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.

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

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 $5,000 per club caused a situation where Bruce Stuart of Ottawa threatened a mass defection to a new league. However, the players found that the Arena Company, owners of the Montreal Arena would not rent to the players. There was no other suitable arena in Montreal available for a new league and the players had no choice but to abandon the effort. Some players took a large cut in salary: Marty Walsh, Fred Lake and Dubbie Kerr were paid $600 each where they had been paid $1,200 each in 1910. The dispute caused the cancellation of a pre-season exhibition series in New York for the Ottawas and Wanderers.

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.Coleman, p. 202

Regular season

Final standing

Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against Team 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 Hockey Club 16 4 12 0 65 97

Results

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

† Protested by Renfrew.

‡ Replay of protested game. Played at Ottawa

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored, PIM = Penalties in minutes Name Club GP G PIM Ottawa HC 16 35 51 Ottawa HC 16 33 45 Renfrew 16 26 49 Ottawa HC 16 23 51 Renfrew 16 20 66 Canadiens 16 19 63 Canadiens 16 19 22 Wanderers 11 18 26 Ottawa HC 16 18 36 Wanderers 16 17 31

Goaltending averages

Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average Name Club GP GA SO GAA Georges Vezina Canadiens 16 62 0 3.9 Percy LeSueur Ottawa HC 16 69 1 4.3 Riley Hern Wanderers 16 88 0 5.5 Paddy Moran Quebec HC 16 97 0 6.1 Bert Lindsay Renfrew 16 101 0 6.3

Stanley Cup challenges

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

Galt vs. Ottawa

Galt 4 Ottawa 7+ March 13, 1911 Billy Hague G Percy LeSueur Billy Baird P Fred Lake 1 Rastus Murphy CP Hamilton Hamby Shore Tommy Smith Capt. 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.

Port Arthur 4 Ottawa 13+ March 16, 1911Ottawa still holds the cup Herman Zeigler G Percy LeSueur Paddy McDonough P Fred Lake Eddie Carpenter 1 CP Hamilton 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 ).

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.

Date Winning Team Score Losing Team Location March 17, 1911Montreal 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

Stanley Cup engraving The 1911 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran. The Ottawa Hockey Club never did engrave their names on the Cup for their championship season.

+ 1910–11 Ottawa Hockey Club Players Forwards Jack Darragh(rover) Bruce Stuart(rover-Captain) Marty Walsh (center) Bruce Ridpath (right wing) Albert "Dubbie" Kerr (left wing) Horace Gaul † (center) Defencemen Alex Currie (cover point-point) Hanilton Hamby Shore (cover point) Fred Lake (point) Goaltender Percy LeSueur

† Missing from the team picture. These are the known non-playing members of the 1911 Ottawa Hockey Club. The only team picture found of the Ottawa Hockey Club in 1911 includes 9 of the 10 players and no non-playing members.

non-players = Thomas D'Arcy McGee† (President), Llewellyn Bates† (Vice President) Pete Green† (Coach), Patrick Baskerville† (Treasurer) Martin Rosenthal† (Secretary), Mac McGilton† (Trainer) George Bryson†, Fred Carling†, Charles Irvin† (Directors) Dave Mulligan†, Charles Sparks† (Directors)

engraving-notes = Ottawa put their names on the cup in 1909 and 1910, but did not in 1911. It was not until the trophy was redesigned in 1948 that the words "1911 Ottawa Senators" were put onto its then-new collar.

See also National Hockey Association List of pre-NHL seasons List of Stanley Cup champions 1910 in sports 1911 in sports

References

Bibliography

Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books, 12, 50. . Notes

External links Oilers Heritage: The NHA