1893 AHAC season
| 1893 AHAC season | |
|---|---|
| League | Amateur Hockey Association of Canada |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | January 7 – March 17, 1893 |
| Teams | 5 |
| 1893 | |
| Champions | Montreal Hockey Club |
The 1893 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada season lasted from January 7 until March 17. The Montreal Hockey Club defeated the Montreal Crystals 2-1 to claim the league and Canadian champion for the sixth season in a row and was awarded the new Stanley Cup without any competition by virtue of their status as AHAC champion.
Executive
| Part of a series on the |
| Emergence of the NHL |
|---|
 |
| Early development |
| Leagues |
 Ice hockey portal |
On December 15, 1892, the AHAC elected its officers for the season:
- President - F. M. S. Jenkins, Ottawa
- 1st Vice. Pres. - J. Crathern, Victorias
- 2nd Vice. Pres. - A. Laurie, Quebec
- Secretary-Treasurer - J. A. Findlay, Montreal
- Council - A. Ritchie, Crystals; G. Carpenter, Shamrocks; M. Costigan, McGill; A. Z. Palmer, Ottawa Rebels; J. Farwell, Sherbrooke
Season
The season came down to the wire between Montreal Hockey Club (MAAA) and Ottawa Hockey Club (the future Senators). MAAA won the showdown match with Ottawa 7-1 on February 18, then clinched first place on March 10 vs Crystals. However, two disputes needed to be settled at a special meeting on March 13 before the AHAC title was confirmed to MAAA. The meeting took place at the offices of James Caruthers at 3416 Av. du Parc, Montreal (formerly 699 Sherbrooke St.). Both decisions would have an impact as MAAA ended up finishing one game ahead of the Ottawa Hockey Club. Ottawa won the Quebec protest, but Montreal HC were also favored in the protest filed by Crystals, thereby confirming the AHAC championship and (eventually) the first Stanley Cup.
First protest: Ottawa and Quebec got into a dispute. Quebec protested their loss on January 21 in Quebec and refused to play in the return match until the protest was decided. The return match was scheduled for February but was not played until March 17. However, the matter was ruled in favor of Ottawa. At the same time, Ottawa was in a dispute with the Ontario Hockey Association over the location of the final match for the Ontario championship. In the end, Ottawa seceded from the Ontario association.
Second protest: In the March 3 game between MAAA and Crystals, a Crystals player was sent off and the penalty carried over into overtime. Crystals tried to argue that the overtime consisted of a new game and that they should be restored to full strength. They decided to not play the overtime. An unlikely protest said the papers. It was denied and MAAA was credited with the victory.
The end result was that MAAA was declared AHAC champions, and would eventually be handed the Stanley Cup. It is not clear if they knew they were also playing for Lord Stanley's Cup, which had been donated the year before, but they were aware it was an AHAC clinching game. It would be known as the Dominion Challenge Cup until April 30 when the Board of Trustees released rules for the "Stanley Hockey Championship Cup" and announced that MAAA's name was already engraved on the Cup and that it would soon be presented to them.
Final standing
Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
| Team | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Hockey Club | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 18 |
| Ottawa Hockey Club | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 49 | 22 |
| Montreal Crystals | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 34 |
| Quebec Hockey Club | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 46 |
| Montreal Victorias | 8 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 35 |
Results
| Month | Day | Visitor | Score | Home | Score | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | 7 | Ottawa HC | 3 | Victorias | 4 | Victoria Rink |
| 13 | Quebec HC | 3 | Crystals | 8 | Crystal Rink | |
| 14 | Montreal HC | 2 | Ottawa HC | 4 | Rideau Rink | |
| 14 | Quebec HC | 1 | Victorias | 1 | Victoria Rink | |
| 18 | Crystals | 3 | Victorias | 1 | Victoria Rink | |
| 21 | Ottawa HC | 5 | Quebec HC | 3 | Quebec Skating Rink | |
| 23 | Montreal HC | 7 | Victorias | 5 | Victoria Rink | |
| 28 | Victorias | 2 | Ottawa HC | 7 | Rideau Rink | |
| 28 | Montreal HC | 3 | Quebec HC | 2 | Quebec Skating Rink | |
| Feb. | 3 | Ottawa HC | 4 | Crystals | 3 | Crystal Rink |
| 4 | Victorias | 3 | Quebec HC | 4 | Quebec Skating Rink | |
| 10 | Quebec HC | 2 | Montreal HC | 9 | Victoria Rink | |
| 11 | Crystals | 1 | Ottawa HC | 11 | Rideau Rink | |
| 18 | Crystals | 3 | Quebec HC | 8 | Quebec Skating Rink | |
| 18 | Ottawa HC | 1 | Montreal HC | 7 | Victoria Rink | |
| 23 | Victorias | 3 | Crystals | 4 | Crystal Rink | |
| Mar. | 3 (†) | Crystals | 2 | Montreal HC | 2 | Victoria Rink |
| 4 | Montreal HC | 6 | Victorias | 1 | Victoria Rink | |
| 10 (††) | Montreal HC | 2 | Crystals | 1 | Crystal Rink | |
| 17 | Quebec HC | 0 | Ottawa HC | 14 | Rideau Rink | |
† Game awarded to Montreal because Crystals refused to continue.
†† Montreal clinches league championship.
Source: Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1.[1]
Player Stats
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored
| Name | Club | GP | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haviland Routh | Montreal HC | 8 | 12 |
| Reginald Bradley | Ottawa HC | 8 | 11 |
| AE Dolly Swift | Quebec HC | 8 | 11 |
| Chauncey Kirby | Ottawa HC | 8 | 10 |
| William Murray | Montreal Crystals | 7 | 9 |
| Shirley Davidson | Montreal Victorias | 6 | 8 |
| Jack Kerr | Ottawa HC | 7 | 7 |
| Billy Barlow | Montreal HC | 7 | 7 |
| Archie Hodgson | Montreal HC | 8 | 7 |
| Dave Brown | Montreal Crystals | 7 | 7 |
- Source
Coleman(1966) pp. 9–10
Goaltending averages
Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
| Name | Club | GP | GA | SO | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Paton | Montreal HC | 8 | 18 | 0 | 2.3 |
| Albert Morel | Ottawa HC | 8 | 22 | 1 | 2.8 |
| Herbert Collins | Crystals | 8 | 34 | 1 | 4.3 |
| Robert Jones | Victorias | 8 | 35 | 0 | 4.4 |
| Harry Patton | Quebec HC | 7 | 32 | 0 | 4.6 |
| Frank Stocking | Quebec HC | 1 | 14 | 0 | 14.0 |
Championship
Montreal HC won the championship for placing first in the regular season. This was Montreal HC's third straight championship since the Championship Trophy was inaugurated in 1891. According to the terms for the trophy, Montreal HC was allowed to keep the Trophy.[2] A new version was struck for following seasons (this new version is on display at the MAA building at 2070 rue Peel Street, Montreal). The version won 1891-1893 that was gifted to Montreal is on display in the collection of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
As champions of the AHAC, the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup (known today as the Stanley Cup) was to be awarded to Montreal as its inaugural champion. On May 15, 1893, Sheriff John Sweetland finally presented the trophy to the MAAA president J. A. Taylor during the MAAA annual meeting at the Montreal Gymnasium SW corner of Mansfield and de Maisonneuve in Montreal. This was the first MAAA clubhouse before they moved to Peel Street in 1905. Each player received a souvenir gold ring as a gift of the MAAA.[3] Disputes between the Montreal HC and the MAAA kept the Cup in the MAAA hands until it was accepted by the Club on February 23, 1894.[4]
Therefore, contrary to what was previously believed, the first Stanley Cup was not awarded at the Victoria Skating Rink but at Crystal Rink on March 10, 1893, at the SE corner of what is now Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest {then Dorchester} & Rue Guy in Montreal. The rink was inset eastward from Guy, closer to Mackay, but the lot took up the entire corner. This was not the original Crystal Palace, which had stood where the Palace Theatre would later be built on Sainte-Catherine Street, and was dismantled and relocated to what is now Mile End in 1878. We know it was at the Dorchester rink because the owner of Crystals was "Genial" Sam Robertson, who also owned the Dorchester Street rink.
The March 11, 1893 Montreal Daily Star (see image to the right) demonstrates that the Montreal Hockey Club understood the stakes: a victory that night would secure the AHAC trophy as regular season champions. The Stanley Cup itself was yet to be formally named and had been donated the previous year by Governor-General Lord Stanley of Preston, and the players possibly knew it also was on the line — the Cup appears prominently in the team's 1893 photograph (see above), positioned in front of the AHAC trophy. No playoff existed yet to determine a champion (unless a tie-breaker was needed); the title went to whoever finished atop the regular season standings. That would change the following year, when hockey's first playoff was held at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal.
So, there are really four points of interest in Montreal when it comes to the first Stanley Cup.
1. MAAA/MHC defeated Ottawa Hockey Club 7-1, in what effectively was the championship game at Victoria Skating Rink (site on Stanley Street in downtown Montreal) on February 18, 1893.
2. MHC defeated Crystals at Crystal Palace (SE corner of what is now Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest & Rue Guy in Montreal) to clinch first place and the AHAC championship (and the Stanley Cup) on March 10.
3. However, two disputes needed to be settled at a special meeting on March 13 before the AHAC title was confirmed to MHC. The meeting took place at the offices of James Caruthers at 3416 Av. du Parc, Montreal (formerly 699 Sherbrooke St.). Both decisions would have an impact as MHC ended up finishing one game ahead of the Ottawa Hockey Club. Ottawa won the Quebec protest, but MHC were also favored in the protest filed by Crystals, thereby confirming the AHAC championship and (eventually) the first Stanley Cup.
4. On May 15, 1893, Sheriff John Sweetland finally presented the trophy to the MAAA president J. A. Taylor during the MAAA annual meeting at the Montreal Gymnasium SW corner of Mansfield and de Maisonneuve in Montreal.
Stanley Cup engraving
| Players |
|---|
| Forwards |
| Billy Barlow ^ |
| Archie Hodgson ^ |
| "Harvie" Routh ^ |
| Alex Kingan ^ |
| Alex Irving ^ |
| George Low ^ |
| Defencemen |
| Allan Cameron (point) |
| † James A. Stewart (cover point |
| Goaltender |
| Tom Paton |
- ^ Unknown who played Center, Rover, Right Wing and Left Wing, so the players are listed as forwards
non-players=
- Harry L. Shaw (Manager/Secretary-Treasurer)
- James Taylor (President of AAA) (Missing from team picture)
See also
References
Bibliography
- Coleman, Charles L. (1966) [1964]. The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc. pp. 8–12.
- Diamond, Dan, ed. (1992). The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup centennial book. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-2803-2.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
Notes
- ↑ Coleman 1966, pp. 8–12.
- ↑ "Senior Championship Trophy". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ↑ "Governor-General's Cup. A Handsome Trophy Was Presented to the M.A.A.A. last night". Montreal Gazette. May 16, 1893. p. 8.
- ↑ Diamond, p.14