1915-16 NHA season

The 1915–16 NHA season was the 7th season of the National Hockey Association. Five teams would play a 24 game schedule. Montreal Canadiens would win the league championship and defeat the Portland Rosebuds to win their first ever Stanley Cup.

League Business[]

Toronto Blueshirts included the players from the Toronto Shamrocks/Ontarios/Tecumsehs franchise. Before the season, Ed Livingstone, the Shamrocks owner, purchased the Blueshirts franchise from Frank Robinson. At the annual meeting of November 9, 1915, he was ordered to sell the Shamrocks franchise but could not do so as the Pacific Coast Hockey Association 'raided' the franchise and signed its players.

Emmett Quinn continued as president
Frank Calder continued as secretary-treasurer

Directors:

Sam Lichtenhein, Ernie Russell, Wanderers
E. J. Livingstone, Shamrocks
Frank Robinson, M. J. Quinn, Toronto
Barney Kane, Quebec
George Kennedy, Canadiens
Martin Rosenthal, Frank Shaughnessy, Ottawa

President Quinn instituted a rule that officials would be locked in their dressing rooms between periods to disallow influence from the press or players.

Regular Season[]

Several players from the PCHA signed with NHA clubs:

Frank Nighbor, Ottawa
Bert Lindsay, Wanderers
Walter Smaill, Wanderers

Highlights[]

On January 23, 1916, Skene Ronan was arrested by Toronto police and charged with assault for hitting Alf Skinner.

On February 23, 1916, Gordon Roberts of the Wanderers drew a match penalty for cutting Ottawa's Frank Nighbor in a game in Montreal. On the next visit of the Wanderers to Ottawa, Roberts was pelted with bottles from the Ottawa fans.

The race for the scoring championship was close between Newsy Lalonde of the Canadiens, Joe Malone of Quebec and Cy Denneny of Toronto. Lalonde would finish with 31 goals in 25 games and Malone and Denneny would tie for second with 26 goals. Clint Benedict of Ottawa would have the best G.A.A. of 3.0 to best Georges Vezina's 3.2 goals per game. Gordon Keats of Toronto would score five goals in a game against Quebec on February 7, 1916. He would finish the season with 22 goals in 24 games.

Final standings[]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against

National Hockey Association	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	24	16	7	1	104	76
Ottawa Senators	24	13	11	0	78	72
Quebec Bulldogs	24	10	12	2	91	98
Montreal Wanderers	24	10	14	0	90	116
Toronto Blueshirts	24	9	14	1	97	98

Montreal is the champion and winner of the O'Brien Cup.

Results[]

Month	Day	Visitor	Score	Home	Score
Dec.	18	Canadiens	2	Toronto	1
	18	Quebec	5	Wanderers	8
	22	Toronto	1	Ottawa	7
	22	Wanderers	3	Canadiens	2
	25	Ottawa	2	Quebec	3
	25	Wanderers	6	Toronto	5
	29	Ottawa	0	Wanderers	4
	29	Canadiens	2	Quebec	5
Jan.	1	Canadiens	4	Ottawa	2
	1	Quebec	4	Toronto	3
	5	Toronto	1	Canadiens	6
	5	Wanderers	1	Quebec	6
	8	Quebec	2	Ottawa	4
	8	Canadiens	3	Wanderers	5
	12	Ottawa	0	Toronto	1
	12	Quebec	3	Canadiens	5
	15	Ottawa	5	Canadiens	2
	15	Toronto	3	Quebec	4
	17	Wanderers	7	Ottawa	3
	20	Toronto	4	Wanderers	7
	20	Canadiens	2	Quebec	2 (20' OT)
	23	Canadiens	1	Toronto	3
	23	Quebec	2	Wanderers	1
	25	Ottawa	6	Quebec	3
	26	Toronto	1	Ottawa	2
	26	Wanderers	4	Canadiens	5
	29	Ottawa	5	Wanderers	4
	29	Toronto	5	Quebec	6 (16'10" OT)
	31	Wanderers	2	Toronto	8
Feb.	2	Quebec	0	Ottawa	4
	2	Wanderers	9	Canadiens	5
	5	Toronto	5	Canadiens	10
	5	Wanderers	5	Quebec	8
	7	Wanderers	1	Ottawa	3
	7	Quebec	5	Toronto	11
	9	Ottawa	2	Canadiens	3 (7'20" OT)
	9	Toronto	3	Quebec	3 (20' OT)
	12	Canadiens	3	Ottawa	1
	12	Toronto	1	Wanderers	3
	16	Ottawa	1	Toronto	3
	16	Quebec	3	Canadiens	4
	19	Toronto	2	Ottawa	5
	19	Wanderers	3	Canadiens	1
	23	Ottawa	4	Wanderers	3
	23	Canadiens	3	Quebec	2
	26	Ottawa	2	Toronto	9
	26	Quebec	3	Canadiens	4 (15" OT)
	28	Wanderers	2	Ottawa	6
Mar.	1	Wanderers	2	Quebec	6
	1	Toronto	3	Canadiens	7
	4	Canadiens	15	Wanderers	5
	4	Quebec	5	Toronto	7
	8	Quebec	5	Ottawa	8
	8	Toronto	3	Wanderers	2
	11	Ottawa	1	Canadiens	4
	11	Wanderers	2	Toronto	10
	13	Ottawa	4	Quebec	0
	15	Canadiens	5	Ottawa	1
	15	Quebec	6	Wanderers	1
	18	Canadiens	6	Toronto	4

Scoring leaders[]

Player	Team	GP	G
Newsy Lalonde	Canadiens	24	31
Joe Malone	Quebec	24	26
Cy Denneny	Toronto	24	26
Didier Pitre	Canadiens	24	23
Gordon Keats	Toronto	24	22
Gordon Roberts	Toronto	21	21
Frank Nighbor	Ottawa	23	19
Corb Denneny	Toronto	22	18
Rusty Crawford	Quebec	22	18
Jack Darragh	Ottawa	21	16

Leading Goaltenders[]

Name	Club	GP	GA	SO	Avg.
Clint Benedict	Ottawa	24	72	1	3.0
Georges Vezina	Canadiens	24	76		3.2
Paddy Moran	Quebec	22	82		3.7
Percy LeSueur	Toronto	23	92	1	4.0
Bert Lindsay	Wanderers	23	110	1	4.8
Harry Holmes	Toronto	1	6		6.0
Billy Hague	Wanderers	1	6		6.0
Rochon	Quebec	2	16		8.0