Pittsburgh Pirates (WPHL)

The Pittsburgh Pirates were an early professional ice hockey club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and were members of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League for the 1908 WPHL season.

The Pirates entered the league loaded with professional players like Dunc Taylor, Ray Robinson, Ed Robitaille‚ Harry McRobie, Edgar Dey, Charles Masson and goaltender Jim MacKay.

[4] After the 1902 season, the WPHL became the first league to openly hire hockey players.

Many of the athletes in the WPHL were Canadians who were drawn to Pittsburgh because of Duquesne Garden, which was one of the few arenas in North America that had an artificial ice rink.

[5] The Pirates made one of the first known trades of professional hockey players, sending Jim MacKay, Edgar Dey and Dunc Taylor to the Pittsburgh Bankers for Joseph Donnelly and Bert Bennett on January 27, 1908.