Montreal Victorias

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A photo of the club taken in 1881 in Quebec.
A photo of the club taken in 1881 in Quebec. [1]

The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey team, first organized in 1881,[2] making it the second organized ice hockey club after McGill College. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The club was winners of the Stanley Cup in 1895 and held it except for a period in 1896 until 1898. The club remained amateur, splitting from the ranks of teams turned professional in 1908. The amateur hockey club was the first winner of the Allan Cup and continued in play until 1939.

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[edit] Team history

Interest in ice hockey at the Victoria Skating Club in Montreal, dates to at least 1875, when the first recorded organized hockey game took place on its rink, the Victoria Skating Rink, which had opened in 1862, between skating club members and McGill students. The Victoria Hockey Club was organized in 1881, the second organized club after McGill. At this time, there was no league play, only organized exhibitions and tournaments, such as the Montreal Winter Carnival hockey tournaments.

In 1886, the club helped to found the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC). The team played in this league from 1887-1898. It was during this period that the team had its greatest success, winning the Stanley Cup in 1895, December 1896, 1897, 1898 and February 1899. They also won the AHAC league in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898. In 1894, the team participated in the first Stanley Cup playoff, losing 3–2 to Montreal in the semi-final.

The team resigned from the AHAC in 1899 over the proposal to allow the Ottawa Capitals into the league, and helped form the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) in which they played from 1899-1905. The CAHL itself folded in 1905 and the team helped found the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. The league allowed amateurs and professionals to play against each other openly. The Victorias played in the league for two years as a purely amateur team leaving the ECAHA after the 1908 season to focus on amateur play.

Stanley Cup champions, 1897.
Stanley Cup champions, 1897. [3]

In 1908, the new Allan Cup was awarded to the Victorias as the top amateur team at the time. The Victorias remained active in senior-league amateur play in the Interprovincial Amateur Hockey Union and the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association.

The Victoria Skating Rink was closed in 1937 and the Victoria Hockey Club ceased activities in 1939.[4]

[edit] Season by Season Record

Prior to 1893–94, season play was arranged in challenges or exhibitions.

Season League Games W L T GF GA Pts Standing Playoffs
1893–94 AHAC 8 5 3 0 36 20 10 1st(tie) Lost 3–2 to Montreal HC
1894–95 AHAC 8 6 2 0 12 35 20 1st Won Stanley Cup
1895–96 AHAC 8 7 1 0 14 41 24 1st Lost Stanley Cup in challenge to Winnipeg Victorias
1896–97 AHAC 8 7 1 0 14 48 26 1st Won Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Winnipeg
1897–98 AHAC 8 8 0 0 16 53 33 1st Defended Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Ottawa Capitals
1898–99 CAHL 8 6 2 0 12 44 23 2nd Defended Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Winnipeg Victorias

Lost Stanley Cup to league champions Montreal Shamrocks

1899–1900 CAHL 8 2 6 0 4 44 55 4th --
1900–01 CAHL 8 4 3 1 9 45 32 2nd --
1901–02 CAHL 8 4 4 0 8 36 25 3rd --
1902–03 CAHL 8 6 2 0 12 48 33 2nd --
1903–04 CAHL 8 5 3 0 10 75 48 2nd --
1904–05 CAHL 10 9 1 0 18 64 32 1st Did not play challenge for Stanley Cup
1905–06 ECAHA 10 6 4 0 12 76 73 3rd --
1906–07 ECAHA 10 6 4 0 12 101 70 3rd --
1907–08 ECAHA 10 4 6 0 8 73 78 5th --
1935–36 QAHA 22 8 9 5 64 80 22 5th --
1936–37 QAHA 22 7 12 3 58 65 18 6th --
1937–38 QAHA 22 8 11 3 63 74 21 6th --
1938–39 QAHA 22 5 15 3 66 79 16 6th --
  • 1893–1908: (Source: Coleman(1966)
  • 1935–39: Point totals include 4 point games against McGill (Source: Ottawa Citizen)

[edit] Stanley Cup Winners for 1895

Robert Jones(goal), Jim Fenwick(goal), A. McDougall(goal), Hartland McDougall(goal), Harold Henderson(point), Ronald Elliot(point), William Pullan(point), Mike Grant(coverpoint-Captain), Graham Drinkwater(rover), Shirley Davidson(forward), Robert McDougall(forward), Norman Rankin (forward).

Non players

W. Jack (President), Fred Meredith (Hon. President), P.M. Desterneck (Secretary/Treasurer), G.R. Hooper (Director).

The team was awarded the Stanley Cup as 1895 champions of the A.H.A.C. regular season.

[edit] See also

[edit] References & Notes

  • Colman, Charles L. The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1896–1926 inc. 
  • Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books, 12, 50. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
  1. ^ Farrell, Arthur (1899). Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game. 
  2. ^ Farrell, Arthur (1899). Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game, pg. 27. 
  3. ^ Farrell, Arthur (1899). Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game. 
  4. ^ Secrétariat au loisir et au sport (2003). Chronologie du sport québécois. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
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