The Pittsburgh Shamrocks were a professional ice hockey team, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that played in the International Hockey League in 1935–36. The team played all of its home games at Duquesne Garden. During their lone season in existence, the Shamrocks finished in fourth place in the West Division behind the Detroit Olympics, Cleveland Falcons, and Windsor Bulldogs. The Shamrocks scored 137 goals and allowed 170. The team folded after one season. It is estimated that the team lost $36,000 during 1935–36 season.
History
Origins
On September 8, 1935, Larry Welch, a longtime hockey promoter at Duquesne Garden, announced that Pittsburgh had secured a team in the International Hockey League, pending league approval. The club operated under the Pittsburgh Professional Hockey Club, Inc. with papers of incorporation being immediately applied for The team had then signed a two-year lease at the Garden and a plan was established that split the Garden's ice time between the new IHL team and the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, Pittsburgh's club in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.
The team was coached by Sprague Cleghorn, who won two Stanley Cups with the Ottawa Senators in 1920 and 1921 and another with the Montreal Canadiens in 1924. However, he was also regarded as one of the dirtiest players in the National Hockey League, since he led the league in penalty minutes for nine of its first ten years. Prior to the formation of the Shamrocks, the Cleghorn family was already known to Pittsburgh's hockey fans. Sprague's brother, Odie, was the head coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates when they became the city's first NHL team for the 1924-25 season.
On October 9, 1935, the team was approved to play in the IHL. Meanwhile, a report in The Pittsburgh Press was the first to reference the team as the “Pittsburgh Shamrocks.”
Pre-season
Welch then announced that the Shamrocks would leave for Niagara Falls, Ontario, and conduct a training camp on October 21, 1935. The Shamrocks choose to train there since the ice surface at Duquesne Garden would not be ready for use until early November. In forming their team, Pittsburgh first laid claim to any spare players from the Montreal Canadiens. The team then negotiated a deal with the Philadelphia Arrows of the Canadian-American Hockey League which landed the Shamrocks; forwards Stan McCabe, Bill Hudson, Eddie Owens and defenseman Art Lilly. It was believed that Ted Saunders, who played in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators, before playing in the Canadian-American league, would be coming to Pittsburgh. However he spent the 1935-36 with the Springfield Indians.
The Shamrocks then signed several players with NHL experience. They first purchased Joe Starke, a goaltender from the Chicago Black Hawks. Next, the Shamrocks signed three players from the Detroit Red Wings: Norm Walker and brothers Earl and Desse Roche. The Roche brothers became the first brothers ever to play together on any professional Pittsburgh hockey team. Rookies Jean and Conrad Bourcier also made local history by becoming the second siblings to play professional hockey on the same Pittsburgh team when they joined the Shamrocks in late January. Meanwhile, Harold Darragh and Gordon Fraser, who both played in the NHL with the Pirates, were added to the roster. The Shamrocks also signed Nick Wasnie, won two Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in 1930 and 1931, and was credited by Aurel Joliat as being the first player to use the slap shot.