The Montreal Crystals (''Crystal Hockey Club'') were an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada that existed from 1884 to 1895. One of the first established ice hockey teams, the Crystals played various challenges against other clubs in the early days of ice hockey competition. They won the Canadian championship in 1886, defeating

, which withdrew due to numerous injuries in the final game. Later that year the Crystals helped to found the

Amateur Hockey Association of Canada The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) was an amateur men's ice hockey league founded on 8 December 1886, in existence until 1898. It was the second ice hockey league organized in Canada, after one in Kingston, Ontario started in 1883. ...

where they played the first five seasons. The club won the championship in 1887, defeating the

Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. ...

in the last challenge of the season. The team played further challenges for the championship from 1888 to 1891. For the 1890 season, the club became known as the Montreal Dominions (''Dominion Hockey Club''). In 1891 they became known as the Montreal Crescents (''Crescent Hockey Club''). The team sat out the 1892 season. In 1893 they returned to the league and returned to their original name of Montreal Crystals. In February 1895, the Crystals were purchased by the ''Shamrocks Amateur Athletic Association'', and were merged into the dormant

Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, and then amateur again men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886 to 1924, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off ...

Hockey Club,"The Crystal Club"
''Montreal Gazette''. Feb. 7, 1895 (pg. 8). who were then revived replacing the Crystals in the AHAC. The club took their various names from the rinks they played in. The Crystal Palace Skating Rink from 1884–1889. ''The Dominion Rink'' in 1890, and the ''Crescent Skating Rink'' in 1891. When the team moved to the

Victoria Skating Rink The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used du ...

in 1893, they reverted to their original name of Montreal Crystals, since they were unable to use the Victoria name because of the

Junior teams

Outside of the senior club, the Montreal Crystals had two lower-tier teams as well. A junior team called the Montreal Jr Crystals (''Junior Crystals Hockey Club'') debuted in 1887 in the JAHAC (Junior Amateur Hockey Association of Canada) and played until 1895 (with the exceptions of the 1890 and 1892 seasons). In 1894, an intermediate version of the Montreal Crystals played in the IAHAC (Intermediate Amateur Hockey Association of Canada). This team only played that one season.

Season-by-season record

References

Bibliography

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Notes

{{reflist Cry Amateur Hockey Association of Canada teams 1885 establishments in Quebec 1895 disestablishments in Quebec Ice hockey clubs established in 1885 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1895