1896 AHAC season

The 1896 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada season was the tenth season of play of the league. Each team played eight games, and Montreal Victorias were first with a 7–1 record. During the season, on February 14 the Victorias hosted a Stanley Cup challenge match with the Winnipeg Victorias club. Winnipeg won 2–0 to win the Cup.

1896 AHAC season
League	Amateur Hockey Association of Canada
Sport	ice hockey
Duration	January 3, 1896 – March 7, 1896
Number of teams	5
1896
Champion	Montreal Victorias

Executive

• Watson Jack, Victorias (President)
• Weldy Young, Ottawa (1st. Vice-Pres.)
• Clarence Mussen, Montreal (Sec.-Treasurer)

Season

The Crystals were allowed to change their name to Shamrocks, which matched their new affiliation with the Shamrock A.A.A.

Highlights

The Victorias were truly the class of the league and only lost once, 3–2 to Ottawa. Their regular season team goal total was nearly double that of Ottawa.

Final Standing

Team	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Victorias	8	7	1	0	41	24
Ottawa HC	8	6	2	0	22	16
Quebec	8	4	4	0	23	23
Montreal HC	8	2	6	0	24	33
Montreal Shamrocks	8	1	7	0	16	30

Playoffs

There were no playoffs as Montreal won first place exclusively.

Exhibitions

After the season, Montreal and Shamrocks played an exhibition series of games in the United States:[1][2]

Washington, March 7, 1896

• Shamrocks 3, Montreal 1

Baltimore, March 9, 1896

• Montreal 6, Shamrocks 5

New York, March 10, 1896

• Montreal 1, Shamrocks 1 ( completed March 11 with Shamrocks winning 2–1)

The Montreal Victorias travelled to New York City for an exhibition against the New York Athletic Club. The Athletic Club records the date as March 4, (although the date conflicts with an AHAC game), won by the Vics 6–1.[3]

Stanley Cup challenge

Victorias vs. Winnipeg at Montreal

The first successful challenge to the Cup came in February 1896 by the Winnipeg Victorias, the champions of the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA). On February 14, Winnipeg beat defending champion Montreal Victorias, 2–0, becoming the first team outside the AHAC to win the Cup. Winnipeg took a 2–0 lead in the first half of the game on goals by Armytage and Campbell, then played on the defensive in the second half.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
February 14, 1896	Winnipeg Victorias	2–0	Montreal Victorias	Victoria Skating Rink

Members of Winnipeg Victorias who won the Stanley Cup on Feb 14, 1896

Players

  Forwards

• Dan Bain(center)
• Colin "Tote" Campbell(left wing),
• Tom "Attie" Howard(right wing),
• Robert "Bobby" R Benson (Spare-left-right wing),

  Defencemen

• Rod Flett (point)
• Fred Higginbotham (cover point)
• Charles Johnstone(cover point
• Jack "J.C." Armytage(rover- Captain)

  Goaltenders

• George George Merritt
• Jack Sheppard (played 1 regular season game in goal)

Coaching and administrative staff

• E.B. Nixon (President)&
• Able Code (Vice President/Manager)
• J. Carter (Mascot/Trainer)&

Stanley Cup engraving

• VICTORIAS
• - OF -
• WINNIPEG
• 1895
• Winnipeg included the year 1895 instead of 1896, because they defeated the 1895 defending Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Victorias before the 1896 season had been completed. This is not an engraving error.
• An interesting factoid for this 2-0 win over the similarly named Montreal Victorias is that the very first Stanley Cup Parade was held in Winnipeg on Main Street celebrating this victory.
• Two non-players first names are unknown&

Schedule and results

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	3	Victorias	7	Montreal	5
	4	Ottawa	2	Shamrocks	1
	10	Montreal	5	Shamrocks	3
	11	Victorias	7	Quebec	5
	18	Montreal	1	Ottawa	3
	18	Quebec	2	Shamrocks	1
	25	Ottawa	2	Quebec	5
	25	Shamrocks	1	Victorias	5
Feb.	1	Ottawa	3	Victorias	2
	1	Montreal	1	Quebec	3
	5	Shamrocks	5	Montreal	3
	8	Shamrocks	1	Quebec	4
	8	Victorias	3	Ottawa	2 (6'00 overtime)
	15	Ottawa	3	Montreal	2
	22	Quebec	2	Montreal	3
	25	Montreal	4	Victorias	7
	29	Shamrocks	2	Ottawa	3
	29	Quebec	2	Victorias	4
Mar.	4 (†)	Victorias	6	Shamrocks	2
	7	Quebec	0	Ottawa	4

† 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
Fred Chittick	Ottawa	8	16	1	2.0
Frank Stocking	Quebec	8	23		2.9
Robert Jones	Victorias	8	24		3.0
James Drysdale	Shamrocks	8	30		3.8
George Hamilton	Montreal	2	8		4.0
Herbert Collins	Montreal	6	25		4.1

Scoring leaders

Name	Club	GP	G
McDougall, Robert	Victorias	6	10
McKerrow, Clare	Montreal	6	8
Davidson, Shirley	Victorias	7	8
Swift, Albert E.	Quebec	8	8
Westwick, Harry	Ottawa	8	8
Drinkwater, Graham	Victorias	8	7
Smith, Alf	Ottawa	8	7
Doyle, Pat	Quebec	8	6
Gillilan, David	Victorias	3	5
Mussen, Adurey	Montreal	5	5

See also

• 1895–96 MHA season
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• List of pre-NHL seasons

References

• Coleman, Charles L. (1966), The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Podnieks, Andrew Lord Stanley Cup, Fenn Publishing Company, Ltd. 2004
• McKinley, Michael (1993), The Official Book Hockey Hall of Fame Legends, p. 66CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bringall, Richard (2011), The Forgotten Heroes – Winnipeg Hockey Heritage, p. 28CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Notes

1. "Hockeyists in New York", The Globe, p. 8, March 11, 1896
2. "After the puck", The Globe, p. 10, March 12, 1896
3. A monthly magazine devoted to the interests of the New York Athletic Club, 5–6, New York Athletic Club, p. 45.