Led by Frank Calder the owners of the NHA decide to start their own league freezing out the Toronto Blue Shirts who won the Stanley Cup in 1914 owned by Eddie Livingstone, essential it was the same league, but without an owner the rest had resented. The new Toronto team owned by the Arena at the time had no official nickname, some called them Blue Shirts since most of their players had previously played for Toronto's NHA franchise.

While deposed owner Edward Livingstone did all he could to interfere with the team and the new league. However, "the Torontos" as some called them were one of the top teams in the new league's first season finishing tied for first place with Montreal Canadiens with a 13-9 record, benefiting from default wins against the Montreal Wanderers who were forced to withdraw after fire destroyed their arena.

After beating the Canadiens for the NHL title the Toronto team faced the PCHA Champion Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup. The entire five game series was played in Toronto with rules alternating between East six man and West seven man games.

Neither team was comfortable with other style as Toronto took the series in five games benefiting from three games played with six men.