1916 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1916 Stanley Cup Finals was played between the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Montreal Canadiens and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Portland Rosebuds. This was the first time that a best-of-five Cup championship went the distance. Also, the Rosebuds were the first team based in the United States to play for the Cup. The Canadiens defeated the Rosebuds three games to two in the best-of-five game series. This was the Canadiens' first Stanley Cup championship.

1916 Stanley Cup Finals
12345 Total
Montreal Canadiens (NHA) 02652 3
Portland Rosebuds (PCHA) 21361 2
Location(s)Montreal: Montreal Arena
Formatbest-of-five
CoachesMontreal: Newsy Lalonde
Portland: Edward Savage (mgr.)
RefereesHarvey Pulford, J. Brennan
DatesMarch 20–30, 1916
Series-winning goalGoldie Prodger (17:20, third, G5)

Paths to the Finals

Montreal won the NHA title after finishing the 1915–16 regular season in first place with a 16–7–1 record. Meanwhile, Portland clinched the 1915–16 PCHA title with a 13–5 record.

Game summaries

The games of the series were played at Montreal's Montreal Arena as it was the turn of the NHA champions to host the series. This was not the home rink of the Canadiens, but it was larger than their home Jubilee Rink. Games one, three and five were played under NHA rules; Games two and four were played under PCHA rules. Ernie Johnson's share of series revenues was by court order to be paid to the Montreal Wanderers, whom he had left while under contract to go to the PCHA. For the entire series, future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Georges Vezina aided Montreal by posting a 2.60 goals-against average. Didier Pitre led the Canadiens in scoring with 4 goals.

Montreal Canadiens NHA champions Roster - Georges Veznia goalie, Howard McNamara (Captain) point, Bert Corbeau cover point, Didier Pitre center-rover, Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde (Playing-Coach) center, George "Goldie" Prodgers right wing-left wing, Jack Laviolettte left wing, Amous Arbour left wing, Louis Berlinguette left wing, Georges "Skinner" Poulin center, Eskene “Skene” Ronan center right wing, spare Jack Fournier right wing-left wing - U.P. Boudier (President), George "Kennedy", Kendall (Manager-owner).

Portland Rosebuds PCAH champions Roster - Tommy Murray goalie, Del Irvine point, Ernie "Moose" Johnson cover point, Fred "Smokey" Harrius rover-left wing, Tommy Dunderdale center, Eddie Oatman light wing, Charlies Tobin left wing-right wing, Charlie Uksilla left wing, Alf Barbour center, C.D. Doherty (President), Edward Savage (Manager-Coach).

Game one

Portland arrived by train the day before the game but showed no weariness, recording a shutout.

Game two

Despite missing Newsy Lalonde and Jack Laviolette, Montreal behind some heavy checking defeated Portland 2–1 to tie the series.

Game three

Lalonde and Laviolette played in game three. Lalonde got into a fight with Ernie Johnson, requiring the police to break up the fight. Lalonde and Laviolette were ejected for the game and Eddie Oatman received a major penalty. Pitre was the scoring star, scoring three goals to lead the Canadiens to a 6–3 victory.

Game four

The Rosebuds then evened the series with a 6–5 victory in game four. The Rosebuds took a 3–0 lead, only to see the Canadiens tie it and take a 4–3 lead. In the third period Portland's Fred Harris scored twice and Charlie Uksilla scored once to take a 6–4 lead until the last minute when Lalonde scored to make it closer.

Game five

In game five, Portland's Tommy Dunderdale gave his team a 1–0 lead before Skene Ronan tied the game. The seldom-used George Prodger then scored the game and series-winning goal to clinch the Cup for the Canadiens.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1916 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran. The Canadiens never did engrave their name on the Cup for their championship season.

The following Canadiens players and staff were eligible to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1916 Montreal Canadiens

Players

  Centres

‡ also played rover in the Stanley Cup Finals

Coaching and administrative staff

Stanley Cup engraving

Although the Rosebuds did not win the series, the Rosebuds had the words "Portland Ore./PCHA Champions/1915–16" engraved on the Cup after obtaining the trophy from the previous year's champions, the Vancouver Millionaires. This was consistent with the practice at the time that the trophy was passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league. Portland is thus the only city not to win the Cup outright to be listed as champions on the Stanley Cup.

After the series, "Canadian/NHA & World's Champions/Defeated Portland/1915–16" was added to the Cup (Note that the anglicized, singular form of "Canadiens" was engraved).

  • *-Two non-players first names are unknown. Manager-Coach George Kenndey is also known as George Kendall. Montreal Canadian credits him as President in 1916. However, the team picture list U.P. Boucher as president.

References
  • Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol.1 1893–1926 inc. National Hockey League. pp. 299–304.
  • "1915–16 Stanley Cup Winner: Montreal Canadiens". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  • "hockeyleaguehistory.com – Pacific Coast Hockey Association". Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  • Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. pp. 12, 48. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
  • Dan Diamond, ed. (1992). The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book. Firefly Books. pp. 46–47. ISBN 1-895565-15-4.

See also
Preceded by
Vancouver Millionaires
1915		 Montreal Canadiens
Stanley Cup Champions
1916		 Succeeded by
Seattle Metropolitans
1917
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