1910 NHA season

The 1910 NHA season was the first season of the National Hockey Association. The season started on January 5, but was suspended immediately and the league then absorbed the Ottawa and Shamrocks teams of the Canadian Hockey Association and the season continued from January 15 to March 15. Seven teams played 12 games each. The Ottawa Hockey Club played two Cup challenges during the season, but lost the Cup to their rivals the Montreal Wanderers who won the league championship and played a Cup challenge afterwards.
==League business==
The league was founded on December 2, 1909 at a meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. At this meeting four franchises were approved:
* Wanderers (represented by P. J. Doran, R. R. Boon, Jimmy Gardner)
* Renfrew (represented by J. Ambrose O'Brien, George E. Martel, Jim Barnett)
* Cobalt (Thomas C. Hare)
* Haileybury (Noah Timmins)
The Wanderers and Renfrew signed a pact not to merge with the CHA unless Cobalt and Haileybury were also admitted.
Two days later on December 4, the NHA held an organizing meeting at the Windsor. The CHA was meeting at the hotel also, and a message was sent to the Ottawa, Shamrocks and Nationals teams to seek a merged seven-team league. This was turned down as the teams would not accept Cobalt and Haileybury.
An executive was elected:
*President - M. Doheney, Renfrew
* Vice-President - Thomas C. Hare, Cobalt
* Sec.-Treasurer - E. John McCafferty
* Executive - J. Ambrose O'Brien, Slaght, Boon, Jack Laviolette and Thomas C. Hare
At the meeting, a franchise for 'Les Canadiens' was granted, to be organized by Jack Laviolette. Mr. Hare of Cobalt put up a security deposit for the franchise on the understanding that it would be transferred to Montreal French sportsmen as soon as possible.
==Regular season==
The first Canadiens game ever took place on January 5 under a cloud. Didier Pitre had signed a contract with both the Canadiens and the Nationals. Pitre was risking a $2,000 fine and 60 days's jail time. The Nationals had a legal injunction against Pitre playing for the Canadiens. This contributed to an over-capacity crowd at the Jubilee Rink of about 5,000. Pitre did play (he was guaranteed any fines by Canadiens' management) and court action commenced. Pitre was found to not to have a binding contract with the Nationals by the courts. By this time, the CHA had folded, and no contract was enforceable. Pitre would have a long career with the Canadiens, playing into the 1920s.
On January 15, a meeting was held by the league executive and Ottawa and Montreal Shamrocks were admitted to the NHA. The games played before that date were thrown out, and games from that date forwards only counted towards the final standings.
On January 22, at a game between Renfrew and Shamrocks, Shamrock's Joe Hall was ejected for striking the judge-of-play Rod Kennedy. After regulation time, the game was tied. Referee Tom Hodge proposed that Hall return for the overtime, but Renfrew objected and did not play the overtime. Hall was later fined $100 for the incident and suspended until January 30. The game was ordered replayed but wasn't replayed due to ice conditions and the game results were accepted as a tie.
On Cyclone Taylor's first return to Ottawa as a member of the Renfrew team, he made his famous promise to score a goal backwards against Ottawa. This led to incredible interest, with over 7000 in attendance. A bet of $100 was placed at the King Edward Hotel against him scoring at all. The Senators would win 8–5 (3 goals in overtime) and more importantly keep Taylor off the scoresheet. Later in the season at the return match in Renfrew, Taylor supposedly made good on his boast with a goal scored backwards (Taylor himself denied it). This was the final game of the season, and the Senators had no chance at the league title, and don't appear to have put in an effort, losing 17–2.
===Final standings===
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Gf = Goals For, GA = Goals against
National Hockey Association	GP	W 	L 	T	GF	GA
Montreal Wanderers 	12	11	1 	0	91	41
Ottawa Hockey Club 	12	9 	3 	0	89	66
Renfrew Creamery Kings 	12	8 	3 	1	96	54
Cobalt Silver Kings 	12	4 	8 	0	79	104
Haileybury Hockey Club 	12	4 	8 	0	77	83
Montreal Shamrocks 	12	3 	8 	1	52	95
Les Canadiens 	12	2 	10	0	59	100
===Results===
Month	Day	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Score
Jan. 	5 	Cobalt 	6 	Canadiens 	7 (5'35" over.)†
Jan. 	8 	Cobalt 	6 	Wanderers 	10 †
Jan. 	12 	Cobalt 	11 	Renfrew 	9 †
Jan. 	15 	Renfrew 	2 	Wanderers 	7
Jan. 	15 	Shamrocks 	3 	Ottawa 	15
Jan. 	18 	Cobalt 	7 	Haileybury	6 (4'30" over.)
Jan. 	19 	Canadiens 	4 	Renfrew 	9
Jan. 	22 	Canadiens 	4 	Ottawa 	6
Jan. 	22‡	Renfrew 	1 	Shamrocks 	1
Jan. 	22 	Wanderers 	2 	Haileybury	4
Jan. 	25 	Wanderers 	11 	Cobalt 	6
Jan. 	25 	Haileybury	2 	Shamrocks 	3 (30" over.)
Jan. 	26 	Ottawa 	8 	Canadiens 	4
Jan. 	28 	Shamrocks 	2 	Renfrew 	10
Jan. 	29 	Haileybury	4 	Ottawa 	11
Feb. 	1 	Haileybury	3 	Wanderers 	8
Feb. 	2 	Canadiens 	3 	Shamrocks 	8
Feb. 	4 	Haileybury	3 	Renfrew 	6
Feb. 	5 	Shamrocks 	1 	Wanderers 	10
Feb. 	5 	Ottawa 	5 	Cobalt 	4
Feb. 	7 	Haileybury	5 	Canadiens 	9
Feb. 	9 	Wanderers 	11 	Shamrocks 	6
Feb. 	9 	Ottawa 	8 	Haileybury	4
Feb. 	12 	Shamrocks 	6 	Haileybury	12
Feb. 	12 	Renfrew 	5 	Ottawa 	8 (10' over.)
Feb. 	12 	Wanderers 	9 	Canadiens 	4
Feb. 	15 	Shamrocks 	4 	Cobalt 	11
Feb. 	15 	Renfrew 	8 	Canadiens 	6
Feb. 	19 	Ottawa 	5 	Wanderers 	7
Feb. 	19 	Renfrew 	12 	Cobalt 	7
Feb. 	22 	Renfrew 	11 	Haileybury	5
Feb. 	23 	Ottawa 	9 	Shamrocks 	6
Feb. 	24 	Canadiens 	7 	Cobalt 	11
Feb. 	25 	Wanderers 	5 	Renfrew 	0
Feb. 	26 	Cobalt 	5 	Ottawa 	11
Feb. 	26 	Canadiens 	3 	Haileybury	15
Mar. 	2 	Cobalt 	3 	Wanderers 	7
Mar. 	5 	Wanderers 	3 	Ottawa 	1
Mar. 	5 	Cobalt 	6 	Canadiens 	4
Mar. 	8 	Cobalt 	6 	Shamrocks 	8
Mar. 	8 	Ottawa 	2 	Renfrew 	17
Mar. 	9 	Canadiens 	6 	Wanderers 	11
Mar. 	11 	Shamrocks 	4 	Canadiens 	5 (12' over.)
Mar. 	11 	Cobalt 	4 	Renfrew 	15
Mar. 	15 	Haileybury	14 	Cobalt 	9
† Games played before January 15, which were played before the CHA teams joined
were not counted against the final standings.
‡ The January 22 game was abandoned due to an on-ice incident. It was ordered replayed on March 2 in Ottawa, but wasn't played due to soft ice in Ottawa.
The Wanderers as champions of the league, took over the Stanley Cup from Ottawa, and were awarded the O'Brien Cup as league champions.
===Goalkeeper Averages===
Name 	Club 	GP	GA 	SO	Avg.
Nicholson, Billy 	Haileybury	1 	3 	 	3.0
Hern, Riley 	Wanderers 	12	41 	1 	3.4
Lindsay, Bert 	Renfrew 	12	54 	 	4.5
Winchester, Jack 	Shamrocks 	5 	26 	 	5.2
LeSueur, Percy 	Ottawa 	12	66 	1 	5.5
Moran, Paddy 	Haileybury	11	80 	 	7.3
Broughton, George	Shamrocks 	5 	43 	 	8.6
Cattarinich, Joe 	Canadiens 	3 	23 	 	7.7
Groulx, Teddy 	Canadiens 	9 	77 	 	8.6
Jones, Chief 	Cobalt 	12	104	 	8.7
Baker, 	Shamrocks 	2 	26 	 	13.0
===Scoring leaders===
Name 	Club 	GP	G
Lalonde, Newsy 	Canadiens & Renfrew	11	38
Russell, Ernie 	Wanderers 	12	31
Smith, Tom 	Cobalt 	10	24
Walsh, Marty 	Ottawa 	11	23
Patrick, Lester	Renfrew 	11	22
Clarke, Herb 	Cobalt 	11	22
Gaul, Horace 	Haileybury 	12	22
Hyland, Harry 	Wanderers 	11	20
Vair, Steve 	Cobalt 	12	19
Ridpath, Bruce 	Ottawa 	12	15
==Stanley Cup Challenges==
During the season Ottawa as Cup champion played a challenge against Edmonton in addition to their regular schedule. They had played a challenge during the CHA season against Galt.
===Ottawa vs. Edmonton===
Edmonton was champion of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association.
 January 18
Edmonton 	4 	at 	Ottawa 	8 	
Jack Winchester 	 	G 	Percy LeSueur 	 	
William Field 	 	P 	Fred Lake 	 	
Hugh Ross 	 	CP 	Hamby Shore 	 	
Fred Whitcroft 	2 	F 	Bruce Stuart 	2 	
Harold Deeton 	1 	F 	Marty Walsh 	1 	
Hay Millar 	1 	F 	Gordon Roberts 	4 	
Boulton 	 	F 	Bruce Ridpath 	1 	
Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	
 January 20
Edmonton 	7 	at 	Ottawa 	13 	
Jack Winchester 	 	G 	Percy LeSueur 	 	
William Field 	 	P 	Fred Lake 	 	
Hugh Ross 	 	CP 	Hamby Shore 	1 	
Fred Whitcroft 	3 	F 	Bruce Stuart 	5 	
Harold Deeton 	2 	F 	Marty Walsh 	1 	
Hay Millar 	 	F 	Gordon Roberts 	3 	
Bert Boulton 	2 	F 	Bruce Ridpath 	3 	
Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	Referees - Bowie & Campbell	
===NHA League Champions Take Over Cup===
Since Ottawa won the challenges, the winner of the regular season of the NHA would take over the Stanley Cup championship. The Wanderers having won the championship of the NHA, took possession of the Cup from Ottawa. They had a challenge from Berlin, Ontario, champions of the Ontario Professional Hockey League and easily defeated them. For 1910, there would be two Stanley Cup holders, Ottawa until March, and Montreal for the rest of the year.
===Wanderers vs. Berlin===
 March 12
Berlin 	3 	at 	Wanderers 	7 	
Hugh Lehman 	 	G 	Riley Hern 	 	
Earl Seibert 	1 	P 	Jack Marshall 	 	
Harvey Corbeau 	1 	CP 	Ernie Johnson 	 	
E. "Toad" Edmunds 	 	F 	Frank Glass 	 	
Ezra Dumart 	 	F 	Ernie Russell 	4 	
Ray Anderson 	 	F 	Harry Hyland 	3 	
Oren Frood 	1 	F 	Jimmy Gardner 	 	
Referees - Bowie & Kirby	Referees - Bowie & Kirby	Referees - Bowie & Kirby	Referees - Bowie & Kirby	Referees - Bowie & Kirby	
==NHA Exhibitions at New York==
After the season, the NHA arranged an 'international championship' at New York's St. Nicholas Rink. Like the previous spring, Ottawa and Wanderers played a two-game series in New York for a purse of $1,500. Wanderers won both games 4–3. Renfrew next travelled to New York and defeated the Wanderers in a single game for $1,000.
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team
March 15, 1910	Montreal Wanderers 	4–3 	Ottawa HC
March 16, 1910	Montreal Wanderers 	4–3 	Ottawa HC
March 19, 1910	Renfrew Millionaires	9–4 	Montreal Wanderers
;Source:
*
*
*
==Ottawa Hockey Club, January 1910 Stanley Cup Champions==
==Montreal Wanderers March 1910 Stanley Cup Champions==
==Team Photos==
1910Galt.jpg|Galt
==Game Ads==
1910NHAMontrealJubileeGameAd.jpg|Jubilee Arena, Montreal
1910NHAMontrealArenaGameAd.jpg|Montreal Arena
Category:1910 in hockey
Category:National Hockey Association
Category:Stanley Cup