1916 Stanley Cup Final
1916 ice hockey championship series
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The 1916 Stanley Cup Final was played between the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Montreal Canadiens and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Portland Rosebuds. This was the first time that a best-of-five Cup championship went the distance. Also, the Rosebuds were the first team based in the United States to play for the Cup. Stanley Cup trustees ruled before the Stanley Cup Final that the Stanley Cup as the World professional hockey championship can not be limited to just Canadian teams. The Canadiens defeated the Rosebuds three games to two in the best-of-five-game series. This was the Canadiens' first Stanley Cup championship.
Portland: Edward Savage (mgr.)
| 1916 Stanley Cup Final | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Montreal: Montreal Arena | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Format | best-of-five | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Newsy Lalonde Portland: Edward Savage (mgr.) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Referees | Harvey Pulford, J. Brennan | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | March 20â30, 1916 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Goldie Prodger (17:20, third) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Canadiens: Newsy Lalonde (1950) Jack Laviolette (1963) Didier Pitre (1963) Georges Vezina (1945) Rosebuds: Tommy Dunderdale (1974) Moose Johnson (1952) Coaches: Newsy Lalonde (1950, player) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Paths to the Finals
Montreal won the NHA title after finishing the 1915â16 regular season in first place with a 16â7â1 record. Meanwhile, Portland clinched the 1915â16 PCHA title with a 13â5 record.
Game summaries
The games of the series were played at Montreal's Montreal Arena as it was the turn of the NHA champions to host the series. Games one, three and five were played under NHA rules; Games two and four were played under PCHA rules. Ernie Johnson's share of series revenues was by court order to be paid to the Montreal Wanderers, whom he had left while under contract to go to the PCHA. For the entire series, future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Georges Vezina aided Montreal by posting a 2.60 goals-against average. Didier Pitre led the Canadiens in scoring with 4 goals.
Montreal Canadiens NHA champions Roster - Georges Veznia goalie, Howard McNamara (Captain) point, Bert Corbeau cover point, Didier Pitre center-rover, Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde (Playing-Coach) center, George "Goldie" Prodgers right wing-left wing, Jack Laviolettte left wing, Amous Arbour left wing, Louis Berlinguette left wing, Georges "Skinner" Poulin center, Eskene âSkeneâ Ronan center right wing, spare Jack Fournier right wing-left wing - U.P. Boudier (President), George "Kennedy", Kendall (Manager-owner).
Portland Rosebuds PCAH champions Roster - Tommy Murray goalie, Del Irvine point, Ernie "Moose" Johnson cover point, Fred "Smokey" Harris rover-left wing, Tommy Dunderdale center, Eddie Oatman right wing, Charles Tobin left wing-right wing, Charlie Uksilla left wing, Alf Barbour center, C.D. Doherty (President), Edward Savage (Manager-Coach).
Game one
| March 20 | Montreal Canadiens | 0â2 | Portland Rosebuds | Montreal Arena | ||||
Portland arrived by train the day before the game but showed no weariness, recording a shutout despite game one being played under Eastern Rules (6 a side). It was noted that Portland's speedy backchecking limited Montreal to only 6 chances.
Game two
| March 22 | Montreal Canadiens | 2â1 | Portland Rosebuds | Montreal Arena | ||||
Despite missing Newsy Lalonde (bad cold) and Jack Laviolette (broken jaw), Montreal behind some heavy checking defeated Portland 2â1 to tie the series under Western PCHA rules (7 a side).
Game three
| March 25 | Montreal Canadiens | 6â3 | Portland Rosebuds | Montreal Arena | ||||
Lalonde and Laviolette played in game three. Lalonde got into a fight with Ernie Johnson, requiring the police to break up the fight. Lalonde and Laviolette were ejected for the game and Eddie Oatman received a major penalty. Pitre was the scoring star, scoring three goals to lead the Canadiens to a 6â3 victory. Eastern rules were used.
Game four
| March 28 | Montreal Canadiens | 5â6 | Portland Rosebuds | Montreal Arena | ||||
The Rosebuds then evened the series with a 6â5 victory in game four. The Rosebuds took a 3â0 lead, only to see the Canadiens tie it and take a 4â3 lead. In the third period Portland's Fred Harris scored twice and Charlie Uksilla scored once to take a 6â4 lead until the last minute when Lalonde scored to make it closer. Western rules were used.
Game five
| March 30 | Montreal Canadiens | 2â1 | Portland Rosebuds | Montreal Arena | ||||
In game five, Portland's Tommy Dunderdale gave his team a 1â0 lead before Skene Ronan tied the game. The seldom-used George Prodgers then scored the game and series-winning goal to clinch the Cup for the Canadiens. Eastern rules were used.
Stanley Cup engraving
The 1916 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran to the Montreal Canadiens.
The following Canadiens players and staff were members of the Stanley Cup winning team.
1915â16 Montreal Canadiens
Players
- 4 Edouard Newsy Lalondeâ¡ (coach)
- 5 Didier Pitreâ¡
- 6 George Skinner Poulin
- 12 Skene Ronan^
- 2 Bert Corbeau
- 3 Howard McNamara (captain)
- 8 Goldie Prodgers
â¡ also played rover in the Stanley Cup Final
Coaching and administrative staff
- U. P. Boucher* (President)
- George Kennedy (Owner/Manager/Treasurer)
- Napoleon Dorval (Secretary)
- S. Newsworthy* (Trainer), Aldrie Guiment (Ass't Trainer).
Stanley Cup engraving
Although the Rosebuds did not win the series, the Rosebuds had the words "Portland Ore./PCHA Champions/1915â16" engraved on the Cup after obtaining the trophy from the previous year's champions, the Vancouver Millionaires. This was consistent with the practice at the time that the trophy was passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league. Portland is thus the only city not to win the Cup outright to be listed as champions on the Stanley Cup.
After the series, "Canadian/NHA & World's Champions/Defeated Portland/1915â16" was added to the Cup (Note that the anglicized, singular form of "Canadiens" was engraved).
- *-one non-players first names is missing. U.P. boulder's President's last is often mispelt U.P Boucher.
References
- Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol.1 1893â1926 inc. National Hockey League. pp. 299â304.
- "1915â16 Stanley Cup Winner: Montreal Canadiens". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- "hockeyleaguehistory.com â Pacific Coast Hockey Association". Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. pp. 12, 48. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
- Dan Diamond, ed. (1992). The Official National Hockey League Stanley Cup Centennial Book. Firefly Books. pp. 46â47. ISBN 1-895565-15-4.