Penalty shots in the PCHA

The PCHA began using the penalty shot — awarded to players tripped or otherwise fouled when in position to shoot — starting in the 1921-22 season.

As Craig Bowlsby has pointed out in Empire of Ice: The Rise and Fall of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 1911-26, while the PCHA was the first league to adopt the rule in the regular season, they were not the first to try it out. The National Hockey Association tested penalty shots in pre-season play in December 1915, but soon dropped them because only about 10 per cent of shots were resulting in goals, which was considered an insufficient deterrent.

The first mention of the new rule in the PCHA was in the Victoria Daily Times of Nov. 1, 1921, seen below. Frank Patrick liked the idea, but indicated that he wanted to test it before officially adding it to the rule book.

Exactly one month later, the Vancouver Province said the league still wasn’t sure whether the penalty shot would go ahead: “This afternoon the [team] magnates are giving the rule the once over, the local arena being chosen for the experiment. Should it find favor Referee [Mickey] Ion will be instructed to enforce it in Monday’s game and throughout the remainder of the season.” (Bowlsby writes that the rule was “essentially a slap in the face” to Ion, “who had probably precipitated this action by not calling tripping infractions.”)

As in soccer and basketball, the free shot would be taken from a designated spot: “It is proposed to have at least three places marked off 15 or 20 feet out from the goals from where the shot will be provided,” the Province said. Bowlsby adds the player would shoot from whichever mark was closest to the infraction: “Originally this was just a small coloured spot, but in the next year it became a circle of three feet in diameter.”

The next day the Vancouver Daily World said spectators at the practice were “particularly interested” in the experiment, which promised to be “an added thrill.”

The first penalty shot ever taken was on Dec. 5, 1921, after Vancouver’s Jack Adams tripped Seattle’s Jim Riley in the season opener. The shot did not have to be taken by the fouled player, however. Coach Pete Muldoon elected to have Jack Walker be the shooter against Vancouver’s Hugh Lehman, who made what the Seattle Union Record described as “a brilliant save of the bullet-like shot.”

According to The Vancouver Sun, Walker “shot straight and true, and Lehman whisked it aside as nonchalantly as Kid McCoy might ask some lady of his fancy to assume the overworked role of Mrs. McCoy.” (Kid McCoy was a much-married American boxer and actor who went to prison for killing one of his wives.)

The second penalty shot ever taken resulted in the first goal: Victoria’s Tommy Dunderdale scored on Dec. 12, 1921, also against Vancouver’s Hugh Lehman.

The new rule initially had a mixed reception. The Victoria Daily Times sniffed: “This free shot does not help the game.” They said defensemen were deliberately fouling players to prevent scoring chances because they knew a penalty shot “is easier for a goalie to handle than a wicked twister from a couple of feet.”

But the Province claimed “fans in all three cities [Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle] are agreed that it is one of the best [rules] ever introduced in the West.” The Vancouver Daily World called the penalty shot “one of the most welcome innovations hockey has witnessed in years,” suggesting it was “an effective deterrent of undue roughness by defensemen, and also a means of imparting many an extra thrill to a game.”

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The introduction of the penalty shot created more work for goaltender Hugh Lehman (seen here with New Westminster in 1912) than anyone else. He holds the PCHA record for most penalty shots faced, most shots stopped, and most goals surrendered, both in a single season and in a career. (Left, Vancouver Sunday Sun, Jan. 8, 1922 and right, City of Vancouver Archives AM54-S4-: Sp P113.06)

Penalty shots were called often over the next three seasons. I found 17 examples of multiple shots in the same match, including five games with four shots apiece. Three of those games occurred in December 1921, when the rule was brand new. (Over in the Western Canada league, which adopted the same rule in 1922-23, Calgary scored two penalty shot goals in one period against Edmonton on Jan. 8, 1923.)

Today penalty shots in the NHL are much rarer (about one for every 23 or 24 games) and therefore the source of some fascination (or at least they were before regular-season games were settled using shootouts). But back then, the novelty quickly wore off, at least as far as newspapers were concerned, probably because of their frequency.

About one-third of penalty shots in the NHL result in goals. In the PCHA, they were less successful, and it is no wonder why. Nowadays a player is allowed to skate in on a goaltender, but according to the Province of Dec. 16, 1921, the rules initially called for players to shoot from a distance of 50 feet in the Vancouver and Victoria arenas, and from 42 feet in the Seattle arena (rather than the 15 or 20 feet originally contemplated). This was soon reduced to 35 feet in all three arenas, but scoring on a penalty shot remained infrequent.

According to Bowlsby, originally the player taking the shot had to shoot from a still position. But in the second year, they had the option to take a “running shot” so long as the puck “left the ice before leaving the circle.”

“It wasn’t long before players abused this,” Bowlsby writes, “by carrying the puck in from the penalty spot, for up to six feet, before letting go with a shot. Surprisingly, the referees allowed it, and even more surprisingly, no one protested, even though it clearly did not conform to the known rules.” More surprisingly still, it didn’t increase the success rate.

The following charts, compiled from newspaper coverage, cover penalty shots over three seasons before the PCHA amalgamated with the Western Canada league (they began playing an interlocking schedule in 1922-23). A round-up of records appears at the end.

1921-22
DATE	AWARDED TO	AWARDED AGAINST	SHOOTER	GOALIE	RESULT
Dec. 5, 1921	Seattle	Vancouver	Jack Walker	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 12, 1921	Victoria	Vancouver	Tommy Dunderdale	Hugh Lehman	SCORED
Dec. 12, 1921	Vancouver	Victoria	Jack Adams	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 12, 1921	Vancouver	Victoria	Jack Adams	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 12, 1921	Vancouver	Victoria	Mickey MacKay	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 14, 1921	Seattle	Vancouver	Gord Fraser	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 14, 1921	Seattle	Vancouver	Jack Walker	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 14, 1921	Seattle	Vancouver	Bernie Morris	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 14, 1921	Vancouver	Seattle	Alf Skinner	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Dec. 21, 1921	Vancouver	Seattle	Tommy Dunderdale	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Dec. 23, 1921	Seattle	Victoria	Jack Walker	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 26, 1921	Victoria	Vancouver	Unknown	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 30, 1921	Victoria	Vancouver	Frank Fredrickson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 30, 1921	Victoria	Vancouver	Unknown	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 30, 1921	Vancouver	Victoria	Unknown	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 30, 1921	Vancouver	Victoria	Unknown	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Jan. 2, 1922	Vancouver	Seattle	Jack Adams	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 4, 1922	Seattle	Victoria	Unknown	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Jan. 6, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Wilf Loughlin	Hugh Lehman	SCORED
Jan. 9, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Jack Adams	Lester Patrick	Stopped
Jan. 9, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Jack Adams	Hec Fowler	SCORED
Jan. 11, 1922	Vancouver	Seattle	Jack Adams	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Jan. 16, 1922	Seattle	Vancouver	Bernie Morris [1]	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 18, 1922	Seattle	Victoria	Bernie Morris	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Jan. 20, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Unknown	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 20, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Art Duncan	Hec Fowler	SCORED
Jan. 23, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Frank Fredrickson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 23, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Tommy Dunderdale	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 25, 1922	Seattle	Vancouver	Gord Fraser	Hugh Lehman	SCORED
Jan. 30, 1922	Vancouver	Seattle	Jack Adams	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 6, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Wilf Loughlin	Hugh Lehman	SCORED
Feb. 6, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Mickey MacKay	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Feb. 17, 1922	Victoria	Seattle	Wilf Loughlin	Hap Holmes	SCORED
Mar. 6, 1922 (playoffs)	Seattle	Vancouver	Gord Fraser	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Mar. 21, 1922 (playoffs)	Toronto	Vancouver	Babe Dye	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
SUMMARY: 35 shots resulted in 7 goals. Vancouver 14 for, 18 against; Victoria 10 for, 11 against; Seattle 10 for, 6 against; Toronto 1 for. In the second edition of Total Hockey, Ron Boileau and Philip Wolf wrote that seven goals were scored on 21 shots. Even if they were not counting the playoffs, they must have overlooked a few. [1] According to a newspaper report, Gord Fraser “carried the puck beyond the circle before he shot.” Bernie Morris was then allowed to take the shot.

1922-23
DATE	AWARDEDTO	AWARDED AGAINST	SHOOTER	GOALIE	RESULT
Nov. 13, 1922	Vancouver	Seattle	Lloyd Cook	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Nov. 17, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Tommy Dunderdale	Charlie Reid	Missed net
Nov. 20, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Mickey MacKay	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Nov. 29, 1922	Seattle	Victoria	Gord Fraser	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 11, 1922	Victoria	Vancouver	Wilf Loughlin	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 11, 1922	Vancouver	Victoria	Mickey MacKay	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 13, 1922	Seattle	Vancouver	Gord Fraser	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 27, 1922	Vancouver	Seattle	Lloyd Cook	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Jan. 8, 1923	Victoria	Seattle	Tommy Dunderdale	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Jan. 8, 1923	Victoria	Seattle	Bobby Rowe	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Jan. 10, 1923	Seattle	Calgary	Bernie Morris	Billy Binney	Stopped
Jan. 15, 1923	Calgary	Vancouver	Jimmy Gibson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 22,1923	Victoria	Vancouver	Jocko Anderson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Feb. 5, 1923	Vancouver	Seattle	Mickey MacKay	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 5, 1923	Seattle	Vancouver	Bernie Morris	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Feb. 12, 1923	Victoria	Vancouver	Fred Fredrickson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Feb. 12, 1923	Vancouver	Victoria	Mickey MacKay	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Feb. 21, 1923	Seattle	Vancouver	Tom McCarthy	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Feb. 23, 1923	Vancouver	Seattle	Mickey MacKay	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 26, 1923	Vancouver	Seattle	Unknown	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 28, 1923	Victoria	Seattle	Frank Fredrickson	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 28, 1923	Seattle	Victoria	Gord Fraser	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Mar. 12, 1923 (playoffs)	Vancouver	Victoria	Corb Denenny	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
SUMMARY: 23 shots resulted in 0 goals. Vancouver 9 for, 8 against; Seattle 6 for, 8 against; Victoria 7 for, 6 against; Calgary 1 for, 1 against.

1923-24
DATE	AWARDED TO	AWARDED AGAINST	SHOOTER	GOALIE	RESULT
Nov. 19, 1923	Vancouver	Victoria	Helgy Bostrum	Hec Fowler	SCORED
Nov. 19, 1923	Victoria	Vancouver	Fred Fredrickson	Hugh Lehman	SCORED
Dec. 5, 1923	Calgary	Seattle	Bernie Morris	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Dec. 7, 1923	Victoria	Calgary	Clem Trihey	Charlie Read	Stopped
Dec. 7, 1923	Calgary	Victoria	Rusty Crawford	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 7, 1923	Calgary	Victoria	Herb Gardiner	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Dec. 7, 1923	Victoria	Calgary	Clem Trihey	Charlie Read	Stopped
Dec. 14, 1923	Calgary	Vancouver	Cully Wilson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Dec. 25, 1923	Vancouver	Victoria	Helgy Bostrum	Hec Fowler	SCORED
Dec. 28, 1923	Victoria	Vancouver	Fred Fredrickson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 4, 1924	Seattle [1]	Victoria	Frank Foyston	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Jan. 7, 1924	Vancouver	Edmonton	Helgy Bostrum	Hal Winkler	Stopped
Jan. 14, 1924	Vancouver	Victoria	Art Duncan	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Jan. 16, 1924	Seattle	Calgary	Gord Fraser	Charlie Read	SCORED
Jan. 21, 1924	Vancouver	Calgary	Helgy Bostrum	Charlie Read	Stopped
Jan. 21, 1924	Calgary	Vancouver	Cully Wilson	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 21, 1924	Calgary	Vancouver	Bernie Morris	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
Jan. 30, 1924	Seattle	Regina	Gord Fraser	Red McCusker	Stopped
Feb. 6, 1924	Seattle	Victoria	Gord Fraser	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Feb. 11, 1924	Victoria	Seattle	Frank Fredrickson	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 11, 1924	Victoria	Seattle	Wilf Loughlin	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 11, 1924	Victoria	Seattle	Jimmy Gibson	Hap Holmes	Stopped
Feb. 15, 1924	Edmonton	Victoria	Duke Keats	Hec Fowler	Stopped
Feb. 15, 1924	Victoria	Edmonton	Frank Fredrickson	Hal Winkler	Stopped
Feb. 22, 1924	Victoria	Saskatoon	Frank Fredrickson	George Hainsworth	SCORED
Feb. 22, 1924	Seattle	Vancouver	Gord Fraser	Hugh Lehman	Stopped
SUMMARY: 26 shots resulted in 5 goals. Victoria 9 for, 8 against; Vancouver 5 for, 6 against; Calgary 6 for, 4 against; Seattle 5 for, 4 against; Edmonton 1 for, 2 against; Regina 1 against, Saskatoon 1 against. [1] Awarded in overtime.

OVERALL SUMMARY: 84 shots resulted in 12 goals (14.3%). Vancouver 28 for, 32 against; Victoria 26 for, 25 against; Seattle 21 for, 18 against; Calgary 7 for, 5 against; Edmonton 1 for, 2 against; Toronto 1 for; Regina 1 against; Saskatoon 1 against.

(In the second edition of Total Hockey, Ron Boileau and Philip Wolf wrote that 23 goals were scored on 98 attempts “over the league’s history.” I presume that included the 1924-25 and 1925-26 seasons, following the PCHA merger with the WCHL.)

Overall penalty shot goals scored by team: Victoria 6, Vancouver 4, Seattle 2

Overall penalty shot goals surrendered by team: Vancouver 5, Victoria 4, Seattle 1, Calgary 1, Saskatoon 1

Most penalty shots awarded to a team in a season: 14, Vancouver, 1921-22

Most penalty shots awarded against a team in a season: 18, Vancouver, 1921-22

Most penalty shot goals scored by a team in a season: Victoria 4, 1921-22

Most penalty shot goals surrendered by a team in a season: Vancouver 4, 1921-22

Most penalty shots taken by a player, career: 10, Gord Fraser (2 goals scored); 7, Frank Fredrickson (2 goals scored); 7, Jack Adams (1 goal scored); 6, Mickey MacKay (0 goals scored)

Most penalty shot goals scored by a player, career: 3, Wilf Loughlin (on 5 attempts)

Most penalty shots faced by a goaltender, career: 32, Hugh Lehman

Most penalty shots stopped by a goaltender, career: 27, Hugh Lehman

Most penalty shot goals surrendered by a goaltender, career: 5, Hugh Lehman

Most penalty shots taken by a player, season: 7, Jack Adams, 1921-22

Most penalty shot goals scored by a player, season: 3, Wilf Loughlin, 1921-22

Most penalty shots faced by a goaltender, season: 18, Hugh Lehman, 1921-22

Most penalty shots stopped by a goaltender, season: 14, Hugh Lehman, 1921-22

Most penalty shot goals surrendered by a goaltender, season: 4, Hugh Lehman, 1921-22

Most penalty shots awarded to both teams in a single game: 4, Victoria vs. Vancouver, Dec. 12, 1921; Seattle vs. Vancouver, Dec. 14, 1921; Victoria vs. Vancouver, Dec. 30, 1921; and Victoria vs. Calgary, Dec. 7, 1923

Most penalty shots awarded to one team in a single game: 3, Vancouver, Dec. 12, 1921 (none scored); 3, Seattle, Dec. 14, 1921 (none scored); 3, Victoria, Feb. 11, 1924 (none scored and according to a newspaper report, two “never left the ice”)

Most penalty shot goals scored in a single game: 2, Nov. 19, 1923. Victoria and Vancouver each scored one against each other. No team ever scored more than one penalty shot goal in a single game.

Most penalty shots awarded to a player in a single game: 2, to Jack Adams of Vancouver, Dec. 12, 1921, against Victoria, both stopped by Hec Fowler; 2, to Clem Trihey of Victoria, Dec. 7, 1923 against Calgary, both stopped by Charlie Read

Most penalty shot saves by a goaltender in a single game: 3, by Hec Fowler, Dec. 12, 1921; 3, by Hugh Lehman, Dec. 14, 1921; 3, by Hap Holmes, Feb. 11, 1924

A few other bits of trivia:

In an exhibition game between Victoria and Toronto on Dec. 1, 1922, four penalty shots were awarded. Tommy Dunderdale of Victoria scored on John Ross Roach; Dunderdale was then stopped by Roach on a second shot; Harry Cameron of Toronto scored on Hec Fowler; and Wilf Loughlin of Victoria scored on Roach. While four penalty shots in a single game occurred four times in the regular season, this was the only instance where three goals were scored on penalty shots in a single game and the only instance of one team scoring more than once.

In another exhibition game of Dec. 6, 1922, Harry Cameron of Toronto was stopped by Hap Holmes of Seattle.

Newspapers did not record penalty shots uniformly in game summaries. Sometimes they were included, sometimes they were omitted but mentioned in the game story. In several instances, the shooter was not recorded. The Province of Dec. 28, 1923 also noted: “The despatches from Seattle giving the account of Wednesday’s game did not mention that Helgy Bostrom missed his first penalty shot this season. His effort missed the goal mouth by inches.”

The NHL record for most penalty shots faced in a career is held by Roberto Luongo with 33 (including 29 saves). The record for most penalty shots faced in one season is held by George Hainsworth, with eight in 1934-35. Hainsworth stopped them all, including the first one awarded in NHL history (which shows how much of a latecomer the NHL was to the rule). Tomas Vokoun has surrendered the most penalty shot goals in a career, with eight, and Henrik Lundqvist gave up the most penalty shot goals in one season, with four in 2013-14.

Pavel Bure and Brad Marchand share the record for most regular season penalty shot goals in a career, with seven apiece. Bure also holds the single-season record with three. Vincent Lecavalier and Alexander Ovechkin share the record for most regular-season penalty shot attempts in a career, with 13 each. The record for single-season penalty shot attempts is held by Ebbie Goodfellow (!), who had six in 1934-35. Although he was a fine player, Goodfellow was not a particularly high scorer.

Four players have been awarded two penalty shots in one game: Mud Bruneteau (1938), Erik Cole (2005), Max Pacioretty (2014), and Auston Matthews (2017). Pacioretty’s shots both came in the same period. None of these players scored on both of their shots.

Ten goaltenders have faced two penalty shots in a single game: Claude Bourque (1938), Gilles Gilbert (1982), Corrado Micalef (1986), Martin Biron (2005), Michal Neuvirth (2009), Miikka Kiprusoff (2011), Roberto Luongo (2014), Ben Bishop (2015), Jonathan Quick (2017), and Craig Anderson (2018). Gilbert is the only one of the bunch to be scored on both times. Luongo is an odd case because the shooter (Max Pacioretty) failed to register a shot in one of his attempts.