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Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) 1925-30
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The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets stopped playing after the US Amateur Hockey Association folded at the end of the 1924-25 season, James F. Callahan, a lawyer from Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, purchased the team. Callahan, who had the reputation as a frugile businessman, renamed the team the "Pittsburgh Pirates" after he cashed in favor from Barney Dreyfuss the owner of Pittsburgh's baseball team with the same name. There was another Pirates hockey team that played in Pittsburgh earlier than the NHL team, in 1907-08 in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League.
On November 7, 1925, the Pirates became the seventh team to join the NHL - playing in the NHL's American Division with the Boston Bruins and the New York Americans - and played their games of the 1925-26 season at the Duquesne Gardens in the  city's Oakland neighborhood.
The Pirates wore bright yellow wool jerseys with black trim stripes with a "P" on the front of their jerseys (LEFT). Callahan's brother was a policeman in the city and offered used emblems from police jackets to place on the uniform sleeves.
The Pirates set an NHL record in salaries by signing defenceman Lionel Conacher to a three-year deal worth $7,500 a year.
On Thanksgiving night the Pirates beat the Bruins, 2-1, in their first NHL game on November 26, 1925 at the Boston Hub Arena in Boston's Back Bay.
Goal judge Joseph Sheehy waved his goal flag to signal that defenseman and captain Lionel "L-Train" Conacher scored Pittsburgh's first-ever NHL goal. Conacher beat Boston goaltender Charles Stewart at the 17:50 mark of the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Pirates' left wing Harold Darragh notched Pittsburgh's first game-winning goal 9:20 into the third period.
Pittsburgh goaltender Roy "Shrimp" Worters stopped 26 of 27 shots to record the first win in franchise history.
On November 28, 1925 legendary Montreal Canadiens goaltender Georges Vezina played his last game against the Pirates and lost, 1-0. Vezina had started the game with severe chest pains and left the game during the first intermission with a high fever. He died four months later from tuberculosis.
The first NHL game played in Pittsburgh was on December 2, 1925 in which 8,200 fans paid $1.00 to see the 8:30 p.m. faceoff at The Gardens. The Pirates lost to the New York Americans in overtime, 2-1, and Conacher scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh at 9:15 of the second period.
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1925-26 Pirates Opening Night Lineup From left: Lionel Conacher, Herb Milks, Rodger Smith, Duke McCurry, Roy Worters, Harold Darragh and player/coach Odie Cleghorn.
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Odie Cleghorn was a player/coach and led the Pirates to an impressive record of 19 wins, 16 losses, and 1 tie in the first season.
Cleghorn, the Pirates' coach for the first four seasons, was the first NHL coach to change his players on the fly. He was also the first coach to use three set forward lines, which was a major change from the standard, which was to simply leave the best players out for as long as possible. The Pirates also set an NHL record in salaries by signing defenceman Lionel Conacher to a three-year deal worth $7,500 a year.
The Pirates would face the Montreal Maroons in a best-of-three, semi-final Stanley Cup playoff series and lost two straight games at the Duquesne Gardens. The Maroons would later win the Stanley Cup.
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In the second season, 1926-27, the Pirates missed the playoffs after finishing in fourth place.
On December 26, 1926 the Pirates and the New York Americans set an NHL record for most shots in one game.
The two teams combined for 141 shots  in a 3-1 New York win. Roy "Shrimp" Worters (RIGHT), who earned the nickname from his 5'3" stature, made 70 saves for the Pirates and Jake Forbes made 67 saves for the Americans. That is a record that still stands today.
In their third season, 1927-28, the Pirates had 19 wins, 17 losses, and 8 ties and made the playoffs, losing in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup winner New York Rangers in New York. That would turn out to be the last playoff game the Pirates would play.
The ownership change was no help to the franchise’s fortunes. The Pirates traded Worters to the New York Americans following a bitter salary dispute before the start of their fourth season, 1928-29. The franchise then went on to win only nine games and went scoreless in 18 games.
 On October 8, 1928 financial problems forced the original owner, Callahan, to sell the team to an ownership group which included Bill Dwyer with fight promoter and ex-lightweight boxing champion, Benny Leonard as his front man. (LEFT)
On March 25, 1929 Cleghorn left the team at season’s end and became a referee in the league.
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| Player/Coach Odie Cleghorn and Owner Benny Leonard ham for a publicity photograph |
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The Pirates switched to Frank Fredrickson to assume coaching duties in 1929-30 and switched to black and orange uniforms for their fifth – and final season. That season saw the Pirates achieve their worst win-loss record with 5 wins, 36 losses, and 3 ties in 44 games.
Things didn't improve financially either. With the stock market crash of 1929, followed by the Great Depression, the city's steel industry was hurting and the Pirates owners found themselves $400,000 in debt and in need to replace the aging Duquesne Gardens.
The Pirates had managed only 13 points and on October 18, 1930 at the NHL Governors meeting, Leonard moved the team across the Keystone State to become the Philadelphia Quakers for the franchise's last season in 1930-31.
13 players were transferred to the Philadelphia Quakers after Pittsburgh franchise relocated:
Cliff Barton, Harold Darragh, Herb Drury, Gord Fraser, Frank Fredrickson*, Jim Jarvis, Gerry Lowrey, Ren Manners, John McKinnon, Hib Milks, Joe Miller, Rodger Smith & Tex White
* = Fredrickson was released by Philadelphia two days later.
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Philadelphia Quakers (NHL) 1930-31
 The Quakers were absolutely dreadful; quite possibly the worst team in NHL history. They won only four of their 44 games in 1930-31; tying four more and losing 36. The only thing worse than their anemic offense, which scored a paltry 76 goals for the season, was their pourous defense and awful goaltending.
The Quakers gave up 184 goals, 44 more than the next worst team, the Ottawa Senators. To add insult to injury, a local minor league team, the Philadelphia Arrows (Canadian-American Hockey League), had higher attendance than the NHL Quakers. The team lost another $80,000 and was forced to cease operations after one season.
The ugliest incident involving the Quakers came on Christmas Day when police had to come onto the ice and break up a fight they were having with the Boston Bruins.
Cash strapped, the Quakers received permission from the NHL on September 26, 1931 to temporally cease operations as they sought a permanent arena in either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
The franchise had hoped that they would be able to return to the ice after just one season. However, they would have to sit out the next five seasons, as the economy was taking a toll on the entire league.
The Great Depression would devastate the NHL as 4 teams were forced to fold, leaving behind just 6 teams. The NHL would play with 6 teams for 25 years before deciding to expand. The expansion in 1967 brought Penguins to the NHL and the city of Pittsburgh and the orange and black uniformed Flyers to Philadelphia.
Ultimately, a new arena wasn’t built. After five years of inactivity, the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia franchise was formally cancelled on May 7, 1936.
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| Benny Leonard photographs courtesy of the Paul Christman collection. |
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" It's not Pittsburgh Hockey with out the .NET "
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