1917–18 Montreal Canadiens season

1917–18 Montreal Canadiens
1917–18 Montreal Canadiens
League	1st (1st half), 3rd (2nd half) NHL
1917–18 record	10-4-0 (1st half), 3-5-0 (2nd half)
Goals for	115
Goals against	84
Team information
Coach	George Kennedy
Captain	Newsy Lalonde
Arena	Montreal Arena/Jubilee Rink
Team leaders
Goals	Joe Malone (44)
Goals against average	Georges Vezina (4.0)
	← 1916–17 1918–19 →

The 1917–1918 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's ninth season and first as a member of the new National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens sided with other members of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and voted to suspend the NHA and start the NHL to expel the Toronto Blueshirts ownership. The Canadiens qualified for the playoffs by winning the first half of the season, but lost the playoff to the temporary Toronto franchise, made up of Blueshirts players.

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Regular season

Quebec did not ice a team for the season. Quebec's players were dispersed by draft and Montreal chose Joe Hall, Joe Malone and Walter Mummery.^[1] Georges Vezina led the league in goals against average of 4 per game and Joe Malone had an outstanding 44 goals in 20 games to lead the league in goals.

The team was forced to return to its former arena the Jubilee Rink after the Montreal Arena burned down on January 2, 1918. The rival Montreal Wanderers folded after the fire, leaving only three teams (Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto) to continue the season. The Wanderers' players were dispersed and the Canadiens picked up Billy Bell and Jack McDonald.

On January 28, 1918, when Canadiens visited Toronto, Toronto's Alf Skinner and Montreal's Joe Hall got into a stick-swinging duel. Both players received match penalties, $15 fines and were arrested by the Toronto Police for disorderly conduct, for which they received suspended sentences.

Final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

First Half	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	14	10	4	20	81	47
Toronto	14	8	6	16	71	75
Ottawa Senators	14	5	9	10	67	79
Montreal Wanderers	6	1	5	2	17	35

Second Half	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA
Toronto	8	5	3	10	37	34
Ottawa Senators	8	4	4	8	35	35
Montreal Canadiens	8	3	5	6	34	37

Wanderers defaulted scheduled games against the Canadiens (Jan. 2, 1918) and Toronto (Jan. 5, 1918), when their arena burned down. These appear as losses in the standings, but the games were not played. ^[2]

Game log

First half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Dec.	19	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	7
	21	Canadiens	11	Wanderers	2
	26	Canadiens	5	Toronto	7
	29	Toronto	2	Canadiens	9
Jan.	2†	Wanderers	-	Canadiens	-
	5	Ottawa	5	Canadiens	6 (27' OT)
	9	Canadiens	4	Toronto	6
	12	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	9
	19	Toronto	1	Canadiens	5
	21	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	3
	23	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	3
	28	Canadiens	1	Toronto	5
	30	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	2
Feb.	2	Toronto	2	Canadiens	11

† Montreal Arena burned down and Wanderers withdraw. Two Wanderers games count as wins for Canadiens and Toronto.

Second half

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Feb.	6	Canadiens	3	Ottawa	6
	9	Toronto	7	Canadiens	3
	16	Ottawa	4	Canadiens	10
	18	Canadiens	9	Toronto	0
	20	Toronto	4	Canadiens	5
	25	Canadiens	0	Ottawa	8
	27	Ottawa	3	Canadiens	1 (at Quebec)
Mar.	2	Canadiens	3	Toronto	5

Playoffs

The Canadiens played the Torontos in a playoff to decided the league championship. In a two-game, total-goals series, Toronto won the first game 7–3 and Montreal won the second game 4–3. Toronto won the series 10–7 and proceeded to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 11	Montreal Canadiens	3	Toronto	7
March 13	Toronto	3	Montreal Canadiens	4

Toronto wins total goals series 10–7 for the O'Brien Cup

Roster

Source:

Mouton, Claude (1987). The Montreal Canadiens. Key Porter Books. pp. pg.152. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

References

^ "Pro League to Operate". The Globe. 1917-11-27. p. 13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Holzman, Morey (2002). "Lichtenhein Loses the War". Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL Conquered Hockey. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. pp. 169–70. ISBN 1–55002–413–2. The league did not accept the Wanderers' resignation immediately, electing to wait and see whether the team showed up for its scheduled match in Toronto on Saturday January 5. ... The deadline did expire, and the once-powerful team that had been known as the Little Men of Iron was thrown onto the scrap heap of hockey history. The Wanderers' scheduled games of January 2 and 5 were officially recorded in the standings as victories for their respective opponents, the Canadiens and Torontos. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

v t e Montreal Canadiens
Founded in 1909 Based in Montreal, Quebec
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season
History	History Original Six Centennial Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) Molson family (Geoff Molson, chairman) General manager Kent Hughes Head coach Martin St. Louis Team captain Nick Suzuki Current roster
Arenas	Jubilee Arena Montreal Arena Mount Royal Arena Montreal Forum Bell Centre
Rivalries	Boston Bruins Quebec Nordiques Toronto Maple Leafs
Affiliates	AHL Laval Rocket ECHL Trois-Rivières Lions
Media	TV TSN2 (English) RDS (French) Radio TSN Radio 690 (English) 98,5 FM (French)
Culture and lore	Youppi! The Hockey Sweater Pour toujours, les Canadiens! Ginette Reno Tour des Canadiens The Punch Line Richard Riot 1938 European tour "Fix You" Good Friday Massacre 2003 Heritage Classic 2011 Heritage Classic 2016 Winter Classic 100 Classic Bell Sports Complex
Category Commons

v t e Montreal Canadiens seasons
1900s	1909–10
1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1917–18 NHL season
Original Four	Mtl Canadiens Mtl Wanderers Ottawa Toronto
See also	Stanley Cup Finals Transactions