1917–18 Ottawa Senators season

1917–18 Ottawa Senators
1917–18 record	5–9–0 (1st half) 4–4–0 (2nd half)
Home record	6–4–0
Road record	3–9–0
Goals for	103
Goals against	114
Team information
General Manager	Tommy Gorman
Coach	Eddie Gerard, Harry Hyland
Captain	Jack Darragh
Arena	The Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Cy Denneny (36)
Points	Cy Denneny (36)
Penalties in minutes	Cy Denneny (34)
Wins	Clint Benedict (9)
Goals against average	Clint Benedict (5.12)

The 1917–18 Ottawa Senators season was the team's first season in the newly formed National Hockey League (NHL) and 33rd season of play overall. The Senators, along with the Montreal and Quebec franchises of the National Hockey Association (NHA), voted to suspend the NHA and form the NHL. Ottawa would finish second and third in the first and second halves of the season, and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Regular season

Frank Nighbor was in the Air Corps and did not rejoin the team until later in the season. Horace Merrill quit ice hockey prior to the season, but would eventually play in a few games for the team. Rusty Crawford played for the Senators until Nighbor returned.

The Senators began their membership in the new NHL with a 7–4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at The Arena in Ottawa on December 19, 1917. The game began with team regulars Jack Darragh and Hamby Shore holding out in a contract dispute. This would be resolved in time for the second period. By then, the Canadiens had a 3–0 lead and the Senators could not make up the difference. Joe Malone of the Canadiens scored five goals in the win.^[1]

The team would record their first NHL win a week later on the December 26 on the road against the Montreal Wanderers. The Senators would then record their first ever NHL home win three days later against the same Wanderers.

The Wanderers withdrew from the league six games into the season due to a fire burning down their arena, so that left the NHL with three teams, the Senators, Canadiens and the Torontos. Ottawa picked up Dave Ritchie and Harry Hyland in the dispersal of players. Hyland would become Ottawa's playing coach. Ottawa would finish third in the first half, and second in the second half to miss out on the playoffs.

Cy Denneny would lead the team in scoring with 36 goals, behind only Joe Malone of the Canadiens in league scoring. Goaltender Clint Benedict would win all nine games for the team, and post a 5.12 GAA.

Final standings

First Half
	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	14	10	4	20	81	47
Toronto Hockey Club	14	8	6	16	71	75
Ottawa Senators	14	5	9	10	67	79
Montreal Wanderers	6	1	5	2	17	35

Second Half
	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto Hockey Club	8	5	3	10	37	34
Ottawa Senators	8	4	4	8	35	35
Montreal Canadiens	8	3	5	6	34	37

^[2] Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
The Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down.
These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played.^[3]

Record vs. opponents

1917-18 NHL Records
Team	MON	MTW	OTT	TOR
M. Canadiens	—	2–0	6–4	5–5
M. Wanderers	0–2	—	0–2	1–1
Ottawa	4–6	2–0	—	3–7
Toronto	5–5	1–1	7–3	—

Schedule and results

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts
1	December 19	Montreal Canadiens	7–4	Ottawa Senators	0–1–0	0
2	December 22	Ottawa Senators	4–11	Toronto	0–2–0	0
3	December 26	Ottawa Senators	6–3	Montreal Wanderers	1–2–0	2
4	December 29	Montreal Wanderers	2–9	Ottawa Senators	2–2–0	4
5	January 2	Toronto	6–5	Ottawa Senators	2–3–0	4
6	January 5	Ottawa Senators	5–6	Montreal Canadiens	2–4–0	4
7	January 12	Ottawa Senators	4–9	Montreal Canadiens	2–5–0	4
8	January 14	Toronto	6–9	Ottawa Senators	3–5–0	6
9	January 16	Ottawa Senators	4–5	Toronto	3–6–0	6
10	January 21	Montreal Canadiens	5–3	Ottawa Senators	3–7–0	6
11	January 23	Ottawa Senators	4–3	Montreal Canadiens	4–7–0	8
12	January 26	Toronto	3–6	Ottawa Senators	5–7–0	10
13	January 30	Montreal Canadiens	5–2	Ottawa Senators	5–8–0	10
14	February 4	Ottawa Senators	2–8	Toronto	5–9–0	10
15	February 6	Montreal Canadiens	3–6	Ottawa Senators	6–9–0	12
16	February 11	Ottawa Senators	1–3	Toronto	6–10–0	12
17	February 13	Toronto	6–1	Ottawa Senators	6–11–0	12
18	February 16	Ottawa Senators	4–10	Montreal Canadiens	6–12–0	12
19	February 23	Ottawa Senators	3–9	Toronto	6–13–0	12
20	February 25	Montreal Canadiens	0–8	Ottawa Senators	7–13–0	14
21	February 27	Ottawa Senators	3–1	Montreal Canadiens	8–13–0	16
22	March 6	Toronto	3–9	Ottawa Senators	9–13–0	18

Player statistics

Scoring

Player	GP	G	Pts	PIM
Cy Denneny	22	36	36	34
Jack Darragh	18	14	14	3
Eddie Gerard	21	13	13	12
Frank Nighbor	9	11	11	3
Buck Boucher	22	9	9	27
Harry Hyland	12	8	8	3
Dave Ritchie	13	5	5	9
Hamby Shore	18	3	3	0
Eddie Lowrey	11	2	2	3
Rusty Crawford	11	1	1	9
Sammy Hebert	1	0	0	0
Horace Merrill	4	0	0	0
Morley Bruce	7	0	0	0
Clint Benedict	22	0	0	0

Source: hockeydb.com^[4]

Goaltending

Player	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA
Sammy Hebert	1	10	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Clint Benedict	22	1337	9	13	0	114	1	5.12

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Roster

1917–18 Ottawa Senators

Goaltenders

-- – Clint Benedict

Defencemen

-- – Georges Boucher
-- – Morley Bruce
-- – Horace Merrill
-- – Dave Ritchie
-- – Hamby Shore

Wingers

-- – Rusty Crawford
-- – Jack Darragh – C
-- – Cy Denneny
-- – Eddie Gerard
-- – Harry Hyland

Centres

-- – Ed Lowrey
-- – Frank Nighbor
GM: Tommy Gorman
Coach: Eddie Gerard
Coach: Harry Hyland

References

National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007

↑ "The Canadiens Won Easily at Ottawa". Toronto World. December 20, 1917. p. 8.
↑ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
↑ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos.
↑ "1917–18 Ottawa Senators". hockeydb.com. Retrieved June 26, 2011.

External links

Ottawa Hockey Club / Ottawa Senators (original) seasons
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Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup or other championship

1917–18 NHL season
Original Four	Montreal Canadiens Montreal Wanderers Ottawa Toronto
See also	Stanley Cup Finals Transactions

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