1915–16 NHA season

1915–16 NHA season
League National Hockey Association
Sport Ice hockey
Duration December 18, 1915 – March 18, 1916
Number of games 24
Number of teams 5
Regular season
Top scorer Newsy Lalonde (31)
O'Brien Cup
Champions Montreal Canadiens

The 1915–16 NHA season was the seventh season of the National Hockey Association. Five teams would play a 24 game schedule. Montreal Canadiens would win the league championship and defeat the Portland Rosebuds to win their first ever Stanley Cup.

League business

Toronto Blueshirts included the players from the Toronto Shamrocks/Ontarios/Tecumsehs franchise. Before the season, Ed Livingstone, the Shamrocks owner, purchased the Blueshirts franchise from Frank Robinson. At the annual meeting of November 9, 1915, he was ordered to sell the Shamrocks franchise but could not do so as the Pacific Coast Hockey Association 'raided' the franchise and signed its players.

Directors:

President Quinn instituted a rule that officials would be locked in their dressing rooms between periods to disallow influence from the press or players.

Regular season

Several players from the PCHA signed with NHA clubs:

Highlights

On January 23, 1916, Skene Ronan was arrested by Toronto police and charged with assault for hitting Alf Skinner.

On February 23, 1916, Gordon Roberts of the Wanderers drew a match penalty for cutting Ottawa's Frank Nighbor in a game in Montreal. On the next visit of the Wanderers to Ottawa, Roberts was pelted with bottles from the Ottawa fans.[1]

The race for the scoring championship was close between Newsy Lalonde of the Canadiens, Joe Malone of Quebec and Cy Denneny of Toronto. Lalonde would finish with 31 goals in 25 games and Malone and Denneny would tie for second with 26 goals. Clint Benedict of Ottawa would have the best G.A.A. of 3.0 to best Georges Vezina's 3.2 goals per game. Gordon Keats of Toronto would score five goals in a game against Quebec on February 7, 1916. He would finish the season with 22 goals in 24 games.

Final standings

National Hockey Association
GP W L T GF GA
Montreal Canadiens 24 16 7 1 104 76
Ottawa Senators 24 13 11 0 78 72
Quebec Bulldogs 24 10 122 91 98
Montreal Wanderers 24 10 140 90 116
Toronto Hockey Club 24 9 141 97 98

[2]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against

Montreal is the champion of the O'Brien Cup.

Playoffs

The Canadiens hosted the Portland Rosebuds, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) in the 'World Series' for the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup Finals

Champions Runners up Format Result
Montreal Canadiens Portland Rosebuds best of 5 3–2

Exhibitions

After the Stanley Cup playoff, Portland and Montreal travelled to New York for two exhibition games. The teams then played two games in Cleveland. Montreal then travelled to Boston to play the winner of an exhibition series played between Ottawa, Quebec and the Wanderers.[3]

Schedule and results

Month Day Visitor Score Home Score
Dec. 18 Canadiens 2 Toronto 1
18 Quebec 5 Wanderers 8
22 Toronto 1 Ottawa 7
22 Wanderers 3 Canadiens 2
25 Ottawa 2 Quebec 3
25 Wanderers 6 Toronto 5
29 Ottawa 0 Wanderers 4
29 Canadiens 2 Quebec 5
Jan. 1 Canadiens 4 Ottawa 2
1 Quebec 4 Toronto 3
5 Toronto 1 Canadiens 6
5 Wanderers 1 Quebec 6
8 Quebec 2 Ottawa 4
8 Canadiens 3 Wanderers 5
12 Ottawa 0 Toronto 1
12 Quebec 3 Canadiens 5
15 Ottawa 5 Canadiens 2
15 Toronto 3 Quebec 4
17 Wanderers 7 Ottawa 3
20 Toronto 4 Wanderers 7
20 Canadiens 2 Quebec 2 (20' OT)
23 Canadiens 1 Toronto 3
23 Quebec 2 Wanderers 1
25 Ottawa 6 Quebec 3
26 Toronto 1 Ottawa 2
26 Wanderers 4 Canadiens 5
29 Ottawa 5 Wanderers 4
29 Toronto 5 Quebec 6 (16'10" OT)
31 Wanderers 2 Toronto 8
Feb. 2 Quebec 0 Ottawa 4
2 Wanderers 9 Canadiens 5
5 Toronto 5 Canadiens 10
5 Wanderers 5 Quebec 8
7 Wanderers 1 Ottawa 3
7 Quebec 5 Toronto 11
9 Ottawa 2 Canadiens 3 (7'20" OT)
9 Toronto 3 Quebec 3 (20' OT)
12 Canadiens 3 Ottawa 1
12 Toronto 1 Wanderers 3
16 Ottawa 1 Toronto 3
16 Quebec 3 Canadiens 4
19 Toronto 2 Ottawa 5
19 Wanderers 3 Canadiens 1
23 Ottawa 4 Wanderers 3
23 Canadiens 3 Quebec 2
26 Ottawa 2 Toronto 9
26 Quebec 3 Canadiens 4 (15" OT)
28 Wanderers 2 Ottawa 6
Mar. 1 Wanderers 2 Quebec 6
1 Toronto 3 Canadiens 7
4 Canadiens 15 Wanderers 5
4 Quebec 5 Toronto 7
8 Quebec 5 Ottawa 8
8 Toronto 3 Wanderers 2
11 Ottawa 1 Canadiens 4
11 Wanderers 2 Toronto 10
13 Ottawa 4 Quebec 0
15 Canadiens 5 Ottawa 1
15 Quebec 6 Wanderers 1
18 Canadiens 6 Toronto 4

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM
Pitre, DidierDidier Pitre Montreal Canadiens 24 24 15 39 42
Malone, JoeJoe Malone Quebec Bulldogs 24 25 10 35 21
Lalonde, NewsyNewsy Lalonde Montreal Canadiens 24 28 6 34 78
Keats, DukeDuke Keats Toronto Blueshirts 24 22 7 29 112
Denneny, CyCy Denneny Ottawa Senators 24 24 4 28 57
Roberts, GordonGordon Roberts Montreal Wanderers 21 18 7 25 64
Nighbor, FrankFrank Nighbor Ottawa Senators 23 19 5 24 26
Denneny, CorbCorb Denneny Toronto Blueshirts 22 20 3 23 75
Crawford, RustyRusty Crawford Quebec Bulldogs 22 18 5 23 54
Cleghorn, OdieOdie Cleghorn Montreal Wanderers 21 15 7 22 51

Leading goaltenders

Name Club GP GA SO Avg.
Clint Benedict Ottawa 24 72 1 3.0
Georges Vezina Canadiens 24 76 3.2
Paddy Moran Quebec 22 82 3.7
Percy LeSueur Toronto 23 92 1 4.0
Bert Lindsay Wanderers 23 110 1 4.8
Harry Holmes Toronto 1 6 6.0
Billy Hague Wanderers 1 6 6.0
Rochon Quebec 2 16 8.0

See also

References

  1. ↑ Coleman, p. 290
  2. ↑ Standings: Coleman, Charles (1966). Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc. National Hockey League. p. 293.
  3. ↑ "Canadiens and Rosebuds Leave for New York". Montreal Daily Mail. April 4, 1916. p. 10.
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