season, finishing in last place in the five-team league. Livingstone was frequently at odds with his fellow owners, particularly Sam Lichtenhein of the Montreal Wanderers. Tempers boiled over when the NHA added a second Toronto team in 1916–17, representing the 228th Battalion of the Canadian army. The 228th was forced to withdraw its team in mid-season when the unit was called overseas. That left the NHA with an odd number of teams. On February 12, the team owners—at a meeting that did not include Livingstone—decided to even-up the number of teams by suspending operations of the Torontos for the rest of the season. All players were given to other NHA teams for the rest of the season. At the time, the plan was to return the players to the Toronto franchise, but the other owners wanted Livingstone out. At the end of the season, Toronto was reinstated, with the condition that Livingstone sell the club within 60 days. However, Livingstone obtained a court order to prevent the sale. 1917–1919: Arena era On November 22, the NHA owners announced that the league would suspend operations for the 1917–18 season. About two weeks later, all of the owners except Livingstone announced that they were creating a new league, the National Hockey League. However, they did not invite Livingstone to join them, effectively leaving him in a one-team league. The NHA owners made this move as a work-around the NHA constitution, which barred them from expelling the Blueshirts even though they had long since lost patience with him. Despite having rid themselves of Livingstone, the other teams wished to keep a team in Toronto. They also needed a fourth team to balance the schedule due to the Quebec Bulldogs' decision to sit out the season. Accordingly, Livingstone's landlord, the Toronto Arena Company, was given a temporary Toronto franchise in the NHL and leased Livingstone's Torontos players for the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season. At the time, Frank Calder, the NHL president, was demanding that the Arena Company and Livingstone come to an agreement to transfer the franchise. To Toronto fans, it looked like little had changed on the ice. Although the team had no official name, it was made up mostly of former Blueshirts. As a result, the newspapers still called the team "the Blueshirts" or "the Torontos," as they always had. Additionally, the team wore a white sweater with a blue "T," the