Montreal Hockey Club
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| Montreal Hockey Club | |
|---|---|
| City: | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| League: | AHAC, CAHL,ECAHA,QAHA |
| Operated: | 1884 to 1933 |
| Home Arena: | Victoria Rink |
| Championships: | AHAC: 1886–1894 Stanley Cup: 1893, 1894, 1902, 1903 |
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884.[1] They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team is notable for winning the first Stanley Cup in 1893, and in a dispute with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, for refusing it. The club is variously known as 'Montreals' and 'Montreal AAA' in literature.
The team played in several early ice hockey leagues, including the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada from 1886 until 1898, winning its championship seven times. The team competed in purely amateur leagues until 1906. After two seasons of playing with professionals, the club left its league, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association to continue playing in amateur competition. It would go on to win the Allan Cup in 1930, the successor of the Stanley Cup as the trophy given to Canadian amateur hockey champions. In 1933, the club would leave the MAAA association and become the Montreal Royals, eventually becoming a 'semi-professional' team in the Quebec Senior Hockey League.
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[edit] History
The club was organized in 1884. The club would be a founding member of the Montreal-based Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886. The team held the Amateur Hockey Association title from 1888 until 1894.
The Stanley Cup, as it would later be known, was to be presented to the Montreal Hockey Club on May 15, 1893, as its initial champions. At the time, the Montreal Hockey Club was in a dispute with its parent organization, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA). The MAAA was split on whether to accept the trophy. The hockey club, was adamant about refusing the trophy, while other arms of the MAAA accepted. Thus, the trophy was accepted by the MAAA, but with none of the hockey officials of the hockey club present.
After accepting the trophy, the hockey club remained adamant about returning the trophy that was presented to them. In the end, the MAAA investigated into why its hockey club wanted to refuse and return the trophy, even though such an action would damage the reputation of the MAAA. It was believed that the people who were in charge of running their team were, in fact, not representative of the team itself, and when the hockey club asked for a loan of $175 in start-up expenses for the 1894 season, it was flatly refused (the first time the MAAA refused anything to the hockey club). Inexplicably, the hockey club reversed its position, and the next few months saw a gradual schism between the MAAA and the club. The inscription on the Cup when it was successfully defended in 1894 only stated "Montreal". The MAAA, at one point, considered the hockey club to have seceded from the organization that bore them. The issue was resolved in later years, after various attempts at reconciliation.
The Club won Stanley Cup challenges in March 1894, March 1902 and February 1903. The 1902 team was known as the "Little Men of Iron"[2] and its players became the core of the very successful Montreal Wanderers which was a professional club.
After the AHAC disbanded in 1898, the club continued in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, winning the league title in 1902. The team played two seasons with professional players, in 1907 and 1907–08, in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association, and after that no longer competed for the Stanley Cup, which was for professional teams.
The association continued to field senior level amateur teams and in 1930, won the Allan Cup, the championship for senior amateur teams in Canada. In 1931, the Club dis-continued its affiliation with the MAAA.[3] In 1933, the club became the Montreal Royals, independent of the association.
[edit] Season-by-season record
| Year | League | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1892 | AHAC | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 21 | -- | - | Defeated Ottawa(1–0) in final challenge to hold championship |
| 1893 | AHAC | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 38 | 18 | -- | 1st | -- Awarded Stanley Cup |
| 1894 | AHAC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 25 | 15 | -- | 1st (four-way tie) | Defeated Victorias (3–2), Ottawa(3–1). Won Stanley Cup |
| 1895 | AHAC | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 33 | 22 | -- | 2nd | -- |
| 1896 | AHAC | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 33 | -- | 4th | -- |
| 1897 | AHAC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 31 | 26 | -- | 3rd | -- |
| 1898 | AHAC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 34 | 21 | -- | 2nd | -- |
| 1899 | CAHL | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 30 | 29 | -- | 4th | -- |
| 1900 | CAHL | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 34 | 36 | -- | 2nd | -- |
| 1901 | CAHL | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 28 | 37 | -- | 4th | -- |
| 1902 | CAHL | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 39 | 15 | -- | 1st | Defeated Winnipeg Victorias 2–1 in best-of-three challenge. Won Stanley Cup |
| 1903 | CAHL | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 34 | 19 | -- | 3rd | Defeated Winnipeg Victorias in best-of-three challenge 8–1, 2–2(abandoned), 2–4, 4–1 to win Stanley Cup Challenge. Lost to Ottawa Senators in two-game CAHL playoff 1–1, 0–8 to lose the Stanley Cup. |
| 1904 | CAHL | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 34 | 49 | -- | 3rd | -- |
| 1905 | CAHL | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 54 | 42 | -- | 3rd | -- |
| 1906 | ECAHA | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 49 | 63 | -- | 5th | -- |
| 1907 | ECAHA | 10 | 3 | 7 | -- | 6 | 58 | 83 | -- | 4th | |
| 1907–08 | ECAHA | 10 | 1 | 9 | -- | 2 | 53 | 205 | -- | 6th | -- |
Starting in 1908, the Montreal Hockey Club played in the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association.
[edit] Notable players
- James E. Norris (1898), later went on to be very successful in the grain, sports, entertainment and transportation industries, and founder of the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, and adapted the MAAA logo for the Red Wings.
- Dickie Boon (1902), founded the Montreal Wanderers, inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 1952.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Farrell, Arthur (1899). Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game, pg. 51.
- ^ Legends of Hockey web site description.
- ^ Library & Archives Canada MAA fonds. Library & Archives Canada. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
