# 1896 AHAC season

The 1896 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada season was the tenth season of play of the league. Each team played eight games, and Montreal Victorias were first with a 7–1 record. During the season, on February 14 the Victorias hosted a Stanley Cup challenge match with the Winnipeg Victorias club. Winnipeg won 2–0 to win the Cup.

## Executive

* Watson Jack, Victorias (President)
* Weldy Young, Ottawa (1st. Vice-Pres.)
* Clarence Mussen, Montreal (Sec.-Treasurer)

## Season

The Crystals were allowed to change their name to Shamrocks, which matched their new affiliation with the Shamrock A.A.A.

### Highlights

The Victorias were truly the class of the league and only lost once, 3–2 to Ottawa. Their regular season team goal total was nearly double that of Ottawa.

### Final Standing

| Team | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals For | Goals Against |
| Montreal Victorias | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 24 |
| Ottawa HC | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 16 |
| Quebec | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 23 |
| Montreal HC | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 33 |
| Montreal Shamrocks | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 30 |

## Playoffs

There were no playoffs as Montreal won first place exclusively.

## Exhibitions

After the season, Montreal and Shamrocks played an exhibition series of games in the United States:

### Washington, March 7, 1896

* Shamrocks 3, Montreal 1

### Baltimore, March 9, 1896

* Montreal 6, Shamrocks 5

### New York, March 10, 1896

* Montreal 1, Shamrocks 1 ( completed March 11 with Shamrocks winning 2–1)
The Montreal Victorias travelled to New York City for an exhibition against the New York Athletic Club. The Athletic Club records the date as March 4, (although the date conflicts with an AHAC game), won by the Vics 6–1.

## Stanley Cup challenge
### Victorias vs. Winnipeg at Montreal

The first successful challenge to the Cup came in February 1896 by the Winnipeg Victorias, the champions of the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA). On February 14, Winnipeg beat defending champion Montreal Victorias, 2–0, becoming the first team outside the AHAC to win the Cup. Winnipeg took a 2–0 lead in the first half of the game on goals by Armytage and Campbell, then played on the defensive in the second half.
| Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Location |
| February 14, 1896 | Winnipeg Victorias | 2–0 | Montreal Victorias | Victoria Skating Rink |

## Stanley Cup engraving
### Players
#### Forwards

* Dan Bain(center)
* Colin "Tote" Campbell(left-wing),
* Tom "Attie" Howard(right-wing),
* Robert "Bobby" R Benson (Spare-left-right wing),

#### Defencemen

* Rod Flett (point)
* Fred Higginbotham (cover point)
* Charles Johnstone(cover-point
* Jack "J.C." Armytage(rover- Captain)

#### Goaltenders

* George Whitey Merritt
* Jack Sheppard (played 1 regular-season game in goal)

### Coaching and administrative staff

* E.B. Nixon (President)&
* Able Code (Vice President/Manager)
* J. Carter (Mascot/Trainer)&

### Stanley Cup engraving

* VICTORIAS
* - OF -
* WINNIPEG
* 1895
* Winnipeg included the year 1895 instead of 1896, because they defeated the 1895 defending Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Victorias before the 1896 season had been completed. This is not an engraving error.
* An interesting factoid for this 2-0 win over the similarly named Montreal Victorias is that the very first Stanley Cup Parade was held in Winnipeg on Main Street celebrating this victory.
* Two non-players first names are unknown&

## Schedule and results

| Month | Day | Visitor | Score | Home | Score |
| Jan. | 3 | Victorias | 7 | Montreal | 5 |
| Jan. | 4 | Ottawa | 2 | Shamrocks | 1 |
| Jan. | 10 | Montreal | 5 | Shamrocks | 3 |
| Jan. | 11 | Victorias | 7 | Quebec | 5 |
| Jan. | 18 | Montreal | 1 | Ottawa | 3 |
| Jan. | 18 | Quebec | 2 | Shamrocks | 1 |
| Jan. | 25 | Ottawa | 2 | Quebec | 5 |
| Jan. | 25 | Shamrocks | 1 | Victorias | 5 |
| Feb. | 1 | Ottawa | 3 | Victorias | 2 |
| Feb. | 1 | Montreal | 1 | Quebec | 3 |
| Feb. | 5 | Shamrocks | 5 | Montreal | 3 |
| Feb. | 8 | Shamrocks | 1 | Quebec | 4 |
| Feb. | 8 | Victorias | 3 | Ottawa | 2 (6'00 overtime) |
| Feb. | 15 | Ottawa | 3 | Montreal | 2 |
| Feb. | 22 | Quebec | 2 | Montreal | 3 |
| Feb. | 25 | Montreal | 4 | Victorias | 7 |
| Feb. | 29 | Shamrocks | 2 | Ottawa | 3 |
| Feb. | 29 | Quebec | 2 | Victorias | 4 |
| Mar. | 4 (†) | Victorias | 6 | Shamrocks | 2 |
| Mar. | 7 | Quebec | 0 | Ottawa | 4 |
† Victorias clinch league championship.

## Player statistics
### Goaltending averages

Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
| Name | Club | GP | GA | SO | GAA |
| Fred Chittick | Ottawa | 8 | 16 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Frank Stocking | Quebec | 8 | 23 | | 2.9 |
| Robert Jones | Victorias | 8 | 24 | | 3.0 |
| James Drysdale | Shamrocks | 8 | 30 | | 3.8 |
| George Hamilton | Montreal | 2 | 8 | | 4.0 |
| Herbert Collins | Montreal | 6 | 25 | | 4.1 |

### Scoring leaders

| Name | Club | GP | G |
| McDougall, Robert | Victorias | 6 | 10 |
| McKerrow, Clare | Montreal | 6 | 8 |
| Davidson, Shirley | Victorias | 7 | 8 |
| Swift, Albert E. | Quebec | 8 | 8 |
| Westwick, Harry | Ottawa | 8 | 8 |
| Drinkwater, Graham | Victorias | 8 | 7 |
| Smith, Alf | Ottawa | 8 | 7 |
| Doyle, Pat | Quebec | 8 | 6 |
| Gillilan, David | Victorias | 3 | 5 |
| Mussen, Aubrey | Montreal | 5 | 5 |