The 1916–17 Ottawa Senators season was the Ottawa Hockey Club's 32nd season of play. This was the 8th and final season of the National Hockey Association. Teams were to play two half-seasons of 10 games each, though this was disrupted. Ottawa won the second half and played off against first-half winner Montreal Canadiens for the NHA title, but lost.
Team business The Ottawa club wanted to suspend play for the season due to the war, but was voted down.
Regular season Suspending the Blueshirts On February 10, 1917, the Blueshirts played their final game, losing 4–1 at home to Ottawa. The following day, a meeting of the NHA executive in Montreal was held to deal with the 228th Battalion leaving for overseas. Toronto proposed continuing with a five-team league, but the other owners instead voted to suspend Toronto's team. The players were dispersed by a drawing of names. The following day, President Robinson was quoted as stating that the players would return to the club after the season, but he would not guarantee that the club would be allowed to return to play, stating that would be decided at the NHA annual meeting.
Continuing the season Ottawa, while not unhappy at the suspension of Toronto, nevertheless lost a game for the use of Cy Denneny in a game against the 228th, and saw the Wanderers and Quebec receive wins for games against the 228th. The club threatened to not play for the rest of the season. However, cooler heads prevailed and Ottawa went back to work.
Final standings
Results First half Month Day Visitor Score Home Score Dec.27 Ottawa 7 228th 10 30 Canadiens 1 Ottawa 7 Jan. 3 Ottawa 10 Wanderers 5 6 Toronto 2 Ottawa 3 10 Ottawa 4 Quebec 5 13 228th 1 Ottawa 1 17 Ottawa 3 Canadiens 2 20 Wanderers 5 Ottawa 8 24 Ottawa 5 Toronto 8 27 Quebec 2 Ottawa 7
Second half Month Day Visitor Score Home Score Jan. 31 228th 0 Ottawa‡ 8 Feb. 3 Ottawa 2 Canadiens 1 7 Wanderers 5 Ottawa 8 10 Ottawa 4 Toronto 1 14 Canadiens 1 Ottawa 4 17 Ottawa 2 Quebec 3 (16' OT) 21 Ottawa 5 Wanderers 3 24 Wanderers 6 Ottawa 11 28 Ottawa 3 Canadiens 1 Mar. 3 Quebec 1 Ottawa 16
‡ Ottawa lost game on use of ineligible Cy Denneny. † Wanderers given win for this game in revised second half. * 228th was ordered overseas. Toronto club was suspended by league.
Scoring Player Team GP GFrank NighborOttawa 19 41Jack DarraghOttawa 20 26Corb Denneny Toronto / Ottawa 20 19Eddie Gerard Ottawa 19 17Hamby Shore Ottawa 19 11George Boucher Ottawa 18 10Ed Lowrey Ottawa 19 3Cy Denneny Ottawa 10 3Horace Merrill Ottawa 18 1Ernie Staveneau Ottawa 3 0Jack Fournier Ottawa 8 0
Leading goaltenders Name Club GP GA SO Avg. Clint Benedict Ottawa 18 50 1 2.8 Ossie Lang Ottawa 1 5 5.0 Sam Hebert Quebec/Ottawa 15 84 5.6
Playoffs Game-by-GameWinning teamScoreLosing teamLocation1March 7 Montreal Canadiens5–2Ottawa Senators Montreal Arena2March 10Ottawa Senators 4–2Montreal CanadiensThe Arena, OttawaCanadiens win two-game playoff 7–6
The Montreal Canadiens won the O'Brien Cup, but lost to the Seattle Metropolitans of the PCHA in the Stanley Cup Final.
Awards and records Frank Nighbor – shared scoring title with Joe Malone with 41 goals
See also 1916–17 NHA season
References