1899 CAHL season

The 1899 CAHL season was the inaugural season of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League. Teams played an eight-game schedule. The Montreal Shamrocks were the league champion with a record of seven wins and one loss. Both the Shamrocks and the Montreal Victorias won Stanley Cup challenges to retain the Stanley Cup for the league.
==Season==
===Highlights===
The January 26 game between Montreal and Quebec was protested because it was alleged that the referee, Fred Chittick, Ottawa's goalkeeper, was drunk. The game was rescheduled for February 14, to be played in Ottawa, but in the end, Quebec declined to play the game.
On February 4, when Shamrocks defeated Quebec at Montreal by a score of 13–4, Harry Trihey scored 10 goals.
The Victorias defeated Ottawa at Montreal on February 11, by a score of 16–0. Fred Chittick attempted to score by himself, rushing the length of the ice from his net, without success.
The race for the championship was decided on March 1 when Shamrocks defeated the Victorias 1–0. Eight thousand people are recorded as being in attendance, thousands of dollars was wagered and Harry Trihey of Shamrocks scored the deciding goal.
After losing their first six matches, Quebec withdrew from the rest of the schedule, forfeiting their last two games.
===Final Standing===
Team 	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Shamrocks 	8 	7 	1 	0 	40 	21
Montreal Victorias 	8 	6 	2 	0 	44 	23
Ottawa Hockey Club 	8 	4 	4 	0 	21 	43
Montreal Hockey Club	8 	3 	5 	0 	30 	29
Quebec Hockey Club 	8 	0 	8 	0 	12 	31
===Exhibitions===
During the season, the Shamrocks travelled to New York City to play two games against the New York Hockey Club. After the season, the Shamrocks travelled to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to play exhibitions. On March 7, the Shamrocks played the Halifax Crescents to a 1–1 draw, and on March 9, defeated the Crescents 4–2. On March 10, the Shamrocks played the Saint John Mohawks in Saint John, New Brunswick, defeating the Mohawks by a 5–0 score.
The Victorias travelled to New York City to play the Brooklyn Skating Club. The Victorias defeated Brooklyn 5–2 on March 10 at St. Nicholas Rink. The Shamrocks, after the Cup challenge of Queen's, travelled to New York. On March 16, the Shamrocks defeated the All-New-York team 5–2. The Shamrocks then played Brooklyn on March 18, winning over Brooklyn 9–7.
==Stanley Cup challenges==
===Victorias vs. Winnipeg===
Montreal received another challenge from the MHA's Winnipeg Victorias. This time, it was decided that they would play a two-game total goals series in February 1899.
The first game was won by Montreal 2–1. Winnipeg's captain Dan Bain injured his eye and did not play in the second game due to hemorrhaging behind the eye.
The second game ended in controversy. With Montreal leading the game 3–2 with about 12 minutes left in the game, Montreal's Bob MacDougall violently slashed Winnipeg's Tony Gingras. As Gingras was carried off the ice, referee Bill Findlay only called Macdougall for a two-minute minor. Angry that he should have been accessed a larger penalty, Winnipeg went into their dressing room in protest. Insulted, Findlay abruptly went home, but returned after officials followed him on a sleigh and persuaded him to return. Once back at the rink, the referee gave Winnipeg 15 minutes to return to the ice themselves. They refused and thus Findlay disqualified the team and declared Montreal the winners. 4,000 were attending the Winnipeg Auditorium rink to hear returns of the game by telegraph.
Date 	Winning Team 	Score 	Losing Team 	Location
February 15, 1899 	Montreal Victorias 	2–1 	Winnipeg Victorias 	Montreal Arena, Montreal
February 18, 1899 	Montreal Victorias 	3–2 	Winnipeg Victorias 	Montreal Arena, Montreal
Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 3	Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 3	Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 3	Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 3	Montreal wins total goals series 5 goals to 3
 February 15
Winnipeg 	1 	at 	Victorias 	2 	
[George Merritt 	 	G 	Gordon Lewis 	 	
Bobby Benson 	 	P 	Graham Drinkwater, Capt	1 	
Charles Johnson 	 	CP 	Mike Grant 	 	
Tony Gingras] 	1 	F 	Cam Davidson 	 	
Dan Bai] 	 	F 	Ernie McLea 	 	
Jack Armytage, Capt 	 	F 	Robert MacDougall 	1 	
Attie Howard 	 	F 	Russell Bowie 	 	
Colin "Tote" Campbell	 	sub 	 	 	
Referee – J. Findlay 	Referee – J. Findlay	Referee – J. Findlay	Referee – J. Findlay 	Referee – J. Findlay	
 February 18
Winnipeg 	2 	at 	Victorias 	3 	
George Merritt 	 	G 	Gordon Lewis 	 	
Bobby Benson 	 	P 	Graham Drinkwater, Capt	 	
Charles Johnson 	 	CP 	Mike Grant 	 	
Tony Gingras 	 	F 	Cam Davidson 	 	
Colin "Tote" Campbell	 	F 	Ernie McLea 	 	
Jack Armytage, Capt 	1 	F 	Robert McDougall 	2 	
Attie Howard 	1 	F 	Russell Bowie 	1 	
Referee – J. Findlay 	Referee – J. Findlay	Referee – J. Findlay	Referee – J. Findlay 	Referee – J. Findlay	
The Stanley Cup passed from the Montreal Victorias to the Montreal Shamrocks as champions of the league March 4, 1899.
===Shamrocks vs. Queens===
The Shamrocks defended the trophy against Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario. The game was played half under Ontario rules and half under CAHL rules.
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Location
March 14, 1899	Montreal Shamrocks	6–2 	Queen's University	Montreal Arena
 March 14, 1899
Queens 	2 	at 	Shamrocks 	6 	
R.C Hiscock 	 	G 	James H. McKenna 	 	
Guy Curtis 	 	P 	Frank Tansey, Capt 	 	
J. W. Merrill 	 	CP 	Frank Wall 	 	
J. Harty 	 	F 	Harry Trihey 	3 	
G. P. Dalton 	1 	F 	Arthur Farrell 	2 	
R. R. Carr-Harris 	1 	F 	Fred Scanlan 	1 	
K. Walkem 	 	F 	Jack P. Brannen 	 	
Referee – Harvey Pulford	Referee – Harvey Pulford	Referee – Harvey Pulford	Referee – Harvey Pulford	Referee – Harvey Pulford	
==Schedule and results==
Month	Day 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Score
Jan. 	7 	Quebec 	1 	Montreal 	7
Jan. 	7 	Shamrocks	3 	Ottawa 	4
Jan. 	10 	Victorias	4 	Montreal 	2
Jan. 	14 	Quebec 	1 	Ottawa 	3
Jan. 	14 	Shamrocks	4 	Montreal 	3
Jan. 	21 (†)	Montreal 	1 	Quebec 	2
Jan. 	21 	Shamrocks	5 	Victorias	2
Jan. 	28 	Ottawa 	1 	Montreal 	5
Jan. 	28 	Victorias	5 	Quebec 	4
Feb. 	4 	Quebec 	4 	Shamrocks	13
Feb. 	4 	Victorias	7 	Ottawa 	5
Feb. 	8 	Shamrocks	4 	Montreal 	3
Feb. 	11 	Ottawa 	0 	Victorias	16
Feb. 	11 	Shamrocks	3 	Quebec 	2
Feb. 	18 	Montreal 	4 	Ottawa 	5
Feb. 	25 	Victorias	10 	Montreal 	6
Mar. 	1 	Victorias	0 	Shamrocks	1
Mar. 	4 (††)	Ottawa 	3 	Shamrocks	7
Mar. 	‡ 	Ottawa 	 	Quebec 	
Mar. 	¿ 	Quebec 	 	Victorias	
† Montreal refused to continue with 12 minutes to play. Game was to be replayed on February 14, but Quebec declined and the game was defaulted.
†† Birthday of the Champion.
‡ defaulted to Ottawa
¿ defaulted to Victorias
==Player statistics==
===Goaltending averages===
Note GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
Name 	Club 	GP	GA	SO	GAA
Lewis, Gordon 	Victorias	3 	7 	1 	2.3
McKenna, James H. 	Shamrocks	8 	21	1 	2.6
Collins, Herb 	Montreal 	6 	19	 	3.2
Richardson, Frank 	Victorias	4 	16	 	4.0
Hutton, John Bouse	Ottawa 	2 	11	 	5.5
Stocking, Frank 	Quebec 	4 	24	 	6.0
Chittick, Fred 	Ottawa 	5 	32	 	6.4
O'Meara, Mark 	Quebec 	1 	7 	 	7.0
Munro, Fred 	Montreal 	1 	10	 	10.0
===Leading scorers===
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored
Name 	Club 	GP	G
Trihey, Harry 	Shamrocks	7 	19
McKerrow, Clare 	Montreal 	4 	12
Bowie, Russell 	Victorias	7 	11
Davidson, Cam 	Victorias	7 	9
Farrell, Arthur 	Shamrocks	8 	8
Brannen, Jack 	Shamrocks	8 	8
McDougall, Bob 	Victorias	2 	7
Ewing, Jack 	Victorias	5 	7
Roger, Mac 	Ottawa 	5 	6
Christmas, Billy	Montreal 	4 	5
==See also==
* List of Stanley Cup Challenge Games
* List of Stanley Cup champions
==References==
*
* 
Category:Canadian Amateur Hockey League seasons
Category:1899 in ice hockey