1898 AHAC season

The 1898 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada season was the twelfth and final season of the league. Each team played 8 games, and Montreal Victorias were again first with an 8–0 record, to retain the Stanley Cup. This was their fourth-straight league championship. The league would dissolve prior to the next season.
==League business==
===Executive===
* J. A. Findlay, Montreal (President)
* J. S. Dunbar, Quebec (1st. Vice-Pres.)
* G. P. Murphy (2nd Vice-Pres.)
* H. Wilson (Sec.-Treasurer)
* W. Snow, E. Hinchy, E. Farwell, E. Blurty, G. Tanguay (Council)
The Ottawa Capitals applied to join the league, but were turned down because they had not won an intermediate-level championship.
==Season==
===Highlights===
The game of February 12, 1898, between Ottawa and the Victorias was notable because Fred Chittick, the regular goal-keeper of Ottawa staged a one-man strike because he had not received his share of complimentary tickets. Ottawa played A. Cope instead and lost 9–5. The fans in attendance heckled the defence pair of Harvey Pulford and Weldy Young, and in response Mr. Young went into the crowd to attack a spectator.
===Final Standing===
Team 	Games Played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals For	Goals Against
Montreal Victorias	8 	8 	0 	0 	53 	33
Montreal 	8 	5 	3 	0 	34 	21
Montreal Shamrocks	8 	3 	5 	0 	25 	36
Quebec 	8 	2 	6 	0 	29 	35
Ottawa 	8 	2 	6 	0 	28 	44
==Exhibition tours==
===Shamrocks tour New York===
From February 14 through 19th, the Shamrocks toured New York city, playing teams of the Amateur Hockey League. They played the New York Hockey Club twice and the Brooklyn Skating Club once. The Shamrocks split the two with New York 2–1 and 0–1New York Times Feb 18 1898 at the Lexington Avenue Ice Palace. The series was considered close however in the second game play turned rough and several Montreal players were ejected; Brown (Montreal) and Billy Russell (New York). Benny Phillips of New York would score the only goal and assists were rewarded to DeCasanova and Russell. The Shamrocks also defeated Brooklyn 4–3 at the Clermont Avenue Rink.
===Victorias tour New York===
The first game was dubbed by the American media as establishing the amateur international championship, between the top American team, The New York Athletic Club and the top Canadian team the Montreal Victorias.New York Times March 3rd 1898
After the season, the Victorias visited New York, first playing the New York Athletic Club at the St. Nicholas Rink, winning 6–1 on March 4. The game was in attendance of 3000 people. The game was noted as the Victorias were able to 'disarm' their oppoenents illustrating stealing the puck from the opposeing players through stickhandling. Montreal scorers were (2 goals each) Macdougall, Davidson, Drinkwater to Fenwicks single goal New York Times Mar 5th edition 1898
On March 5, the Victorias defeated the St. Nicholas Skating Club 8–0.
==Playoffs==
There were no playoffs as the Victorias won first place exclusively.
==Stanley Cup challenges==
===Victorias vs. Ottawa===
Prior to the season, Victorias would play Ottawa Capitals of the CCHA in a single-elimination game on December 27, 1897, winning 15–2.
It was originally scheduled as the first best-of-three challenge, but the series ended after the first game because the Victorias clearly was the superior team with a 15–2 victory and the Ottawa team withdrew its challenge.
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Location
December 27, 1897	Montreal Victorias	15–2 	Ottawa Capitals	Victoria Rink
Ottawa 	(2)	at	Montreal 	(15)
Wilmot 	 	G 	Gordon Lewis 	
Lafleur 	 	P 	Hartland MacDougall	
Eddie Murphy	 	CP	Mike Grant, Capt 	
Pat Murphy 	 	F 	Robert MacDougall 	
O'Connor 	 	F 	Graham Drinkwater 	
McGuire 	 	F 	Shirley Davidson 	
Baldwin 	 	F 	Cam Davidson 	
Referee – J. A. Findlay
Umpires – M. J. Polan, A. McKerrow
Source: Ottawa Journal
No challenges were played after the season.
==Schedule and results==
Month	Day 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Score
Jan. 	4 	Victorias	6 	Shamrocks	4
Jan. 	8 	Montreal 	2 	Quebec 	5
Jan. 	8 	Ottawa 	1 	Shamrocks	2
Jan. 	11 	Victorias	4 	Montreal 	3
Jan. 	15 	Ottawa 	4 	Quebec 	3
Jan. 	15 	Montreal 	10 	Shamrocks	2
Jan. 	19 	Shamrocks	5 	Victorias	7
Jan. 	22 	Quebec 	1 	Montreal 	3
Jan. 	29 	Montreal 	4 	Ottawa 	3
Jan. 	29 	Quebec 	4 	Victorias	5
Feb. 	5 	Shamrocks	5 	Quebec 	6
Feb. 	5 	Ottawa 	6 	Victorias	12
Feb. 	9 	Shamrocks	0 	Montreal 	4
Feb. 	12 	Victorias	9 	Ottawa 	5
Feb. 	12 	Quebec 	1 	Shamrocks	4
Feb. 	19 	Ottawa 	2 	Montreal 	6
Feb. 	19 (†)	Victorias	6 	Quebec 	4
Feb. 	26 	Quebec 	5 	Ottawa 	6
Feb. 	26 	Montreal 	2 	Victorias	4
Mar. 	5 	Shamrocks	3 	Ottawa 	1
† Birthday of the Champion.
==Player statistics==
===Goaltending averages===
Name 	Club 	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Tobin, A 	Shamrocks	2 	2 	 	1.0
Collins, Herb 	Montreal 	8 	21	1 	2.6
Lewis, Gordon 	Victorias	3 	9 	 	3.0
Stocking, Frank 	Quebec 	7 	29	 	4.1
Richardson, Frank	Victorias	5 	24	 	4.8
Chittick, Fred 	Ottawa 	4 	21	 	5.3
Semple, Hugh 	Shamrocks	6 	34	 	5.7
Cope, A. 	Ottawa 	4 	23	 	5.8
O'Meara, Mark 	Quebec 	1 	6 	 	6.0
===Scoring leaders===
Name 	Club 	GP	G
Davidson, Cam 	Victorias	7 	14
McKerrow, Clare 	Montreal 	8 	13
McDougall, Robert 	Victorias	8 	12
Brown, Desse 	Montreal 	8 	11
Drinkwater, Graham	Victorias	8 	10
Gillespie, James 	Shamrocks	8 	10
Hutchison, H. 	Ottawa 	8 	8
Howard, R. 	Quebec 	7 	7
White, Frank 	Ottawa 	6 	7
Horsfall, Bert 	Quebec 	8 	6
Source: Coleman(1966), pp. 41–43
==See also==
*Stanley Cup Champions
*List of pre-NHL seasons
==References==
*
*
1898
Category:1898 in ice hockey