1895 AHAC season

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[]

W. 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	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Victorias	8	6	2	35	20
Montreal Hockey Club	8	4	4	33	22
Ottawa HC	8	4	4	25	24
Montreal Crystals	7	3	4	21	39
Quebec Bulldogs	7	2	5	18	27

Results[]

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Jan.	3	Crystals	2	Victorias	7
	5	Crystals	1	Ottawa	9
	5	Montreal	2	Quebec	4
	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.

Goalkeeper Averages[]

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
McDougall, A.	Victorias	1	1		1.0
Jones, Robert	Victorias	4	8		2.0
Fenwick, Arthur	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,	Crystals	1	4		3.7
Stocking, Frank	Quebec	7	27		3.9
McDougall, Hartland	Victorias	2	9		4.5
Lyons,	Crystals	2	16		8.0

Leading scorers[]

Name	Club	GP	G
Routh, Haviland	Montreal	8	19
Rankin, Norman	Victorias	8	11
Swift, Arthur E.	Quebec	6	10
Russell, Herbert	Ottawa	8	10
McDougall, Robert	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, which was then part of the 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 HC	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.^[1]

Queen's U at Montreal

Referee -- F. C. Chittick Umpires -- Fred McRobie and Alex Robertson

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

Source

Coleman(1966) pp. 24-25

Montreal H.C. Stanley Cup 1895 challenge champions[]

Herb Collins (goal), Charles Archibald (forward), Billy Barlow (forward), Frank Bickerdike (point), Allan Cameron (coverpoint), Norman Dawes (forward), Archie Hodgson (forward), George James (coverpoint), Clarence McKerrow (forward), Aubrey Mussen (forward), Clarence Mussen (point), Haviland Routh (forward)

Non-players

James Stewart (President), Harry Shaw (Manager/Secretary-Treasurer)

Montreal Victorias 1895 Stanley Cup champions[]

Roster

Forwards

Graham Drinkwater (rover)
Shirley Davidson (forward)
Robert McDougall (forward)
Norman Rankin (forward)

Defensemen

Harold Henderson (point)
Ronald Elliot (point)
William Pullan (point)
Mike Grant (coverpoint-Captain)

Goaltenders

Robert Jones (goal)
Jim Fenwick (goal)
A. McDougall (goal)
Hartland McDougall (goal)

Non-players

W. Jack (President), Fred Meredith (Hon. President), P.M. Desterneck (Secretary/Treasurer), G.R. Hooper (Director).

Stanley Cup Engraving

VICTORIAS
-- of --
MONTREAL
-- 1895 --

A. McDougall did not play 1 game in goal for Montreal Victorias in 1895. Hartland McDougall played 2 games.

Preceded by Montreal HC 1894	Montreal Victorias Stanley Cup Champions 1895	Succeeded by Winnipeg Victorias February, 1896
Preceded by 1894	AHAC seasons 1895	Succeeded by 1896