The strangest sports team you’ve never heard of

SEATTLE – The Metropolitans. A team born through highway robbery, accomplishing some of the greatest feats in ice hockey history, yet simultaneously being infamous for their failures. The Mets were weird, they were strange, and trust me, by the end of this article you’ll be wondering how you’ve never heard of their story until now.

The story begins in 1910 with two brothers, Frank and Lester Patrick. Former hockey players, the two brothers wanted to create their own professional hockey league that they could run themselves. Sons of Joe Frank, the owner of a well established lumbering business, the two brothers decided to sell the business in order to fund their start up hockey league. Planning to put rinks in Vancouver, Victoria, and British Columbia, three new teams were formed. The New Westminster Royals, the Victoria Senators, and the Vancouver Millionaires. And on December 7^th, 1911, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association was officially formed.

After a tumultuous first few years where the league ran on deficit, the Patrick brothers decided that an expansion was needed in order to generate more interest in the league. In 1914 the league expanded to the Portland Oregon, and in 1915, the league expanded again to Seattle Washington. While we now know Seattle as quite the sports town, having well established franchises such as the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, and formerly the Sonics, back in 1915 there were no sports teams in Seattle at all. 

Enter, the Seattle Metropolitan’s. In the modern era, we’ve seen lots of expansion teams, and they typically follow the same cookie cutter formula.

1. Accumulate a ton of average to below average players through the compensation drafts free agency
2. Suck for around a decade
3. Eventually settling to some form of mediocrity hovering around .500 with an off-chance at a championship here or there

The Mets at their founding, defied every single conventional rule of expansion teams. Rather than go the conventional route of signing unknown talent and working your way up the ladder, the Mets instead decided to poach 5 members of the Toronto Blueshirts roster, the defending Stanley Cup champions. As such, heading into their debut season, the Metropolitans were NOT a typical expansion team expected to flounder for years before eventually finding relevancy. The Mets from the day 1, were created with the sole purpose of winning. They started off the season strong, winning their first 3 games ending the first week at the top of the standings. After their strong start, however, they floundered, losing 5 straight before eventually settling at a 9-9 record for the season, ending tied for second place. It would be the next season where everything came together.

Unlike the ’15-16 season, in the ’16-17 season the Mets started hot and stayed hot, ending the regular season with a 16-8 record, not only leading the league but also becoming the team with the winningest season in PCHA history at the time. With their 1^st place finish, the Mets guaranteed themselves a spot at the ’16-17 Stanley Cup against none other than the Montreal Canadiens. While a dominating force in years to come, at the time the Canadiens were just budding dynasty themselves, coming off of their first Stanley Cup win and looking to repeat as Champs.

Up to this point in history, the Stanley Cup had been defined by one pattern, at the end of the year it would always be a Canadian team to lift the trophy. In the history of the cup’s existence, a Canadian team had never lost in the finals, so coming into this Stanley Cup finals, the Mets were not only going up against what would become the NHL’s premier dynasty, but were also fighting against history to become the first American team to bring home the cup. And after getting humiliated in game 1 of the series losing 8-4, history seemed to be repeating itself, with the Montreal Canadiens looking to win their second championship back to back. And with everyone doubting them, down big after getting completely dominated on the ice in game 1, it looked like the Mets needed a miracle to stay alive in the series.

Let me introduce you, to Bernie Morris. Bernie Morris started his hockey career rather uneventfully, hopping from team to team, league to league, before eventually getting signed by the Mets in the 1915-16 season. While the Mets floundered in their inaugural season, Morris proved to be a rock the team could play around, ending the season with 23 goals, a league best. In the 16-17 season, Bernie topped his own record, ending the season with 54 total points, once again the league’s best. Despite a spectacular performance from Morris in game 1, scoring 3 of the Mets 4 total goals, the Mets still got blown out 8-4. Down 0-1 in the series, with many fans claiming the series would end in a sweep, Bernie Morris began a stretch of games resulting in what is widely regarded as the greatest single finals performance by any player in Stanley Cup history,

Morris and the Mets would steamroll the Canadiens in the ensuing 3 games, blowing them out 6-1, 4-1 and a whopping 9-1 to end the series in 4. Bernie Morris himself accounting for 11 of the 19 goals, and 14 of 23 for the series. At the time, this was by far the most dominating finals performance by a player ever, with the next highest player only scoring 6. In the century of play since Bernie Morris’s dominating performance, the closest anyone has gotten to even sniffing his record is 9 goals scored in a Stanley Cup finals, putting Morris in a stratosphere of his own. Bernie Morris’ performance was so dominant in fact, that if you removed all other goals scored by Mets players, Seattle still wins in 4. Even more astounding in Morris’ 6 goals scored in game 4 of the finals to put away the Canadiens. In the history of recorded professional hockey there has only been 8 times a player managed to score 6 or more goals in a game, none of which happened in a playoff game. Bernie Morris did this in an elimination game of the Stanley Cup finals.

And somehow, someway, the Seattle Mets after just two years of existence, became the first US team to win the Stanley Cup. This is already crazy, expansion teams don’t do things like this. They don’t poach the entire Stanley Cup championship squad to end up going 8-8 in the season. They don’t somehow bounce back year 2 and dominate the league like never before. They don’t win the Stanley Cup in 2 years of existence. And they definitely don’t have a career journeyman suddenly become the premier player in the league and put on the most dominating Stanley Cup finals performance of all time. Up until now, everything has already been a wild journey full of unexpected turns. In the years to come, you’ll see that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Coming off of their impressive Stanley Cup win, the Mets looked to repeat as champs in the ’17-18 season, ending split 11-7, atop of the league standings. Unlike prior seasons where the first place team at the end of the regular season was crowned the league champions, this year there was one last game between the top two teams to determine the true champion. In this finals, the Mets would face the Vancouver Millionaires, falling to them 3-2 and missing out on a chance to repeat as defending champs. And while the ’17-18 season would end in disappointment, it would be just 12 months later that lightning would strike twice in Seattle.

Despite regressing in win percentage, going from 11-7 in the ’17-18 season to 11-9 in the ’18-19 season (2 more games were added to the regular season) and falling to second in the league standings, the Mets looked to win their second PCHA crown and return to the Stanley Cup finals. Tragedy struck however, when the hero of the ’17 Stanley Cup, Bernie Morris was arrested on the first day of the playoffs for US army draft evasion, despite being a Canadian citizen. Without the their superstar center piece and league leader in goals, the shorthanded Mets still managed to handle their business, beating the Millionaires 7-5 and advanced to their second ever Stanley Cup in a rematch against the Montreal Canadiens.

In the highly touted rematch, without the superstar of the ’17 finals, it looked like the Mets wouldn’t have enough firepower to keep up with a dominant Canadien’s squad. But the Mets were always strange, and once again proved that they were more than meets the eye. While Morris stole all the headlines leading the league in multiple statistics in the ’15-19 seasons, it would be the second star on the team, Frank Foyston, who would come up huge for the Mets in the rematch against Montreal.

Much like Morris did in the ’17 finals, Foyston burst out the gates on fire, scoring 8 goals in the first 3 games. Foyston’s 8 goals in 3 games, infact, was on pace to become the second highest goal total in Stanley Cup finals history, only second to Morris’ own brilliance two years prior. While the hero of the ’17 finals may be out, Foyston looked to be the miracle the Mets needed, as they looked to close out the series in 4 and cement themselves as the United States first ever hockey dynasty. And despite the stellar performance of Frank Foyston thus far, it would be game 4 that would go down in history as what many consider arguably the greatest and strangest game of hockey ever played in Stanley Cup history.

The game started off physical. The Canadiens facing elimination tightened up their defense managing to stall Foyston and the red hot Mets, keeping the game tied at 0-0 ending regulation forcing overtime. Despite being exhausted, both teams continued to keep up the physical play, resulting in yet again another 0-0 score, forcing the Stanley Cup finals first ever double overtime period. In double overtime, the Canadiens looked to tie up the series with a last second wide open shot, only to miss it by a few inches ending the second overtime period tied 0-0. By this point, players laid completely unconscious on the ice after such an intense physical game, with the refs officially calling the game a tie due to both teams being unable to field enough players to continue another period. And as such Seattle did the impossible, the first ever winless game in Stanley Cup history. Furthermore, the tie had even further implications as it was now possible for the Stanley Cup to go to a unprecedented 6 games.

While the Canadiens may have forced the first ever tie in Stanley Cup finals history, the Mets stilled looked like overwhelming favorites to close out the series in Game 5. Opening right out of the gates with 3 quick goals, the Mets entered the final period up 4-1, just 10 minutes separating them from ice hockey immortality. Despite the promising lead, the Mets would give up 3 consecutive goals, including a last second score as the Canadiens forced overtime. And just seconds into overtime, Frank Foyston, the hero of the finals, would get injured in a collision putting the Mets down their best player. Fighting to the very end, the Mets put up an incredible defensive effort, but the Canadiens would prove to be too much as they would score the game winner with Mets players once again collapsing unconscious on the ice. In what would be a perfect ending to an already historic final, the Mets and Canadiens would duke it out in one final unprecedented game 6 to crown the victor in the rematch, the legacy of the Mets and Canadiens hanging in the balance. The last game, however, just wasn’t meant to be.

The next day, the viral Spanish Flu sweeping the entire globe killed one Canadien and hospitalized four others. As such, the history making sixth game was cancelled, and the series ended in a tie. The ’19 Stanley Cup finals would go down as the only time the Stanley Cup was never awarded a winner, ending what would later become one of the most notorious Stanley Cups of all time. This was a team that could’ve won it all, dominating the box score 20-8 despite the team’s best player in jail. They had the star power with Frank Foyston setting the record for second most goals in a Stanley Cup. They participated in a legendary game 4 performance by both teams that went to the first ever double over-time. They were a part of the first Stanley Cup finals to have a game 6. The only thing missing from the picture was the most important part of all, a Stanley Cup victory. The Mets were just unfortunate, a pandemic happening at just the worst time, teasing them with what could’ve been, And ultimately this would just be the first of many instances where Mets fans could only be left wondering, “what could’ve been”.

In an era where players were constantly moving from team to team on one year deals, the Mets had surprisingly kept their core together thus far, and 1920 proved no different. While other teams continued to shuffle rosters, the Mets once again stood pat, keeping the entire Mets core together for the foreseeable future. Despite Morris still being in jail, the Mets once again rolled through the regular season, securing yet another league crown after defeating old rivals Vancouver Millionaires 6-3 in the finals advancing to their third Stanley Cup in four years. And in this moment, returning the their third Stanley Cup final, the Mets would get help in a big way. As the 1919 finals had ended in a tie, the NHL and PCHA began to negotiate over which arena the finals would take place in, resulting in the start date being pushed back to March 22, 1920. This delay proved to be crucial for the Mets, as it bought enough time for Bernie Morris to finally get honorably discharged from military duty, letting the Mets go into the 1920 final with their full team finally together.

Facing the Ottawa Senators in their home court, the Mets looked to cement their legacy. Even with their 1919 finals tie, a win in the 1920 finals would cement them as the first great American dynasty. Right off the bat, the Mets stumbled going down 2-0 in the series to the Senators. Crucially, as Spring was approaching, the Ottawa Senators home court began to melt resulting in large puddles of water forming on the ice, a playing condition the Mets heavily struggled in. Despite the playing conditions, on match point the Mets came up big, not earning a single penalty beating the Senators 3-1. By now, the conditions were so bad that the both leagues agreed to move the games to Toronto for the rest of the series. While seemingly still a neutral field, many meaningful Mets players were once a part of the Toronto Blueshirts including star Frank Foyston, meaning that halfway through the series the Mets suddenly found themselves with home field advantage. Still at match point, the Mets once again won in convincing fashion, beating the Senators 5-2 to tie the series up and force a deciding game 5. Despite the heroic effort to force a game 5 by the Mets, they would get blown out 6-1 in the final game convincingly losing the finals. To be down 2-0 due to literal pools of water forming on the rink, to claw back and tie it up 2-2, playing at your own pseudo home stadium, then get blown out to end the series, it just feels like the way things should end for the Mets. Inevitably, they had once again stumbled and found themselves at the doorstep of victory, only to have it snuffed out right in front of their eyes. After failing to win two straight finals in heart breaking fashion, the Mets and the entire west coast would never recover. It wouldn’t be until 1993 until another west coast team ever even made the Stanley Cup, 73 years of losing. In the years to come, the Mets would never again reach a Stanley Cup final, falling to the Vancouver Millionaires 5 of the next 6 years before disbanding as their arena was sold out to become a hotel parking lot.

The Seattle Mets were a fever dream. They were a bunch of weirdos, caught up in draft evasion, pandemics, and poor ice rink conditions all the while setting historic records along the way. They defied all conventional rules and laws, and almost conquered the entire hockey world in the process. It’s almost too fitting that their opponents in the 1919 finals was the Montreal Canadiens. Heading into that series, both teams had their legacies on the line. After choking away games 4 and 5, then having it end in a tie due to a global pandemic, the Mets took a drastically different path from the Canadiens. The Canadiens would go on to win 24 Stanley Cup championships (a record) and become the epitome of consistency, with arguably the richest history of any hockey team. What about our lovely Mets? Well despite putting on some of the most incredibly Stanley Cup performances ever, the Mets wouldn’t even last another 5 years and would largely become forgotten in history. The story of the Mets is strange. The stories surrounding their founding, their eventual disbandment, and everything in between, are all riddled with strange abnormal events. And ultimately that’s what why I’m sitting here today, more than a century later, writing about them. Because they are the strangest sports team you’ve never heard of.