1916–17 Ottawa Senators season

The 1916–17 Ottawa Senators season was the Ottawa Hockey Club's 32nd season of play. This was the 8th and final season of the National Hockey Association. Teams were to play two half-seasons of 10 games each, though this was disrupted. Ottawa won the second half and played off against first-half winner Montreal Canadiens for the NHA title, but lost.

Team business

The Ottawa club wanted to suspend play for the season due to the war, but was voted down.

Regular season

Suspending the Blueshirts

On February 10, 1917, the Blueshirts played their final game, losing 4–1 at home to Ottawa. The following day, a meeting of the NHA executive in Montreal was held to deal with the 228th Battalion leaving for overseas. Toronto proposed continuing with a five-team league, but the other owners instead voted to suspend Toronto's team. The players were dispersed by a drawing of names.^[1] The following day, President Robinson was quoted as stating that the players would return to the club after the season, but he would not guarantee that the club would be allowed to return to play, stating that would be decided at the NHA annual meeting.^[2]

Continuing the season

Ottawa, while not unhappy at the suspension of Toronto, nevertheless lost a game for the use of Cy Denneny in a game against the 228th, and saw the Wanderers and Quebec receive wins for games against the 228th. The club threatened to not play for the rest of the season.^[3] However, cooler heads prevailed and Ottawa went back to work.^[4]

Final standings

National Hockey Association
First Half	GP	W	L	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	10	7	3	58	38
Ottawa Senators	10	7	3	56	41
Toronto 228th Battalion	10	6	4	70	57
Toronto Hockey Club	10	5	5	50	45
Montreal Wanderers	10	3	7	56	72
Quebec Bulldogs	10	2	8	43	80

Second Half	GP	W	L	GF	GA
Ottawa Senators	10	8	2	63	22
Quebec Bulldogs	10	8	2	54	46
Montreal Canadiens	10	3	7	31	42
Montreal Wanderers	10	2	8	38	65

^[5]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against
After the 228th Battalion dropped out, and Toronto suspended, the schedule was revised so that the remaining teams would play a 20 game schedule of two halves
containing 10 games each. Some of the games to that point were moved into the second half. The 'second half' standings therefore include some games that the
228th and Toronto played.

Results

First half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Dec.	27	Ottawa	7	228th	10
Dec.	30	Canadiens	1	Ottawa	7
Jan.	3	Ottawa	10	Wanderers	5
	6	Toronto	2	Ottawa	3
	10	Ottawa	4	Quebec	5
	13	228th	1	Ottawa	1
	17	Ottawa	3	Canadiens	2
	20	Wanderers	5	Ottawa	8
	24	Ottawa	5	Toronto	8
	27	Quebec	2	Ottawa	7

Second half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	31	228th	0	Ottawa‡	8
Feb.	3	Ottawa	2	Canadiens	1
	7	Wanderers	5	Ottawa	8
	10	Ottawa	4	Toronto	1
	14	Canadiens	1	Ottawa	4
	17	Ottawa	2	Quebec	3 (16' OT)
	21	Ottawa	5	Wanderers	3
	24	Wanderers	6	Ottawa	11
	28	Ottawa	3	Canadiens	1
Mar.	3	Quebec	1	Ottawa	16

‡ Ottawa lost game on use of ineligible Cy Denneny.
† Wanderers given win for this game in revised second half.
* 228th was ordered overseas. Toronto club was suspended by league.

Scoring

Player	Team	GP	G
Frank Nighbor	Ottawa	19	41
Jack Darragh	Ottawa	20	26
Corb Denneny	Toronto / Ottawa	20	19
Eddie Gerard	Ottawa	19	17
Hamby Shore	Ottawa	19	11
George Boucher	Ottawa	18	10
Ed Lowrey	Ottawa	19	3
Cy Denneny	Ottawa	10	3
Horace Merrill	Ottawa	18	1
Ernie Stavenau	Ottawa	3	0
Jack Fournier	Ottawa	8	0

Leading Goaltenders

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Clint Benedict	Ottawa	18	50	1	2.8
Ossie Lang	Ottawa	1	5		5.0
Sam Hebert	Quebec/Ottawa	15	84		5.6

Playoffs

Game-by-Game		Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
1	March 7	Montreal Canadiens	5–2	Ottawa Senators	Montreal Arena
2	March 10	Ottawa Senators	4–2	Montreal Canadiens	The Arena, Ottawa
Canadiens win two-game playoff 7–6

The Montreal Canadiens won the O'Brien Cup, but lost to the Seattle Metropolitans of the PCHA in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Awards and records

Frank Nighbor – shared scoring title with Joe Malone with 41 goals

References

Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc. NHL.

↑ "Torontos Out of Pro League". The Globe. February 12, 1917. p. 9.
↑ "NHA Asks $3,000 from 228th Battalion". The Globe. February 13, 1917. p. 9.
↑ "Ottawa to Quit, Too, if NHA Ruling "Goes"". The Globe. February 13, 1917. p. 9.
↑ "Ottawa Club Decides to Finish the Season". The Globe. February 14, 1917. p. 9.
↑ Standings: Coleman, Charles (1966). Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc. National Hockey League. p. 315.

Ottawa Hockey Club / Ottawa Senators (original) seasons

1880s	1880–81 . 1881–82 . 1882–83 . 1883–84 1884–85 . 1885–86 . 1886–87 . 1887–88 . 1888–89 1889–90

1890s	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00

1900s	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10

1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20

1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930s	1930–31 . 1931–32 . 1932–33 1933–34 St. Louis

Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup or other championship

1916–17 NHA season

NHA	Montreal Canadiens Montreal Wanderers Ottawa Quebec Toronto Toronto 228th

See also	Stanley Cup Finals Transactions

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