1917–18 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1917–18 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's ninth season and first as a member of the new National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens sided with other members of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and voted to suspend the NHA and start the NHL to expel the Toronto Blueshirts ownership. The Canadiens qualified for the playoffs by winning the first half of the season, but lost the playoff to the temporary Toronto franchise, made up of Blueshirts players.

Team business

the 1917–18 logo

The club changed its name to "Club de Hockey Canadien Ltd." from "Club Athletic Canadien". The logo on the jersey was changed to reflect this, substituting the "A" within the "C" with an "H".

Regular season

Quebec did not ice a team for the season. Quebec's players were dispersed by draft and Montreal chose Joe Hall, Joe Malone and Walter Mummery.^[1] Georges Vezina led the league in goals against average of 4 per game and Joe Malone had an outstanding 44 goals in 20 games to lead the league in goals.

The team was forced to return to its former arena the Jubilee Rink after the Montreal Arena burned down on January 2, 1918. The rival Montreal Wanderers folded after the fire, leaving only three teams (Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto) to continue the season. The Wanderers' players were dispersed and the Canadiens picked up Billy Bell and Jack McDonald.

On January 28, 1918, when Canadiens visited Toronto, Toronto's Alf Skinner and Montreal's Joe Hall got into a stick-swinging duel. Both players received match penalties, $15 fines and were arrested by the Toronto Police for disorderly conduct, for which they received suspended sentences.

Final standings

First Half
	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	14	10	4	20	81	47
Toronto Hockey Club	14	8	6	16	71	75
Ottawa Senators	14	5	9	10	67	79
Montreal Wanderers	6	1	5	2	17	35

Second Half
	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto Hockey Club	8	5	3	10	37	34
Ottawa Senators	8	4	4	8	35	35
Montreal Canadiens	8	3	5	6	34	37

^[2] Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
The Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down.
These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played.^[3]

Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down. These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played.^[4]

Schedule and results

First half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Dec.	19	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	7
	21	Canadiens	11	Wanderers	2
	26	Canadiens	5	Toronto	7
	29	Toronto	2	Canadiens	9
Jan.	2†	Wanderers	–	Canadiens	–
	5	Ottawa	5	Canadiens	6 (27' OT)
	9	Canadiens	4	Toronto	6
	12	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	9
	19	Toronto	1	Canadiens	5
	21	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	3
	23	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	3
	28	Canadiens	1	Toronto	5
	30	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	2
Feb.	2	Toronto	2	Canadiens	11

† Montreal Arena burned down and Wanderers withdraw. Two Wanderers games count as wins for Canadiens and Toronto.

Second half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Feb.	6	Canadiens	3	Ottawa	6
	9	Toronto	7	Canadiens	3
	16	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	10
	18	Canadiens	9	Toronto	0
	20	Toronto	4	Canadiens	5
	25	Canadiens	0	Ottawa	8
	27	Ottawa	3	Canadiens	1 (at Quebec)
Mar.	2	Canadiens	3	Toronto	5

Playoffs

The Canadiens played the Torontos in a playoff to decide the league championship. In a two-game, total-goals series, Toronto won the first game 7–3 and Montreal won the second game 4–3. Toronto won the series 10–7 and proceeded to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 11	Montreal Canadiens	3	Toronto	7
March 13	Toronto	3	Montreal Canadiens	4

Toronto wins total goals series 10–7 for the O'Brien Cup

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

		Regular season					Playoffs
Player	#	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Joe Malone	7	20	44	4	48	30	2	1	0	1	0
Newsy Lalonde	4	14	23	7	30	51	2	4	2	6	17
Didier Pitre	5	20	17	6	23	29	2	0	1	1	13
Bert Corbeau	2	21	8	8	16	41	2	1	1	2	11
Joe Hall	3	21	8	7	15	100	2	0	1	1	13
Jack McDonald†	11	8	9	1	10	12	2	1	0	1	0
Billy Coutu	9	20	2	2	4	49	2	0	0	0	0
Jack Laviolette	6	18	2	1	3	6	2	0	0	0	0
Louis Berlinguette	8	20	2	1	3	12	2	0	0	0	0
Evariste Payer	12	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Bell†	10	6	0	0	0	6	-	-	-	-	-

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Montreal. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

			Regular season									Playoffs
Player	#		GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA		GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	GAA
Georges Vezina	1		21	1282	12	9	0	84	1	3.93		2	120	1	1	10	0	5.00

Transactions

acquired Joe Hall, Joe Malone and Walter Mummery from Quebec Bulldogs in Dispersal Draft, November 26, 1917
acquired Billy Bell and Jack McDonald from Montreal Wanderers in Dispersal Draft, January 4, 1918
signed Evariste Payer as a free agent, January 29, 1918

Roster

Source:

Mouton, Claude (1987). The Montreal Canadiens. Key Porter Books. p. 152.

References

↑ "Pro League to Operate". The Globe. 1917-11-27. p. 13.
↑ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al., eds. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
↑ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos.
↑ Holzman, Morey; Joseph Nieforth (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos.

Montreal Canadiens seasons

1900s	1909–10

1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20

1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00

2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

1917–18 NHL season

Original Four	Montreal Canadiens Montreal Wanderers Ottawa Toronto

See also	Stanley Cup Finals Transactions

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