1918–19 Ottawa Senators season

NHLTeamSeason
Season=1918–19
Team=Ottawa
Conference=
ConferenceRank=
Division=
DivisionRank=
Record=12–6–0
HomeRecord=8–1–0
RoadRecord=4–5–0
GoalsFor=71
GoalsAgainst=53
GeneralManager=Tommy Gorman
Coach=Alf Smith
Captain=Jack Darragh
AltCaptain=
Arena=The Arena
Attendance=
GoalsLeader=Cy Denneny and Frank Nighbor (18)
AssistsLeader=Sprague Cleghorn and Eddie Gerard (6)
PointsLeader=Cy Denneny and Frank Nighbor (22)
PlusMinusLeader=
PIMLeader=Cy Denneny (43)
WinsLeader=Clint Benedict (12)
GAALeader=Clint Benedict (2.91)

The 1918–19 Ottawa Senators season was the club's 34th season, second in the National Hockey League (NHL), and they would see much improvement over the previous season. The season was cut short by the Toronto Arenas suspending operations, leaving the Senators and Montreal Canadiens to play the first best-of-seven playoff series to determine the NHL championship, won by Montreal.

Ted Dey became president and majority owner of the Ottawa Hockey Association. Prior to the season, he negotiated with Martin Rosenthal, treasurer of the Ottawa Hockey Club, holding out on use of The Arena and leading Rosenthal to investigate the use of the Aberdeen Pavilion again. Dey signed an agreement with Percy Quinn to rent The Arena to his new CHA league, but this was ruse. However, his ruse worked to his advantage in negotiating with the Ottawa HC. As part of an agreement reached out, he became majority owner and president of the Club. The Club was now bound to the Arena for the next five years as well. He was sued by Percy Quinn for his actions and trial took place in early January in Toronto.

Regular season

Senators player Hamby Shore would pass away before the season began on October 14, 1918, as he was a victim of the influenza epidemic that spread across North America from 1918 to 1919. Shore was 32 years old.

After a 4–5–0 record in the first half of the season, the Senators would go on to an 8–1–0 in the second half, and earning a spot in the NHL Finals against the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens would go on to win the series in 5 games to claim the O'Brien Cup, and represent the NHL for the Stanley Cup Finals against the Seattle Metropolitans. The Stanley Cup would not be awarded for this season though, due to the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Cy Denneny and Frank Nighbor would lead the team with 18 goals and 22 points each, while Clint Benedict would win a league best 12 games, along with his NHL leading 2.91 GAA.

After the season, the club travelled to Vancouver to play a best-of-three against the Millionaires, winning the exhibition series 3 games to 2.

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"

Playoffs

;Montreal Canadiens 4, Ottawa Senators 1

Roster

*Benedict, Clint (G)
*Boucher, Georges (D)
*Broadbent, Punch (R)
*Cameron, Harry (D)
*Cleghorn, Sprague (D)
*Darragh, Jack (R)
*Denneny, Cy (L)
*Gerard, Eddie (L)
*Lowrey, Ed (C)
*Nighbor, Frank (C)
*Ronan, Skene (D)

Source: NHL.com [cite web |url=http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=PlayerSearchPage&season=19181919&team=SEN |title=1918-19 Ottawa Senators |publisher=NHL.com]

ee also

* 1918–19 NHL season

References

* [http://www.shrpsports.com SHRP Sports]
* [http://www.hockeydb.com The Internet Hockey Database]
*National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007