January 5, 1918 Game
In the Montreal Herald,January 7,1918, Elmer Ferguson, reported on the first post fire game at the Jubilee Rink, Saturday January 5, 1918. Canadiens hosting the Ottawa Senators. Canadiens won 6-5 in OT in a game described as exciting but the size of the rink/playing surface was problematic. Canadiens played with new Equipment and uniforms borrowed from the local Hochelaga team.
Ferguson makes comments like "... players could not get away from each other..."
"... end to end without the rapidity and suddeness seen on a larger surface...".
Sadly we do not have the exact dimensions for all the NHL rinks of the day so that greater accuracy could be used when comparing rink sizes.
There are a few other comments about the nature of the game. Ferguson notes that Eddie Gerard of Ottawa played all seventy-seven plus minutes of the game so fatigue does not seem to be the same factor as on a larger rink. Also notes that it was a clean game without penalties for serious offenses.
Also the new three team schedule was released. Available here - HSP with results:
http://hsp.flyershistory.com/
With three teams, balancing the schedule, given that Jubilee had to juggle dates, produced quirks. Teams could go a week without playing yet three games in five nights were not avoidable.