Tommy first played organised ice hockey at the age of 17 with his Waller Street School team.

[2] Dunderdale went back west in the 1911–12 season, joining the Victoria Aristocrats of the newly formed Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA).

[3] Scoring 24 goals in 16 games, Dunderdale received his first out of six First All-Star team selections in the PCHA, as well as his first of four consecutive.

The 1914–15 season saw Dunderdale named to the First All-Star team for his fourth consecutive time, as he scored 17 goals and assisted on 10 others, for 27 points in 17 games.

The Rosebuds became the first American team to challenge for the Stanley Cup that year, losing a best-of-five series 3–2 to the Montreal Canadiens.

'Watch that boy play hockey,' was the frequent ejaculation of excited fans as Dunderdale time and again made tracks down the wing or centre ice, twisted, curved and circled, and then with that dexterity which features his play moved the puck inches backwards, forwards or sideways, while he mystified the opposing players as he worked for a position to slam in his shot.

Dunderdale is shooting accurately and hard, and there were very few of his shots that were wide, and those that were usually only missed by a matter of inches."

Dunderdale, who most often held down the centre forward position on his team, but sometimes also played at wing or as a rover, was noted as being an excellent stickhandler and a fast skater, and prone to dangerous zig zag rushes down the ice.

[7] One self-detrimental aspect to Dunderdale's game was that he liked to rough it up physically on a consistent basis, which many times led to him being penalized by the referees and sent off to the sidelines.

He often contended for the position as the "bad man" of the PCHA, which was the common epithet in the newspapers for the player with the most penalty minutes.

[8] The Vancouver Daily World made the same observation during the 1917–18 season, when Dunderdale went a game without a penalty, and pointed out that if the forward "would cut out the rough stuff and keep on the ice instead of the bench, he would be one of the most effective players in the league.