1913–14 NHA season

The 1913–14 NHA season was the sixth season of the National Hockey Association (NHA). At the end of the regular season, a tie for first place necessitated a playoff to determine the championship and the Stanley Cup. The Toronto Blueshirts defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6–2 in a two-game, total-goals playoff. The Blueshirts then defeated the challenging Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to retain the Cup.

League Business[]

Board of Directors[]

T. Emmett Quinn ( president)
Percy J. Quinn, Toronto
C. Irvin, Ottawa
Sam E. Lichtenhein, Wanderers

Rule Changes[]

The referees now would drop the puck, instead of placing it on the ice.

A goalkeeper lying down to stop a puck would receive a minor penalty and $2 fine.

Penalties were set at $2 fine for minor fouls. Major fouls would cost more per incident, starting at $3 and 5 minutes off, increasing to $5 and 10 minutes, and to $10 and a match penalty.

Deliberate injury was a $15 fine and banishment until the injured player returned to play.

Goalkeeper sticks now had a limit on their width of 3 1/2 inches.

Assists were now to be recorded.

A dark line between the goal posts was now mandatory.

Referees for the season were named:

Leo Dandurand,
Russell Bowie,
Harvey Pulford,
Bob Melville,
Tom Melville, and
Reg Percival.

Regular Season[]

Highlights[]

On January 21, Tommy Smith would score nine goals for Quebec against the Wanderers. He would score 4 against the Canadiens on January 4.

Newsy Lalonde would score six against Wanderers on January 10, and haunt the Wanderers with another five on February 11.

Harry Hyland would score five in a game for the Wanderers against Toronto on March 4.

Allan Davidson would score five against the Ontarios on January 21.

Sprague Cleghorn would score five against Ontarios on December 27.

In the game of February 28 between Canadiens and Wanderers, the referee Leo Dandurand was assaulted by Canadiens manager George Kennedy.

The new arena at Quebec opened on December 30 with a game between Canadiens and Quebec, marred by a match penalty to Newsy Lalonde for hitting Joe Hall in the head, opening a cut requiring eight stitches. On the return match at Montreal on January 14, Mr. Hall would charge Lalonde into the boards for a ten stich wound.

The longest team winning streak was seven by Ottawa.

Final standings[]

Teams in bold made the playoffs.

League Standings	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto Blueshirts	20	13	7	26	93	65
Montreal Canadiens	20	13	7	26	85	65
Quebec Bulldogs	20	12	8	24	111	73
Ottawa Senators	20	11	9	22	65	71
Montreal Wanderers	20	7	13	14	102	125
Toronto Ontarios	20	4	16	8	61	118

Results[]

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Dec.	27	Quebec	3	Ottawa	2
	27	Ontarios	3	Wanderers	10
	27	Canadiens	0	Toronto	3
	30	Ottawa	2	Ontarios	3
	30	Canadiens	4	Quebec	3
	30	Toronto	3	Wanderers	7
Jan.	3	Wanderers	3	Ottawa	8
	3	Quebec	3	Toronto	6
	3	Ontarios	3	Canadiens	4
	7	Canadiens	0	Ottawa	6
	7	Quebec	4	Wanderers	3 (18' overtime)
	7	Toronto	9	Ontarios	3
	10	Ottawa	3	Toronto	2 (20' overtime)
	10	Ontarios	1	Quebec	6
	10	Wanderers	2	Canadiens	8
	14	Ontarios	5	Ottawa	6
	14	Quebec	3	Canadiens	4
	14	Wanderers	2	Toronto	10
	17	Ottawa	7	Wanderers	1
	17	Canadiens	9	Ontarios	3
	17	Toronto	9	Quebec	4
	21	Ottawa	3	Canadiens	2
	21	Wanderers	6	Quebec	12
	21	Ontarios	2	Toronto	9
	24	Toronto	1	Ottawa	4
	24	Quebec	1	Ontarios	4
	24	Canadiens	9	Wanderers	1
	28	Ottawa	1	Quebec	7
	28	Toronto	3	Canadiens	4
	28	Wanderers	8	Ontarios	9
	31	Quebec	3	Ottawa	4
	31	Canadiens	4	Ontarios	6
	31	Toronto	5	Wanderers	3
Feb.	4	Ottawa	1	Toronto	2
	4	Canadiens	1	Quebec	6
	4	Ontarios	1	Wanderers	3
	7	Wanderers	4	Ottawa	2
	7	Toronto	3	Canadiens	9
	7	Quebec	6	Ontarios	4
	11	Quebec	3	Toronto	4
	11	Ontarios	1	Ottawa	3
	11	Canadiens	6	Wanderers	2
	14	Ontarios	1	Toronto	3
	14	Ottawa	0	Canadiens	1 (6'40" overtime)
	14	Wanderers	6	Quebec	7 (7'15" overtime)
	18	Toronto	4	Ottawa	1
	18	Quebec	1	Canadiens	2
	18	Wanderers	11	Ontarios	3
	21	Ottawa	3	Wanderers	12
	21	Canadiens	2	Toronto	3
	21	Ontarios	3	Quebec	10
	25	Quebec	14	Wanderers	6
	25	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	6 (30' overtime)
	25	Toronto	6	Ontarios	1
	28	Ottawa	3	Ontarios	2
	28	Toronto	3	Quebec	5
	28	Wanderers	5	Canadiens	6 (2'20" overtime)
Mar.	4	Ottawa	0	Quebec	10
	4	Wanderers	7	Toronto	5
	4	Ontarios	3	Canadiens	5

Goalkeeper Averages[]

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Holmes, Harry	Toronto	20	65	1	3.3
Vezina, Georges	Canadiens	20	65	1	3.3
Benedict, Clint	Ottawa	7	23		3.3
Moran, Paddy	Quebec	20	73	1	3.7
LeSueur, Percy	Ottawa	13	48	1	3.7
Rankin, Reg	Ontarios	1	4		4.0
Nicholson, Billy	Wanderers	10	52		5.2
Hebert, Sammy	Ontarios	19	108		5.7
Cross, Jack	Ontarios	1	6		6.0
Leblanc, Alex	Wanderers	4	26		6.5
Warwick,	Wanderers	3	23		7.6
Boyce, Art	Wanderers	3	24		8.0

Scoring Leaders[]

Name	Club	GP	G
Smith, Tommy	Quebec	20	39
Hyland, Harry	Wanderers	18	31
Roberts, Gordon	Wanderers	20	30
McDonald, Jack	Ontarios	20	26
Malone, Joe	Quebec	17	24
Darragh, Jack	Ottawa	20	23
Davidson, Allan	Toronto	20	23
Lalonde, Newsy	Canadiens	14	22
Walker, Jack	Toronto	20	20
Smith, Donald	Canadiens	20	18

Playoffs[]

Tied at the top of the standings, the Blueshirts and Canadiens faced off in a two game, total goals series to determine a league champion. The Blueshirts won the series 6–2.

Toronto vs. Montreal[]

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Location
March 7, 1914	Montreal Canadiens	2–0	Toronto Blueshirts	Montreal Arena
March 11, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	6–0	Montreal Canadiens	Arena Gardens
Toronto wins total goals series 6 goals to 2. Toronto wins the O'Brien Cup and the Stanley Cup.

Toronto-Victoria series[]

The 1913–14 season marked the last year of the challenge era in Stanley Cup history. After dispatching the Canadiens, the Blueshirts faced off against the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The series would be controversial, as the Aristocrats never formally applied with the Cup trustees to challenge for the cup. As a result, the trustees would negotiate an agreement to have the champions of the NHA and the PCHA meet each year to determine a champion, beginning in 1915.

Victoria vs. Toronto[]

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Rules	Notes
March 14, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	5–2	Victoria Aristocrats	NHA
March 17, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	6–5	Victoria Aristocrats	PCHA	15:00, OT
March 19, 1914	Toronto Blueshirts	2–1	Victoria Aristocrats	NHA
Toronto wins best-of-five series 3 games to 0