The 1910âÂÂ11 NHA season was the second season of the now defunct National Hockey Association. The Ottawa Hockey Club won the league championship. Ottawa took over the Stanley Cup from the Montreal Wanderers and defended it against teams from Galt, Ontario, and Port Arthur, Ontario .
The annual meeting was held November 12, 1910, electing the following executive:
Directors:
The Shamrocks resigned from the league and were not replaced. The Club Athletique-Canadien and the Quebec Hockey Club were granted franchises. Haileybury and Cobalt left the league. Club-Athletique-Canadien had made a claim on the Canadiens name and threatened a lawsuit if they were not granted a franchise. There are three written descriptions of this transaction. Coleman(1966) writes that George Kennedy, president of the CAC bought the Haileybury franchise. In Andy O'Brien's book, Ambrose O'Brien is quoted as saying that he sold the Canadiens to Kennedy. In Holzman's book, the franchise was given to Kennedy, but Kennedy had to pay O'Brien for the rights to Newsy Lalonde. In The Globe of March 7, 1911, it is claimed that Lalonde's sale was the first ever sale of a player.
The NHA decided to impose a $5,000 per team salary cap.
A second meeting, on November 26, 1910, updated the Board of Directors to:
The salary cap, while opposed by the players was upheld at the meeting.
Source: Coleman, p. 201âÂÂ203.
The salary cap of $5,000 per club caused a situation where Bruce Stuart of Ottawa threatened a mass defection to a new league. However, the players found that the Arena Company, owners of the Montreal Arena would not rent to the players. There was no other suitable arena in Montreal available for a new league and the players had no choice but to abandon the effort. Some players took a large cut in salary: Marty Walsh, Fred Lake and Dubbie Kerr were paid $600 each where they had been paid $1,200 each in 1910. The dispute caused the cancellation of a pre-season exhibition series in New York for the Ottawas and Wanderers.
Games were changed from two periods of 30 minutes, to three periods of twenty minutes, with ten-minute rest periods. The Spalding hockey puck was adopted as the standard puck.
Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
â Protested by Renfrew.
â¡ Replay of protested game. Played at Ottawa
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
Ottawa played two challenges after the season at The Arena in Ottawa.
Marty Walsh was a "one-man wrecking crew", scoring ten goals against Port Arthur.
After the season a series was arranged between Renfrew and Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa to play in New York. Renfrew and Montreal played first, with the winner to play-off against Ottawa. After the Wanderers defeated Renfrew 18âÂÂ5 (13âÂÂ4, 4âÂÂ1), Ottawa won a $2,500 prize for the two-game series winning 12âÂÂ7 ( 7âÂÂ2, 5âÂÂ8 ).
Ottawa and Montreal then played a two-game series in Boston on March 22 and March 25, 1911 (the first game being the first professional hockey game in Boston). Ottawa won a $2,500 purse by a total score of 13âÂÂ11 (5âÂÂ7, 8âÂÂ4). Ottawa had picked up Cyclone Taylor from Renfrew to play in the Boston exhibition games.
The 1911 Stanley Cup was presented by the trophy's trustee William Foran. The Ottawa Hockey Club never did engrave their names on the Cup for their championship season.
â Missing from the team picture.These are the known non-playing members of 1911 Ottawa Hockey Club. The only team picture found of the Ottawa Hockey Club in 1911 includes 9 of the 10 players, and no non-playing members.
non-players =
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