1917–18 Montreal Canadiens season

IcehockeyTeamSeason
Season=1917–18
League=NHL
LeagueRank=1st (1st half), 3rd (2nd half)
Record=10-4-0 (1st half), 3-5-0 (2nd half)
GeneralManager=
Arena=Montreal Arena/Jubilee Rink
GAALeader=Georges Vezina (4.0)
GoalsLeader=Joe Malone (44)
GoalsFor=115
GoalsAgainst=84
Coach=George Kennedy
Captain=Newsy Lalonde
Team=Montreal Canadiens

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.

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. [cite news|work=The Globe |title=Pro League to Operate |page=13 |date=1917-11-27]

Regular season

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"

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

;Second half

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.

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

Roster

*Georges Vezina
* Billy Bell, Louis Berlinquette, Bert Corbeau, Billy Coutu, Joe Hall, Newsy Lalonde, Jack Laviolette, Joe Malone, Jack McDonald, Evariste Payer, Didier Pitre

Source:
*

References

ee also

* 1917–18 NHL season
* List of Stanley Cup champions