Ross utilized his many hockey connections throughout Canada and the United States to sign players. Even so, the team started poorly. Early in the first season the University of Toronto hockey team was in Boston for matches against local universities. The team's manager, Conn Smythe, who later owned and managed the Toronto Maple Leafs, said that his team could easily defeat the Bruins—Ross's team had won only two of their first fifteen NHL games. This began a feud between Smythe and Ross which lasted for over 40 years, until Ross' death; while mostly confined to newspaper reports, they refused to speak to each other at NHL Board of Governor meetings. The Bruins finished their first season with six wins in thirty games, one of the worst records in the history of the league. Several records were set over the course of the season; the three home wins are tied for the second fewest ever, and an eleven-game losing streak from December 8, 1924, until February 17, 1925, set a record for longest losing streak, surpassed in 2004 and now second longest in history. With 17 wins in 36 games the following season, the team greatly improved, and finished one point out of a playoff spot.