1895 AHAC season

1895 AHAC season
League	Amateur Hockey Association of Canada
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	January 3 – March 8, 1895
Number of teams	5
1895
Champions	Montreal Victorias

Ottawa HC in 1895.

The 1895 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada season lasted from January 3 until March 8. Each team played 8 games, and Montreal Victorias were first with a 6–2–0 record. After a required Stanley Cup challenge played between the 1894 winners, Montreal HC and Queen's, champion of the Ontario Hockey Association, the Victorias inherited the Stanley Cup as league champions.

Executive

• Watson Jack, Victorias (President)
• A. Laurie, Quebec (1st. Vice-Pres.)
• Weldy Young, Ottawa (2nd. Vice-Pres.)
• J. A. Findlay, Montreal (Sec.-Treasurer)

Regular season

Highlights

The Crystals suffered three straight defeats to open the season. After this, they decided independently to merge with the Montreal Shamrocks. On February 2, this new team defeated Quebec 2–1. The game was protested by Quebec and the result was cancelled and not replayed.

Another game involving Quebec was noteworthy, on February 23 against Ottawa, won by Ottawa 3–2. The game, played at Quebec, was very rough and the crowd became hostile towards the visitors. At the end of the match, the crowd pursued referee Hamilton and Umpire Findlay as they left the arena, and dragged them back to force them to declare the game a draw. Police were called to break up the demonstration. Subsequent to the match, the AHAC decided to suspend the Quebec hockey club for the rest of the season.

Final Standing

Team	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Victorias	8	6	2	0	35	20
Montreal Hockey Club	8	4	4	0	33	22
Ottawa	8	4	4	0	25	24
Montreal Crystals	7	3	4	0	21	39
Quebec	7	2	5	0	18	27

Schedule and results

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	3	Crystals	2	Victorias	7
	5	Montreal	2	Quebec	4
	5	Crystals	1	Ottawa	9
	10	Crystals	1	Montreal	9
	12	Ottawa	1	Victorias	5
	19	Ottawa	2	Montreal	3
	19	Victorias	3	Quebec	4
	26	Quebec	0	Ottawa	1
	26	Victorias	0	Montreal	5
Feb.	2 (†)	Crystals	2	Quebec	1
	9	Quebec	3	Montreal	6
	16	Montreal	3	Ottawa	4	(12' overtime)
	16	Quebec	2	Victorias	8
	23	Ottawa	3	Quebec	2
	23	Montreal	2	Victorias	4
	27 (††)	Quebec	3	Crystals	4
Mar.	2	Montreal	3	Crystals	4
	2	Victorias	3	Ottawa	2
	6 (†††)	Ottawa	3	Crystals	7
	8	Victorias	5	Crystals	2

† Game void following protest by Quebec over Crystals use of ineligible players

†† Quebec team suspended after attack on officials after game of February 23

††† Victorias clinch league championship

Player statistics

Goaltending averages

Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	GAA
McDougall, A.*	Victorias	1	1		1.0
Jones, Robert	Victorias	4	8		2.0
Fenwick, Jim	Victorias	1	2		2.0
Collins, Herbert	Montreal	8	22	1	2.7
Chittick, Fred	Ottawa	6	18	1	3.0
Westwick, Harry	Ottawa	2	6		3.0
White, James "Shiner"	Crystals	1	4		3.7
Stocking, Frank	Quebec	7	27		3.9
McDougall, Hartland*	Victorias	2	9		4.5
Lyons, H.	Crystals	2	16		8.0

Note: Although A. Mcdougall is recorded in most hockey sources as to playing goal for the Montreal Victorias on January 12, 1895, and allowing one goal only, primary sourcing can show that Hartland MacDougall actually played goal for the Vics between January 12 and January 26 before being replaced by Robert Jones.

Leading scorers

Name	Club	GP	G
Routh, Haviland	Montreal	8	19
Rankin, Norman	Victorias	8	11
Swift, Albert E.	Quebec	6	10
Russell, Herbert	Ottawa	8	10
Robert MacDougall	Victorias	8	10
Drinkwater, Graham	Victorias	8	9
Fairbairn,	Crystals	5	6
Hodgson, Archie	Montreal	6	6
Kirby, Chauncey	Ottawa	7	5
Smith, Alf	Ottawa	8	5

Source

Coleman(1966) pp. 22–24.

Stanley Cup challenges

Montreal vs. Queen's

On March 8, 1895, the Montreal Victorias won the 1895 AHAC title, finishing the season with a 6–2 record. Under the Stanley Cup rules, the team would also be awarded the Stanley Cup as league champions. However, the trustees ruled that a challenge between the previous year's champion Montreal HC and the squad from Queen's University, the champions of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), would have to be played first to determine if the Cup remained with the AHAC. Thus, it was decided that if the Montreal HC won the challenge match, the Victorias would become the Stanley Cup champions. The Montreal HC would eventually win the game, 5–1, and their crosstown rivals were crowned the champions.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
March 9, 1895	Montreal Hockey Club	5–1	Queen's University	Victoria Rink
Montreal Victorias wins the Cup based on winning the AHAC title, and Montreal HC defeating Queen's University

Billy Barlow, the star player of Montreal was not able to play and Clarence McKerrow took his place. McKerrow had not played any games for Montreal, and could be considered a ringer, but there was no protest from Queen's. The Queen's team, although described as looking fast in their tiger jerseys, were no match for Montreal and the game proved uninteresting. Randy McLennan of Queen's would later play for Dawson City Nuggets in their 1905 challenge series against Ottawa.

Queen's U at Montreal

Queens U.	(1)	at	Montreal	(5)
R.C. Hiscock		G	Herbert Collins
Guy Curtis		P	Frank Bickerdike
Fen Taylor		CP	Allan Cameron
A.B. Cunningham		F	Clare Mussen	1
George McKay	1	F	Clarence McKerrow	1
Randy McLennan		F	Haviland Routh	2
G.F. Weatherhead		F	Archie Hodgson	1

Referee—F. C. Chittick

Umpires—Fred McRobie and Alex Robertson

Source

Coleman(1966) pp. 24–25

Stanley Cup engravings

While the Montreal Hockey Club won its challenge 5–1, it was not presented with the Stanley Cup.

Players

  Forwards

• Charles Archibald^
• Billy Barlow^
• Norman Dawes^
• Archie Hodgson^
• Clarence McKerrow^
• Aubrey Mussen^
• Haviland Routh^

  Defencemen

• Frank Bickerdike (point),
• Allan Cameron Jr. (cover point),
• George James (cover point),
• Clare Mussen (point),

  Goaltenders

• Herbert Collins

Coaching and administrative staff

• James Stewart (President), Harry L. Shaw (Manager/Secretary-Treasurer)
• ^Unknown who played Center, Rover, Right Wing and Left Wing, so the players are listed as forwards

Players

  Forwards

• Graham Drinkwater (rover)
• Shirley Davidson (forward)^
• Robert MacDougall (forward)^
• Norman Rankin (forward)^

  Defencemen

• Howard Henderson (point)
• Roland Elliot (point)@
• William Pullan (point)@
• Mike Grant (cover point) Captain

  Goaltenders

• Robert Jones
• Jim Fenwick@
• Hartland MacDougall*@

Coaching and administrative staff

• Watson Jack (President),
• Fred Meredith (Hon. President),
• P.M. Desterneck (Secretary/Treasurer)&,
• George R. Hooper (Director)

On-team program - Mr. T.P. Howard, Mr. A.G. Robertson, Mr. W.L. Jamieson, Mr. Frank Howard Wilson (Executives), Mr. W.D. Stephen (Vice President), but missing from the Stanley Cup winning picture.

• & Unknown first name.
• ^Unknown who played Centre, Right Wing and Left Wing, so the players are listed as forwards

@-Missing from the team picture

Stanley Cup engraving

• VICTORIAS
• – of –
• MONTREAL
• – 1895 –

• note: Jim Fenwick would leave the team at the end of the season.
• Some sources say A. MacDougall, and Hartland MacDougall each played the one game in goal. There no official records of an A. MacDougall ever playing hockey for the Montreal Victorias. So it was most likely that Hartland played both games, and an H just looked like an A. (page 22, 24 Trail of Stanley Cup Vol 1., by Charles Coleman)

.

See also

• List of pre-NHL seasons
• List of Stanley Cup champions

References

Bibliography

• Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7