The 1918–19 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's tenth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

and second as a member of the new

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). The Canadiens would win the NHL title and go to Seattle to face off for the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

. However, a Spanish flu epidemic broke out in Seattle and both teams would abandon the series after several Canadiens fell ill. Montreal

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

Joe Hall Joseph Hall may refer to: Sports * Joe Hall (American football) (born 1979), American football player * Joe Hall (baseball) (born 1966), American baseball player * Joe Hall (ice hockey) (1881–1919), Canadian ice hockey player * Joe B. Hall (192 ...

would die from the flu.

Team business

Prior to the season, another attempt was made by

Eddie Livingstone Edward James Livingstone (September 12, 1884 – September 11, 1945) was a Canadian sports team owner and manager. He was the principal owner of the Toronto Shamrocks and the Toronto Blueshirts professional ice hockey clubs of the National Hockey ...

to revive the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

. Livingstone did not wish to sell his team for less than $20,000, more than the Arena Company was willing to pay. On September 20, 1918, the NHA owners, including the Canadiens, voted to permanently suspend the NHA. Livingstone forced another meeting on December 11, 1918, hoping to get Canadiens' minority shareholder Brunswick to vote with him, but at the meeting, Brunswick officials affirmed their loyalty to the Canadiens and the meeting ended with the Canadiens, Brunswick, Ottawa and Wanderers simply leaving the meeting.

Regular season

Georges Vezina Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

came second in the league in goals against average of 4.3 per game.

Odie Cleghorn James Albert Ogilvie "Odie" Cleghorn (September 19, 1891 – July 13, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, linesman and referee. His brother Sprague Cleghorn also played professional ice hockey and the two played several sea ...

returned to professional play and he had an outstanding 24 goals in 17 games to lead the league in goals for the Canadiens. The

Toronto Arenas The Toronto Arenas or Torontos were a professional men's ice hockey team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was operated by the owner of the Mutual Street Arena, Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arena Company. ...

folded on March 20, 1919, leaving only Montreal and Ottawa in the league. The teams proceeded to play off for the league title.

Final standings

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

Playoffs

They went against Ottawa for the championship and won it 13 goals to 7, or 13–7.

Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Seattle Metropolitans ''Series ended 2–2–1 and no winner awarded – playoffs were curtailed due to the

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

Player statistics

Skaters

''Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes''

Goaltenders

''Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average''

Awards and records

* NHL champions (

O'Brien Cup The O'Brien Trophy, or O'Brien Cup, as labelled on the trophy itself, is a retired trophy that was awarded in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey leagues of North America from 1910 to 1950. It was ...

not awarded)

Transactions

*traded Tommy Smith to Ottawa for cash, November 28, 1918 *signed

as a free agent, December 9, 1918 *signed Fred Doherty as a free agent, December 13, 1918 *signed

Amos Arbour Joseph Amos Hermas "Butch" Arbour (January 26, 1895 – November 1, 1943) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. A left winger, Arbour played two seasons in the National Hockey Association and six seasons in the National Hockey League for ...

as a free agent, January 23, 1919

References

* * * *