short shifts. Rusty needs work to put him in shape. He only arrived from the west on Friday.
Cameron and Randall were the defence, and Cameron broke out with a few of his oldtime rushes. He tired, but played a strong game. Randall was a hard checker and rushed well.
McDonald was the best man for Kennedy. He played heady hockey thruout [sic], and got two goals in the final period. His work around the net was smooth, and he is sure of a regular job for the season. Pitre and Lalonde went in spurts, and Lalonde had his poke check working to perfection when back on the defence. The subs were not up to much.
The delayed penalty system was not given a chance. The old rule of a substitute is allowed for minor offences, and a man must commit a major foul for his team to be penalized by playing a man short. Nothing of a serious nature occurred last night.
There was no scoring in the opening period and the fans were not taken with the hockey provided. It was very ragged, with the players hogging the puck and the locals wasting many chances by charging in and letting the trailers skate around the net. The centre ice space was passed up and the players seemed to forget that they were allowed to make forward passes in this area. Cameron woke the fans up with a couple of rushes, and just missed the net by a narrow margin on one occasion. Holmes was turning back the Canadien forwards in nice style. Randall and Noble got together, and Noble was dead on with his shot, and just missed batting in the rebound. Cleghorn bored in from a rush and Holmes kicked out the puck with Cleghorn on top of him. It was a pretty piece of saving.
It livenened up in the second round. The Toronto outfit showed more team-play, and opened up two and three-man rushes that were pretty to watch. Canadiens were playing a strong defensive game, but the Toronto forwards showed some good stick-handling. Vezina did effective clearing. Skinner got the first goal when the period was less than two minutes old. He intercepted a pass and wiggled his way thru [sic] the enemy defence, beating Vezina from close quarters.
This score put some pep into the fixture, and the Canadiens tried hard to get a goal. Holmes turned aside their efforts. The Arenas were away again with a three-man rush, and Cameron got a goal from close in when he took a pass from Randall. Pitre got the next when he dribbled in one with a back-hand shot when inside the defence.
Cameron went down alone and netted the rubber with a beautiful shot from just outside the defence. Dennenay [sic] got into the fray and worked some good passing with Cameron, but could not get a goal. Cameron and Adams took a trip down and it ended up with Adams trying to bat in the puck and Vezina sitting on the disc just outside his net. The period ended with the Arenas ahead three to one.
The Toronto team had the better of the play for the opening part of the last round, but could not score. They combined well, but found Vezina a wizard in the net. After eight minutes of play McDonald put the Canadiens in the fight when he scored after getting a pass from Pitre. Again a series of end to end play resulted with the locals having just an edge of the argument. McDonald tied up the count by going down alone and showing a pretty article of stick-handling to work his way in close enough to get a goal.
The old hockey game was gone a minute later when Cleghorn secured just behind the Toronto net. He had two checkers, but managed to slip the puck across the goal mouth, and Lalonde came with a rush and slipped around the corner and put the puck past Holmes.
The Canadiens then played the safety game and trotted all the men back. The Arenas tried, but it was no use, and the game ended 4 to 3 for the visitors.
The teams:
| Arenas (3) - | Position. | Canadiens (4) - |
| Holmes | Goal | Vezina |
| Cameron | Defence | Corbeau |
| Randall | Defence | Hall |
| Noble | Centre | Lalonde |
| Skinner | Right | Pitre |
| Meeking | Left | McDonald |
The summary:
| The Summary | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| - First Period - | |||
| No score. | |||
| - Second Period - | |||
| 1. | Arenas | Skinner | 1.30 |
| 2. | Arenas | Cameron | 2.00 |
| 3. | Canadiens | Pitre | 1.00 |
| 4. | Arenas | Cameron | 2.30 |
| - Third Period - | |||
| 5. | Canadiens | McDonald | 8.00 |
| 6. | Canadiens | McDonald | 7.00 |
| 7. | Canadiens | Lalonde | 1.00 |
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