1896 AHAC season

• Watson Jack, Victorias (President) • Weldy Young, Ottawa (1st. Vice-Pres.) • Clarence Mussen, Montreal (Sec.-Treasurer) == Season ==

The Crystals were allowed to change their name to Shamrocks, which matched their new affiliation with the Shamrock A.A.A. Highlights The Victorias were truly the class of the league and only lost once, 3–2 to Ottawa. Their regular season team goal total was nearly double that of Ottawa. Final Standing Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against Results † Victorias clinch league championship. == Player Stats ==

Scoring leaders Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals scored Goaltending averages Note: GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average == Playoffs ==

There were no playoffs as Montreal won first place exclusively. == Exhibitions ==

After the season, Montreal and Shamrocks played an exhibition series of games in the United States: ; Washington, March 7, 1896: • Shamrocks 3, Montreal 1 ;Baltimore, March 9, 1896: • Montreal 6, Shamrocks 5 ; New York, March 10, 1896: • Montreal 1, Shamrocks 1 ( completed March 11 with Shamrocks winning 2–1) The Montreal Victorias travelled to New York City for an exhibition against the New York Athletic Club. The Athletic Club records the date as March 4, (although the date conflicts with an AHAC game), won by the Vics 6–1. == Stanley Cup challenge ==

Victorias vs. Winnipeg at Montreal The first successful challenge to the Cup came in February 1896 by the Winnipeg Victorias, the champions of the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA). On February 14, Winnipeg beat defending champion Montreal Victorias, 2–0, becoming the first team outside the AHAC to win the Cup. Winnipeg took a 2–0 lead in the first half of the game on goals by Armytage and Campbell, then played on the defensive in the second half. == Stanley Cup engraving ==

† played 1 regular-season game in goal non-players= • E.B. Nixon (President) • Able Code (Vice President/Manager) • J. Carter (Mascot/Trainer) engraving-notes= • VICTORIAS • - OF - • WINNIPEG • 1895 • Winnipeg included the year 1895 instead of 1896, because they defeated the 1895 defending Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Victorias before the 1896 season had been completed. This is not an engraving error. • An interesting factoid for this 2-0 win over the similarly named Montreal Victorias is that the very first Stanley Cup Parade was held in Winnipeg on Main Street celebrating this victory. • Two non-players first names are unknown == See also ==