The Montreal Winter Carnival Ice Hockey Tournaments were a series of annual ice hockey tournaments held in the 1880s in conjunction with the Montreal Winter Carnival, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. First held in 1883, these tournaments are considered to be the first championship ice hockey tournaments and the predecessor to the first championship ice hockey league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada.
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In 1883, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association was asked to add sports to the events to be held with the Montreal Carnival. The association was affiliated with the Montreal Snow Shoe Club. Along with the McGill Hockey Club, they organized a four-team tournament, played partly outdoors on the Saint Lawrence River. The trophy for this tournament is on display at the McCord Museum in Montreal. [1] In 1884, the location changed to a rink made on the McGill University grounds. It was moved indoors subsequently. The carnival was not held in 1886 and 1888.
In December 1886, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was founded by the four Montreal teams (McGill, Montreal Hockey Club, Montreal Crystals, Montreal Victorias) and the Ottawa Hockey Club.
The carnival was held from January 23 to 28. Montreal, McGill and Quebec teams contested the trophy and McGill won the tournament. The trophy for this tournament is on display at the Musee McCord Museum in Montreal. [8]
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament | |||||
January 26 | Montreal Victorias | 0 | Quebec | 0 | St. Lawrence River rink [9] |
January 26 | McGill | 2 | Montreal Victorias | 1 | St. Lawrence River rink [9] |
January 27 | McGill | 2 | Quebec | 2 | Crystal Rink [10] |
January 27 | Quebec | 1 | Montreal Victorias | 1 | Victoria Rink [10] [11] |
McGill wins hockey tournament
The following players were part of the hockey teams participating in the 1883 Montreal Winter Carnival.
Montreal Victorias : C. Lamothe (c.), S. Abbott, J. Arnton, E. Sheppard, E. Stevenson, J. Muir, D. Watt.
Quebec HC : W. Scott (c.), F. Ashe, A. Scott, M. Swift, A. Colley, S. Valler, A. Davidson.
McGill : A. Low, J. Elder, T. Green, R. Smith, W. Murray, J. Kinlock (c.), P. Foster.
Source: Montreal Daily Witness
The 1884 tournament saw several games lost due to rain. The outdoor rink was unplayable on February 6 and the Crystals and Wanderers did not show at the rink for their games. Both teams lost by default although the games could not have been played.
The tournament was the first appearance of the Ottawa Hockey Club (which would eventually field a team in the National Hockey League) in competitive play. The club made it to the final game before losing to the Victorias 1–0.
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exhibitions | |||||
February 1 | Crystals | 5 | Wanderers | 0 | Crystal Rink [12] |
Tournament | |||||
February 4 | Victorias | 1 | McGill | 0 | McGill Rink [13] |
February 5 | Crystals | 1 | Wanderers | 0 | McGill Rink [14] |
February 6 | McGill | W | Crystals | L(default) | McGill Rink [15] |
February 6 | Wanderers | L(default) | Victorias | W | McGill Rink [15] |
February 7 | McGill | 1 | Ottawa | 0 | McGill Rink [16] |
February 8 | Ottawa | 9 | Victorias | 1 | McGill Rink [17] |
February 8 | Wanderers | L(default) | McGill | W | McGill Rink [13] |
February 9 | Ottawa | 3 | McGill | 0 | McGill Rink [18] |
February 9 | Victorias | 2 | Crystals | 0 | McGill Rink [13] |
February 11 | Victorias | 1 | Ottawa | 0 | McGill Rink [19] |
Victorias win Winter Carnival Tournament
Source:Montreal Gazette
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament | |||||
January 27 | Ottawa | 3 | Victorias | 1 | Crystal Rink [20] [21] |
January 28 | Montreal | 6 | Montreal Football Club | 0 | Crystal Rink [22] [21] |
January 29 | McGill | 2 | Crystals | 0 | Crystal Rink [23] [21] |
January 30 | Ottawa | 2 | Montreal | 2 | Crystal Rink [24] [21] |
January 31 | Montreal | 1 | Ottawa | 0 | Crystal Rink [25] [21] |
January 31 | Montreal | 1 | McGill | 0 | Crystal Rink [25] [21] |
Montreal wins Winter Carnival Tournament
Source:Montreal Gazette
The following players were part of the hockey teams participating in the 1885 Montreal Winter Carnival.
Montreal Victorias : J. Arnton, J. Muir
Montreal HC : Tom Paton, Fred Larmonth, Billy Aird, Billy Hodgson, Richard Smith, F. W. Barlow, Duncan McIntyre.
McGill : G. W. Stephens, J. M. Elder, Hanbury Arthur Budden, J. A. Kinlock, H. D. Johnson, R. E. Palmer, C. P. Brown.
Montreal Football Club : A. Elliott, R. Campbell, W. J. Cleghorn, A. J. Campbell, R. Sterling, D. Robertson.
Montreal Crystals : William Hutchison, James A. Stewart, Robert Laing, Jack A. Findlay, Allan Cameron, W. McCaffrey, D. Labonte.
Ottawa HC : William O'Dell, G. Currier, Thomas D. Green, Tom Gallagher, Frank Jenkins (c.), Jack Kerr, Halder Kirby.
Source:Montreal Gazette
In February, the Montreal teams of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada participated in the Montreal Winter Carnival hockey tournament. The tournament, which was scheduled to play outdoors on an ice rink at the Ice Palace, was disrupted by two days of storms, and was not completed until February 25. During this time, no challenges were played.
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exhibitions | |||||
February 7 | Victorias | 2 | Montreal | 0 | Ice Palace Rink |
February 11 | Montreal Crystals | 5 | Montreal HC (second) | 0 | Crystal Rink |
"Tournament" (second teams) | |||||
February 17 | Montreal Crystals | 6 | Montreal HC | 3 | Crystal Rink |
February 23 | Montreal Victorias | 5 | McGill | 1 | Victoria Rink |
February 25 | Montreal Victorias | 1 | Montreal HC | 1 | Victoria Rink |
Tournament | |||||
February 21 | Montreal Crystals | 0 | Montreal HC | 1 | Crystal Rink |
February 23 | Montreal Victorias | 8 | McGill | 0 | Crystal Rink |
February 25 | Montreal Victorias | 0 | Montreal HC | 1 | Crystal Rink |
Montreal wins Winter Carnival Tournament
Source: Montreal Gazette
The following players were part of the hockey teams participating in the 1887 Montreal Winter Carnival.
Montreal HC: W. Hutchison, J. Stewart, A. Cameron, J. Findlay, A. Hodgson, J. Virtue, W. Hodgson.
Montreal Victorias: T. Arnton, J. Muir, J. Campbell, A. Shearer, J. Arnton, J. Craven, E. Barlow.
Montreal Crystals: W. Norris; D. Brown, C. Ellard; R. Laing, J. McDonald, S. McQuisten, J. McGoldrick, D. Elliott.
McGill: H. McNutt, A. Shanks, C. Wylde, F. Lucas, H. Budden, D. Hamilton, W. Warden.
Source: The Montreal Daily Herald
The 1889 Winter Carnival featured the first game of ice hockey witnessed by Lord Stanley, Governor General of Canada, who would later donate the Stanley Cup. [26]
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
February 4 | Victorias | 2 | Montreal | 1 | Victoria Rink [26] |
February 9 | Crystals | 7 | McGill | 3 | Victoria Rink [27] |
February 18 | Victorias | 3 | Crystals | 2 | Victoria Rink [28] |
Montreal Victorias win Winter Carnival Tournament
Source: Kitchen 2000, p.12
The Burlington Coasting Club proposed a winter carnival for the city of Burlington, Vermont as a rival attraction to the Montreal Winter Carnival, with the hope of inaugurating the event. It was scheduled to begin on February 15, 1886 and featured five days of winter sports activities. A committee from the club had been visiting Montreal to obtain attractions for the carnival as well as gain tips on how to manage the event. [29] [30] [31] The Montreal Snow Shoe Club, along with several organisations from Montreal were invited to the carnival to participate in the events. The Montreal Crystals and the Montreal Hockey Club accepted the invitation, as did the Ottawa Hockey Club, [32] which later withdrew due to scheduling conflicts. A local team was quickly assembled from the employees of the Van Ness House, a hotel in Burlington. Montreal HC won the gold medal, and the Crystals won the silver. [33] Originally scheduled for February 15–19, [34] the organizers were forced to move the events one week later due to unseasonable weather. The carnival was held on February 22–26. The hockey games were played on Lake Champlain in heavy wind. The first game was played on the morning of February 26, with two 20-minute halves. There was no score through 40 minutes, and Montreal's R. Smith scored in overtime. The second game was between Montreal HC and Van Ness House, and it was the first international ice hockey game. The players representing Van Ness House did not have any hockey experience, having only gone through a few practices prior to the carnival. The two teams played two 15-minute periods, with Montreal winning 3–0 and thus claiming the gold medal. The final game was played in two 10-minute periods, with Joseph McGoldrick of the Crystals scoring the only goal to capture the silver medal.
Date | Team | Score | Team | Score | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
February 26 | Montreal HC | 1 (OT) | Crystals | 0 | Lake Champlain [35] |
February 26 | Montreal HC | 3 | Van Ness House | 0 | Lake Champlain [35] |
February 26 | Crystals | 1 | Van Ness House | 0 | Lake Champlain [35] |
Montreal wins Winter Carnival Tournament
Source:Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup ( ISBN 1-55168-281-8)
The following players were part of the hockey teams participating in the 1886 Burlington Winter Carnival. [35] [36]
Van Ness House: Lewis C. Johnson, Charles H. Whitcomb, Maxwell A. Kilvert, William F. Waters, Edward. S. Griffing, Howard Crane, Walter A. Laduke (captain)
Montreal HC: Tom L. Paton, George S. Lowe, Duncan McIntyre, Francis Barlow, Francis Crispo, William C. Hodgson, Richard F. Smith, Fred M. Larmonth (captain)
Montreal Crystals: Allan Cameron, Jonathan A. Findlay, Edward McCaffrey, Joseph F. McGoldrick, William Hutchison, James Virtue, Robert Laing (captain)
The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) was an amateur men's ice hockey league founded on 8 December 1886, in existence until 1898. It was the second ice hockey league organized in Canada, after one in Kingston, Ontario started in 1883. It was organized to provide a longer season to determine the Canadian champion. Prior to its founding, the Canadian championship was determined in a tournament in Montreal. It is the first championship ice hockey league.
Montreal Amateur Athletic Association is Canada's oldest athletic association, located in Montreal, Quebec. It was renamed as the Club Sportif MAA or just MAA in 1999 after a brush with bankruptcy, but is still widely known as the MAAA. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the MAA was one of the most important sporting institutions in Canada, and North America, with affiliated teams winning ice hockey's Stanley Cup and Canadian football's Grey Cup.
|city = Montreal, Quebec |team_colors =White and Light Blue
|arena=Crystal Palace Skating Rink, Victoria Skating Rink |stanley_cups= 0 }}
The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The club was winners of the Stanley Cup in 1895 and held it until 1899, except for a period in 1896. The club remained amateur, splitting from the ranks of teams turned professional in 1908. The club was the first winner of the Allan Cup and continued to play until 1939, when it folded after its 65th season. The club often also fielded junior and intermediate teams.
The Ottawa Senators were an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League (NHL) and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934. The club, which was officially the Ottawa Hockey Club, was known by several nicknames, including the Generals in the 1890s, the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907 and the Senators dating from 1908.
The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating, ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink. In summer months, the building was used for various events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It was the first building in Canada to be electrified.
Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere, primarily bandy, hurling, and shinty. The North American sport of lacrosse was also influential. These games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules developed, such as shinny and ice polo, but were later absorbed into a new organized game with codified rules which today is ice hockey.
The origin of ice hockey was bandy, a game that has its roots in the Middle Ages. Just as for practically all other sports, the game of bandy achieved its modern form during the 19th century in England, more exactly in the Fen district on the East coast. From the Fen district the game was spread to London and from London to the Continent during the second half of the 19th century. British soldiers stationed in eastern Canada brought the game to the North American continent in the 1850s and '60s. You could find similar games there, played by immigrants and by Indians. Thus there were a number of different games played on skates with a stick and ball and with varying rules in America before ice hockey was invented.
Albert Peter Low was a Canadian geologist, explorer and athlete. His explorations of 1893–1895 were important in declaring Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, and eventually defining the border between Quebec and Labrador.
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team was the first to win the Stanley Cup, in 1893, and subsequently refused the cup over a dispute with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. The club is variously known as 'Montreals', 'Montreal AAA' and 'Winged wheel' in literature.
The Rideau Skating Rink was an indoor skating and curling facility located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Consisting of a curling rink and a skating rink, it was one of the first indoor rinks in Canada. The Rideau Rink was scheduled to open on January 10, 1889, but unseasonably mild weather postponed the grand opening to February 1. It opened on January 25, 1889 for select V.I.P.s although this was a misunderstanding and should not have denied entry to season ticket holders. It was located on Theodore Street, at Waller Street, at the present location of the Arts Hall of the University of Ottawa, near the Rideau Canal.
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The 1888 AHAC season was the second season of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada. Play was in a series format. The Montreal Hockey Club would win a playoff game against the Montreal Victorias 2-1 to win the Canadian championship for the first time.
The 1887 AHAC season was the inaugural season of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada. Play was in challenges. The Montreal Crystals defeated the Montreal Victorias to win the final challenge of the season to claim the Canadian championship and the first league championship.
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The 1884 Ottawa Hockey Club season was the club's first season of play. The club had formed the previous March and now was playing a season against other clubs. They played in red and black striped sweaters. The team played in the 1884 Montreal Winter Carnival tournament, placing second.
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