In 1895, the teams that formerly made up the main circuit for the Montreal Winter Carnival played a season-long stand-alone hockey league that was a successor to the popular winter festival. In fact, the MWC Hockey Tournament was cancelled as the teams decided to focus on their own league play. The Montreal Hockey Club, Montreal Shamrocks, Montreal Victorias, Quebec Hockey Club, and the Ottawa Hockey Club participated in a balanced, round-robin format which was going to be an ongoing practice.
The ninth season played in 1895 (played from January 3 to March 8) saw the Montreal Victorias win the Championship. 1895 was the third year that the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup was awarded. The Montreal Victorias was awarded the Cup by virtue of a playoff that took place between the 1894 AHAC champion (Montreal Hockey Club) and the Queen’s University Hockey Club from the Ontario Hockey Association. The game’s result was:
March 9, 1895 – Montreal Hockey Club 5-1 over Queen’s University Hockey Club (OHA)
During the season the Montreal Crystals partnered with the Montreal Shamrocks, a non-AHAC team. This new combined team defeated the Quebec Hockey Club on February 2nd. Quebec HC protested the use of Shamrock players and convinced the league to disregard the game’s result, culminating in both teams officially playing one less game.
| Championships to 1895 Season for Amateur Hockey Association of Canada | ||
| Team | # of Championships | Premier Championship Points |
| Montreal Hockey Club | 9 (1885-86, 88-94) | 30 |
| Montreal Victorias | 2 (1884, 95) | 8 (+4) |
| Montreal Crystals | 1 (1887) | 4 |
| McGill University | 1 (1883) | 2 |
The AHAC was the first ever organized Ice Hockey league formed by four Montreal-based teams plus Ottawa. These five teams all played in the MWC Tournament so that tournament is considered to be the direct predecessor to the AHAC for historical and statistical purposes. From this humble beginning ice hockey and its leagues established their beginning.
- Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, 1905 - December 17, 2017
- Canadian Amateur Hockey League, 1905 - December 16, 2017
- Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, 1904 - December 10, 2017
