1910–11 NHA season

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1910–11 NHA season
League National Hockey Association
Sport Ice hockey
Duration December 31, 1910 – March 10, 1911
Number of games 16
Number of teams 5
Regular season
Top scorer Marty Walsh (35)
O'Brien Cup
O'Brien Cup champions Ottawa Hockey Club
  Runners-up Montreal Canadiens
NHA seasons

The 1910–11 NHA season was the second season of the now defunct National Hockey Association. The Ottawa Hockey Club won the league championship. Ottawa took over the Stanley Cup from the Montreal Wanderers and defended it against teams from Galt, Ontario, and Port Arthur, Ontario.

League business

The annual meeting was held November 12, 1910, electing the following executive:

  • Emmett Quinn (president and secretary)

Directors:

  • Eddie McCafferty, Wanderers
  • John Ambrose O'Brien, Renfrew
  • W. P. Humphrey, Shamrocks
  • George Kennedy, Canadiens
  • Joe Power, Quebec

The Shamrocks resigned from the league and were not replaced. The Club Athletique-Canadien and the Quebec Hockey Club were granted franchises. Haileybury and Cobalt left the league. Club-Athletique-Canadien had made a claim on the Canadiens name and threatened a lawsuit if they were not granted a franchise. There are three written descriptions of this transaction. Coleman(1966) writes that George Kennedy, president of the CAC bought the Haileybury franchise. In Andy O'Brien's book, Ambrose O'Brien is quoted as saying that he sold the Canadiens to Kennedy. In Holzman's book, the franchise was given to Kennedy, but Kennedy had to pay O'Brien for the rights to Newsy Lalonde. In The Globe of March 7, 1911, it is claimed that Lalonde's sale was the first ever sale of a player.[1]

The NHA decided to impose a $5,000 per team salary cap.[2]

A second meeting, on November 26, 1910, updated the Board of Directors to:

  • D'Arcy McGee, Ottawa
  • James A. Barnett, Renfrew
  • Adolphe Lecours, Canadiens
  • Joe Power, Quebec
  • Eddie McCafferty, Wanderers

The salary cap, while opposed by the players was upheld at the meeting.

Source: Coleman, p. 201–203.

Salary cap

The salary cap of $5000 per club caused a situation where Bruce Stuart of Ottawa threatened a mass defection to a new league.[3] However, the players found that the Arena Company, owners of the Montreal Arena would not rent to the players.[4] There was no other suitable arena in Montreal available for a new league and the players had no choice but to abandon the effort.[5] Some players took a large cut in salary: Marty Walsh, Fred Lake and Dubby Kerr were paid $600 each where they had been paid $1200 each in 1910. The dispute caused the cancellation of a pre-season exhibition series in New York for the Ottawas and Wanderers.[6]

Rule changes

Games were changed from two periods of 30 minutes, to three periods of twenty minutes, with ten-minute rest periods. The Spalding hockey puck was adopted as the standard puck.[7]

Regular season

The Ottawa team, 1911 Stanley Cup winners

Final standings

National Hockey Association
  GP W L T GF GA
Ottawa Hockey Club 16 13 3 0 122 69
Montreal Canadiens 16 8 8 0 66 62
Renfrew Creamery Kings 16 8 8 0 91 101
Montreal Wanderers 16 7 9 0 73 88
Quebec Bulldogs 16 4 12 0 65 97

[8]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Stanley Cup challenges

Ottawa played two challenges after the season at The Arena in Ottawa.

Galt vs. Ottawa

March 13, 1911[9]
Galt 4 at Ottawa 7
Billy Hague G Percy LeSueur
Billy Baird P Fred Lake 1
Ras Murphy CP Hamby Shore
Tommy Smith 1 RO Jack Darragh
Jim Mallen C Marty Walsh 3
Louis Berlinguette 2 RW Bruce Ridpath 2
Fred Doherty 1 LW Albert Kerr 1

Port Arthur vs. Ottawa

Marty Walsh was a "one-man wrecking crew", scoring ten goals against Port Arthur.

March 16, 1911[10]
Port Arthur 4 at Ottawa 13
Herman Zeigler G Percy LeSueur
Paddy McDonough P Fred Lake
Eddie Carpenter 1 CP Hamby Shore
Jack Walker 1 RO Jack Darragh
Mickey O'Leary C Marty Walsh 10
Willard McGregor 1 RW Bruce Ridpath 2
Wes Wellington 1 LW Albert Kerr 1

Post-season exhibition series

After the season a series was arranged between Renfrew and Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa to play in New York. Renfrew and Montreal played first, with the winner to play-off against Ottawa. After the Wanderers defeated Renfrew 18–5 (13–4, 4–1), Ottawa won a $2,500 prize for the two-game series winning 12–7 ( 7–2, 5–8 ).[11]

Ottawa and Montreal then played a two-game series in Boston on March 22 and March 25, 1911 (the first game being the first professional hockey game in Boston). Ottawa won a $2,500 purse by a total score of 13–11 (5–7, 8–4). Ottawa had picked up Cyclone Taylor from Renfrew to play in the Boston exhibition games.[12]

Date Winning Team Score Losing Team Location
March 17, 1911 Montreal Wanderers 14–4 Renfrew St. Nicholas Rink, New York
March 18, 1911 Montreal Wanderers 4–1 Renfrew
March 20, 1911 Ottawa 7–2 Montreal Wanderers
March 21, 1911 Montreal Wanderers 8–5 Ottawa
March 22, 1911 Montreal Wanderers 7–5 Ottawa Boston Arena, Massachusetts
March 25, 1911 Ottawa 8–4 Montreal Wanderers
Sources
  • "WANDERERS AGAIN DOWN THE RENFREWS; Montreal Skaters Capture the Second Game of Canadian Hockey at Rink.", New York Times, March 19, 1911, p. S2. 
  • "OTTAWA HOCKEY CLUB DOWNS WANDERERS; Stanley Cup Winners Show High Class Team Work and Skating at Local Rink.", New York Times, March 21, 1911, p. 12. 
  • "OTTAWA TEAM WINS $2,500 HOCKEY PURSE; Wanderers of Montreal Beaten in Final Game of Four Nights' Carnival.", New York Times, March 22, 1911, p. 12. 

Schedule and results

Month Day Visitor Score Home Score
Dec. 31 Ottawa 5 Canadiens 3
Jan. 2 Renfrew 2 Quebec 3
5† Wanderers 4 Renfrew 2
7 Canadiens 4 Quebec 1
7 Wanderers 5 Ottawa 10
10 Quebec 4 Wanderers 5 (overtime)
10 Ottawa 5 Renfrew 4
14 Renfrew 1 Canadiens 4
14 Quebec 5 Ottawa 13
16 Quebec 5 Renfrew 10
18 Canadiens 4 Wanderers 5
21 Canadiens 4 Ottawa 5 (overtime)
21 Wanderers 5 Quebec 3
24 Renfrew 5 Ottawa 19
24 Quebec 5 Canadiens 9
27 Canadiens 6 Renfrew 5
28 Ottawa 8 Wanderers 2
Feb. 1 Renfrew 8 Quebec 7
1 Wanderers 6 Canadiens 3
3 Wanderers 5 Renfrew 8
4 Ottawa 6 Quebec 4
7 Canadiens 9 Wanderers 2
11 Quebec 2 Canadiens 3
11 Wanderers 4 Ottawa 9
15‡ Wanderers 4 Renfrew 5 (at Ottawa)
15 Canadiens 4 Quebec 7
18 Renfrew 4 Wanderers 6
18 Ottawa 7 Quebec 2
21 Renfrew 2 Canadiens 4
22 Wanderers 3 Quebec 1
24 Ottawa 7 Renfrew 8
25 Quebec 3 Wanderers 2
27 Quebec 11 Renfrew 10
28 Wanderers 2 Canadiens 3
28 Quebec 2 Ottawa 6
Mar. 2 Ottawa 7 Wanderers 11
2 Canadiens 3 Renfrew 5
4 Renfrew 7 Ottawa 6
7 Wanderers 6 Renfrew 7
8 Ottawa 4 Canadiens 3
10 Canadiens 0 Ottawa 5

† Protested by Renfrew.

‡ Replay of protested game.

Player statistics

Goaltending averages

Name Club GP GA SO Avg.
Georges Vezina Canadiens 16 62 0 3.9
Percy LeSueur Ottawa 16 69 1 4.3
Riley Hern Wanderers 16 88 0 5.5
Paddy Moran Quebec 16 97 0 6.1
Bert Lindsay Renfrew 16 101 0 6.3

Scoring leaders

Player Team GP G PIM
Marty Walsh Ottawa Senators 16 35 51
Dubbie Kerr Ottawa Senators 16 33 45
Don Smith Renfrew Creamery Kings 16 26 49
Bruce Ridpath Ottawa Senators 16 23 51
Odie Cleghorn Renfrew Creamery Kings 16 20 66
Newsly Lalonde Montreal Canadiens 16 19 63
Didier Pitre Montreal Canadiens 16 19 22
Ernie Russell Montreal Wanderers 11 18 26
Jack Darragh Ottawa Senators 16 18 36
Frank Glass Montreal Wanderers 16 17 31
  • Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1, 1893–1926 inc.. NHL. 
  • Holzman, Morey (2002). Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL conquered Hockey. Dundurn Press. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. 
  • O'Brien, Andy (1971). Les Canadiens. McGraw-Hill Ryerson. ISBN 0-07-092950-5. 
  • Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books, 12, 50. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
  1. "Puckerings", The Globe, March 7, 1911, p. 17. 
  2. "Salaries Cut From $1,200 to $500", The Globe, 1910-11-19, p. 29. 
  3. "Bomb in Ottawa Camp", The Globe, 1910-11-24, p. 10. 
  4. "Still in the air", The Globe, 1910-12-13, p. 10. 
  5. "Outlaws Hurrying to Cover", The Globe, 1910-12-14, p. 10. 
  6. "No New York Trip", The Globe, 1910-12-05, p. 10. 
  7. Coleman, p. 202
  8. Standings: Coleman, Charles (1966). Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc.. National Hockey League, 210. 
  9. Galt beaten in a poor game
  10. Ottawa still holds the cup
  11. "OTTAWA TEAM WINS $2,500 HOCKEY PURSE; Wanderers of Montreal Beaten in Final Game of Four Nights' Carnival.", New York Times, March 22, 1911, p. 12. 
  12. "Wanderers lose the $2,500 purse", Montreal Gazette, March 27, 1911, p. 10. 

External links

Preceded by
Montreal Wanderers
March 1910
Ottawa Hockey Club
Stanley Cup Champions

1911
Succeeded by
Quebec Bulldogs
1912


National Hockey Association seasons
1910 - 1910–11 - 1911–12 - 1912–13 - 1913–14 - 1914–15 - 1915–16 - 1916–17 - 1917–18 (NHL)
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