Frank Patrick denies the fix is in

On Jan. 26 and 27, 1920, these extraordinary ads appeared in Victoria Daily Times and Vancouver Sun.

Similar ads appeared in The Vancouver Province and Vancouver Daily World. The papers also published a lengthy statement from Frank Patrick further refuting the notion that PCHA games were somehow rigged. He didn’t say where the allegations came from, but it’s not hard to guess why they might have been made.

Lester and Frank played for and coached opposing teams, but they also owned the Victoria and Vancouver rinks, and effectively controlled the league. Another relative was on the PCHA board of directors and other close associates were on the boards that operated the arenas. But what, then, might have been the purpose of a fixing scheme? Maintaining parity? Ensuring specific outcomes to satisfy gamblers? Encouraging higher attendance at the largest rink in Vancouver? Or something else?

In his letter, Frank suggested the shadowy people he called “fixers” or “fixters” expected the best-of-five Stanley Cup final in 1915 between Vancouver and Ottawa would stretch to four or five games to maximize revenue. Instead, Vancouver won in three straight.

In 1917, Frank said, fixters figured Vancouver and Seattle would end up tied in the regular season and that two extra games would be required to settle the league title, “which would mean thousands of dollars more for us.” Instead, Seattle beat Portland in the last game of the season to nudge out Vancouver in the standings.

At the time that Frank offered the reward, the league’s three teams boasted similar records (Victoria and Vancouver were each 5-and-5 while Seattle was 4-and-4), perhaps helping to fuel the idea that something strange was going on. It was in the league’s interest to maintain competitiveness, but Frank insisted the outcomes of the individual games were not preordained. He also noted the allegations didn’t appear to come from players cut by their teams, which said something. If disgruntled, they might have a motive to reveal games being thrown or otherwise manipulated.

Frank didn’t explain what prompted him to offer the reward, but he was following the lead of Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, who offered $10,000 to anyone who could provide evidence the 1919 World Series had been fixed. In that case, the rumours turned out to be true, leading to the appointment of baseball’s first all-powerful commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who banned eight players for life.

In the case of the PCHA, no one stepped forward to claim Frank’s $1,000, but it was suggested he might take on a similar role and become the “Judge Landis of hockey.”

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The suggestion that there might be something fishy about PCHA games went back to the league’s creation. In the Ottawa Citizen of Oct. 24, 1912, Frank’s brother Lester was already issuing a denial.

While in Ottawa last week Lester Patrick stated that the suspicion that games were “fixed” hurt hockey at the Coast last year. He exhibited incidentally a photo of brother Frank which exploded the “frame-up” theory. Both eyes were almost covered with plaster and his mouth and nose were bandaged. “That’s how much our games are fixed,” said Lester. “They were so hotly contested that we’ve had three or four men knocked out each match.”

That photo was turned into a postcard, which sold in 2015 on eBay for $589 US.

The incident that resulted in this gruesome photo took place on March 1, 1912 in a match between Vancouver and Victoria when Frank was struck under the eye by Si Griffis’ stick. He had already scored two goals in that game and insisted on returning to play.