Format best-of-five | Dates March 20–30, 1916 Start date March 20, 1916 | |
Coaches Montreal: Newsy LalondePortland: Edward Savage (mgr.) Series-winning goal Goldie Prodger (17:20, third, G5) Similar 1931 Stanley Cup Finals, 1924 Stanley Cup Finals, 1959 Stanley Cup Finals, 1960 Stanley Cup Finals, 1969 Stanley Cup Finals | ||
The 1916 Stanley Cup Final was played between the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Montreal Canadiens and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Portland Rosebuds. This was the first time that a best-of-five Cup championship went the distance. Also, the Rosebuds were the first team based in the United States to play for the Cup. The Canadiens defeated the Rosebuds three games to two in the best-of-five game series. This was the Canadiens' first Stanley Cup championship.
Contents
Paths to the final
Montreal won the NHA title after finishing the 1915–16 regular season in first place with a 16–7–1 record. Meanwhile, Portland clinched the 1915–16 PCHA title with a 13–5 record.
The series
The games of the series were played at Montreal's Montreal Arena as it was the turn of the NHA champions to host the series. This was not the home rink of the Canadiens, but it was larger than their home Jubilee Rink. Games one, three and five were played under NHA rules; Games two and four were played under PCHA rules. Ernie Johnson's share of series revenues was by court order to be paid to the Montreal Wanderers, whom he had left while under contract to go to the PCHA. For the entire series, future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Georges Vezina aided Montreal by posting a 2.60 goals-against average. Didier Pitre led the Canadiens in scoring with 4 goals.
Game one
Portland arrived by train the day before the game but showed no weariness, recording a shutout.
Game two
Despite missing Newsy Lalonde and Jack Laviolette, Montreal behind some heavy checking defeated Portland 2–1 to tie the series.
Game three
Lalonde and Laviolette played in game three. Lalonde got into a fight with Ernie Johnson, requiring the police to break up the fight. Lalonde and Laviolette were ejected for the game and Eddie Oatman received a major penalty. Pitre was the scoring star, scoring three goals to lead the Canadiens to a 6–3 victory.
Game four
The Rosebuds then evened the series with a 6–5 victory in game four. The Rosebuds took a 3–0 lead, only to see the Canadiens tie it and take a 4–3 lead. In the third period Portland's Fred Harris scored twice and Charlie Uksilla scored once to take a 6–4 lead until the last minute when Lalonde scored to make it closer.
Game five
In game five, Portland's Tommy Dunderdale gave his team a 1–0 lead before Skene Ronan tied the game. The seldom-used George Prodger then scored the game and series-winning goal to clinch the Cup for the Canadiens.
Roster
‡ also played rover in the Stanley Cup Finals
Stanley Cup engraving
Although the Rosebuds did not win the series, the Rosebuds had the words "Portland Ore./PCHA Champions/1915–16" engraved on the Cup after obtaining the trophy from the previous year's champions, the Vancouver Millionaires. This was consistent with the practice at the time that the trophy was passed on to the winner of the league championship of the previous Cup champion's league. Portland is thus the only city not to win the Cup outright to be listed as champions on the Stanley Cup.
After the series, "Canadian/NHA & World's Champions/Defeated Portland/1915–16" was added to the Cup (Note that the anglicized, singular form of "Canadiens" was engraved).