Sydney Millionaires

The end of October brought news that it was looking likely that the MPHA would sign the affiliation agreement with the NHA and the Pacific Coast league.  Some of the Maritimers were in favor of the agreement, hoping that the affiliation would bring more credibility to the league along with some top notch players. Other who disagreed with the plan did not like the idea that the other two leagues could purchase some MPHA players.  It was also thought that if the other league put in a salary cap and the MPHA was not bound by it, they might be able to offer higher salaries and steal away some of the stars in the other two leagues.

The Amherst News, in what appeared to be a shot at the proposed Glace Bay franchise in order to strengthen their own chances, published a story stating that Sydney was victorious during the previous year because of the arduous trip to Sydney to play against the Millionaires.  The article went on to state that the Halifax and Moncton teams had to travel to New Glasgow, play the Cubs and then head on to Sydney, exhausted, to play the Millionaires the following night. According to this paper they had quotes from two team managers stating that the only reason Sydney was allowed to continue in the league was because they held the Crosby Cup.  The hopeful fans in Amherst saw the loss of the Moncton team as a big strike against their chances to get a franchise since Moncton would probably have liked to have another team close by for travel purposes. 

On October 15th, Moncton's team manager William McMullen, in a statement to the Halifax Herald, disputed the reports that the Moncton team had been sold to Toronto and Halifax.  McMullen went on to state that "A month may see big in the rink situation and until that time Moncton will keep its franchise and its team intact".  This situation was causing a lot of bad blood in the MPHA with the Sydney executive accusing the Moncton management of purposely trying to aid the weak Halifax Crescents team.  A Moncton manager clarified the situation by stating that the deal with Halifax and Toronto is only in the event that the Victorias will not be able to ice a team.  If Moncton did get an arena in time their players will still be under contract with the Vics.

In September 1913, in anticipation of the upcoming season, it was announced that the MPHA would be changing their rules to come in line with the new off side rules being proposed in the PCHL and the NHA.  The new rules would eliminate the center ice offside rule and create two lines each 60 feet from the goal line.  Offsides would be called only at these new lines and only after the offside player had touched the puck.  This suggestion was proposed by management of the Pacific Coast Hockey league and put in place to speed up the game.

In early April there was a meeting between the executive of the NHA and the Pacific Coast Hockey League that had possible ramifications for the MPHA.  Manager Mike Quinn of the Quebec Bulldogs was on the west coast during the Bulldogs exhibition tour and was in the process of negotiating an agreement to form a Hockey Commission with the Patrick brothers of the PCHL.  It was intended to bring all Canadian professional hockey leagues into an organization under one umbrella, creating a uniform salary limit and setting rules for reserving, trading, selling or buying players.

A week after the Stanley Cup challenge had ended (1913), another MPHA team, the New Glasgow Cubs, was still playing hockey.  The Cubs had travelled to Boston to play the Toronto Tecumsehs of the NHA in a two game exhibition match.   Boston and it's fans were new to hockey and long before they had a professional hockey team of their own they would often host Canadian teams playing exhibition matches against each other.  The Boston papers attempted to build up the excitement of the exhibition game by emphasizing a rivalry between the NHA and the Maritime league.  One Boston paper stated, "The Tecumshes are members of the National Hockey Association and the New Glasgow of the Maritime Province Hockey Association.  They are bitter rivals.  The NHA as declared, has snubbed the Nova Scotia league.  The controversy has been thrashed out in the Canadian newspapers, and now there will be a real fight for blood here."