The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey team, organized in 1877 making it the second organized ice hockey club after McGill College. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The club was winners of the Stanley Cup in 1895 and held it except for a period in 1896 until 1899. The club remained amateur, splitting from the ranks of teams turned professional in 1908. The amateur hockey club was the first winner of the Allan Cup and continued in play until 1939.

Team history

Interest in ice hockey at the Victoria Skating Club in Montreal, dates to at least 1875, when the first recorded organized hockey game took place on its rink, the Victoria Skating Rink, which had opened in 1862, between skating club members and McGill students. The Victoria Hockey Club was organized in 1881, the second organized club after McGill. At this time, there was no league play, only organized exhibitions and tournaments, such as the Montreal Winter Carnival hockey tournaments.

In 1886, the club helped to found the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC). The team played in this league from 1887-1898. It was during this period that the team had its greatest success, winning the Stanley Cup in 1895, December 1896, 1897, 1898 and February 1899. They also won the AHAC league in 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898. In 1894, the team participated in the first Stanley Cup playoff, losing 3–2 to Montreal in the semi-final.

The team resigned from the AHAC in 1898 over the proposal to allow the Ottawa Capitals into the league, and helped form the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) in which they played from 1899-1905. The CAHL itself folded in 1905 and the team helped found the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. The league allowed amateurs and professionals to play against each other openly. The Victorias played in the league for two years as a purely amateur team leaving the ECAHA after the 1908 season to focus on amateur play.



In 1908, the new Allan Cup was awarded to the Victorias as the top amateur team at the time. The Victorias remained active in senior-league amateur play in the Interprovincial Amateur Hockey Union and the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association. The club won a second Allan Cup in 1928.

The Victoria Skating Rink was closed in 1937 and the Victoria Hockey Club ceased activities in 1939.

Season by Season Record

Prior to 1893–94, season play was arranged in challenges, exhibitions or tournaments.

Season	League	Games	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts	Standing	Playoffs
1893–94	AHAC	8	5	3	0	36	20	10	1st(tie)	Lost 3–2 to Montreal HC in Stanley Cup playoff.
1894–95	AHAC	8	6	2	0	12	35	20	1st	Won Stanley Cup as AHAC champions.
1895–96	AHAC	8	7	1	0	14	41	24	1st	Lost Stanley Cup in challenge to Winnipeg Victorias.
1896–97	AHAC	8	7	1	0	14	48	26	1st	Won Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Winnipeg. Defended as AHAC champions.
1897–98	AHAC	8	8	0	0	16	53	33	1st	Defended Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Ottawa Capitals Defended as AHAC champions
1898–99	CAHL	8	6	2	0	12	44	23	2nd	Defended Stanley Cup in challenge vs. Winnipeg Victorias Lost Stanley Cup to CAHL league champions Montreal Shamrocks.
1899–1900	CAHL	8	2	6	0	4	44	55	4th	--
1900–01	CAHL	8	4	3	1	9	45	32	2nd	--
1901–02	CAHL	8	4	4	0	8	36	25	3rd	--
1902–03	CAHL	8	6	2	0	12	48	33	2nd	--
1903–04	CAHL	8	5	3	0	10	75	48	2nd	--
1904–05	CAHL	10	9	1	0	18	64	32	1st	Did not play challenge for Stanley Cup
1905–06	ECAHA	10	6	4	0	12	76	73	3rd	--
1906–07	ECAHA	10	6	4	0	12	101	70	3rd	--
1907–08	ECAHA	10	4	6	0	8	73	78	5th	--
1908–09	IPAHU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1909–10	IPAHU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1935–36	QAHA	22	8	9	5	64	80	22	5th	--
1936–37	QAHA	22	7	12	3	58	65	18	6th	--
1937–38	QAHA	22	8	11	3	63	74	21	6th	--
1938–39	QAHA	22	5	15	3	66	79	16	6th	--

• 1893–1908: (Source: Coleman(1966)
• 1935–39: Point totals include 4 point games against McGill (Source: Ottawa Citizen)

Notable players

The following players were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame:

• Russell Bowie
• Graham Drinkwater
• Mike Grant

Stanley Cup Winners for 1895

Robert Jones(goal), Jim Fenwick(goal), A. McDougall(goal), Hartland McDougall(goal), Harold Henderson(point), Ronald Elliot(point), William Pullan(point), Mike Grant(coverpoint-Captain),Graham Drinkwater(rover), Shirley Davidson(forward), Robert McDougall(forward), Norman Rankin(forward).

Non players

W. Jack (President), Fred Meredith (Hon. President), P.M. Desterneck (Secretary/Treasurer), G.R. Hooper (Director).

The team was awarded the Stanley Cup as 1895 champions of the A.H.A.C. regular season.

Montreal Victorias 1897 Stanley Cup champions

Gordon Lewis(goal), Harold Henderson(point), Hartland McDougall(point), Mike Grant(coverpoint - Captain), Graham Drinkwater(rover),Robert McDougall(forward), Shirley Davidson(forward), Ernest McLea, (forward), Cam Davidson(forward), Jack Ewing(forward), Harry Messy (forward), David McLellan(forward), Percival Molson(forward)

Non-players

W. Jack(President), Fred Meredith (Hon. President), W. Grant (Vice President), F.H. Wilson (Hon. Vice President), P.M. Desterneck Secretary/Treasurer)

In December 1896, the club won the Stanley Cup from the Winnipeg Victorias in a Stanley Cup challenge, then won the 1897 AHAC season to retain the Cup.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions

References & Notes

• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books, 12, 50. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.