In 1911, the Patrick brothers,
Frank and
Lester, inaugurated their own professional ice hockey league on the west coast, the
Pacific Coast Hockey Association, giving birth to three teams, one of which was the Vancouver Millionaires. Frank aligned himself with Vancouver, playing for, coaching and managing the team. In order to earn credibility as a league, the PCHA lured players from the
NHA, and in 1912, the Millionaires acquired the highly touted
Cyclone Taylor, who would play for and star in Vancouver for the following ten seasons — the remainder of his career. During his tenure in Vancouver, Taylor tallied 263 points in 131 games. Upon the
1914–1915 season, the NHA and PCHA came to an agreement that each league's respective champion would play for the
Stanley Cup; in the first year of this agreement, the Millionaires — led by Patrick and Taylor — emerged as league champion and defeated the
Ottawa Senators to earn their first and only Stanley Cup championship. In a best-of-five series played at Denman Arena, the Millionaires swept Ottawa by scores of 6–2, 8–3, and 12–3; Taylor led the team with 6 goals. At the time, it was the furthest west the Cup had been awarded and is Vancouver's only Stanley Cup champion. In
1918, Vancouver would once again compete for the Stanley Cup, defeating the
Seattle Metropolitans in a two-game final for the PCHA title, but would be defeated by the
Toronto Arenas of the NHL (evolved from the NHA) three games to two. Between
1918 and
1924, Vancouver would win the PCHA title in five of seven seasons. In
1921 and
1922, they were defeated by the Ottawa Senators and
Toronto St. Pats in back-to-back Cup Final, respectively. In
1922, the team changed its name to the Vancouver Maroons and, although league champion in the PCHA's final two seasons, Vancouver would not compete for the Stanley Cup. As a result of the newly founded
Western Canada Hockey League, the PCHA champion would have to defeat the WCHL champion en route to a Cup series against the NHL champion; the Maroons would fall to the
Edmonton Eskimos in 1923 and the
Calgary Tigers in 1924. Following the
1923–1924 season, the Maroons were absorbed by the WCHL upon the PCHA's demise, but would not achieve the same success of the previous years. In 1926, the WCHL suffered the same fate of the PCHA, and after 15 years, the team subsequently folded, as well. ==Tributes==