By: Camryn Meece | Follow me on Twitter / X @MeeceCamryn
By the early 1920s, the National Hockey League (NHL) had four teams on its roster: the Hamilton Tigers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto St. Patricks. All four were Canadian, and the league had yet to expand beyond the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In 1924, Charles Adams wanted to change that. The Boston grocery magnate believed hockey had a place in the United States, and he wanted to bring an NHL team across the border.
Adams became interested in hockey after attending the Stanley Cup Final between the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL) Calgary Tigers earlier that year. He saw an opportunity to bring the sport to Boston and quickly got to work. Adams officially paid the NHL $15,000 for the expansion franchise, making Boston the first American city to have an NHL team.
After months of persuading NHL President Frank Calder to approve the idea of an American team, Adams now had to figure out how to build one. He needed players, an arena, a coach, and a general manager. The first person Adams brought in was Art Ross. A native of Ontario, Ross was working at a sporting goods store in Montreal when Adams approached him about running the new franchise. Ross would serve as the Bruins’ first general manager and coach, giving him the responsibility of putting the new team together.
Ross had less than a month to put together the Bruins’ first roster. He turned to players from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) and the WCHL, searching for experienced players who could step into an NHL lineup immediately. Many of the players Ross signed were already in the later stages of their careers, but their experience gave the Bruins a group that could contribute immediately.
The roster he assembled was a mix of veterans and younger players. Players such as Smokey Harris, Carson Cooper, and Hec Fowler brought years of professional hockey experience, while younger players such as Fern Headley and George Redding were beginning their careers. Ross had to balance experience with younger talent as he filled out the roster before the Bruins’ first game.
Adams also needed a place for his new team to play. Boston Arena, which had opened in 1910, became the Bruins’ first home. Before the Bruins’ first NHL game, Ross scheduled an exhibition against the Saskatoon Sheiks of the WCHL on November 29.
The Sheiks were considered a strong professional team, giving Ross a chance to see how his new roster would hold up. Boston lost 2-1, but a near-capacity crowd showed up at Boston Arena, and the Bruins put together a strong performance. The exhibition gave the Bruins one final test before their NHL debut two days later.
When December 1st arrived, Adams still had another problem: getting Boston to watch. The game received plenty of attention from Boston newspapers, but the crowd was still well below Boston Arena’s capacity. Only 1,340 people showed up for the Bruins’ first NHL game.
Tickets for the Bruins’ first game cost between $2.20 and $3.30, while standing-room tickets were $1.10. Despite the small crowd, those in Boston Arena watched the Bruins make history with a 2-1 comeback victory over the Maroons. Montreal took an early lead before Smokey Harris scored the first goal in Bruins history, followed by Carson Cooper’s game-winning goal.
After the small opening-night crowd, Adams lowered ticket prices for the Bruins’ next home game against the Canadiens to attract more fans. On the ice, however, the Bruins struggled during their first season. After winning their first game, Boston lost 11 straight and finished with a 6-24-0 record. Despite the poor record, the team began to develop a loyal group of fans known as the “Pecans.”
The following season, the Bruins showed improvement. Boston went 17-15-4, moving from last place in the NHL to fourth. Carson Cooper and Jimmy Herberts, two players from the Bruins’ inaugural roster, finished second and third in the league in goals. Adams’ new team still had plenty of work ahead, but the Bruins had begun to find their footing in Boston.
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