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. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off as an independent club and briefly playing in the AHAC, the team became a permanent fixture in the early amateur leagues when in 1895 they merged with the Montreal Crystals and replaced them midway through the 1895 season in the AHAC. The club eventually went professional and played one season in the National Hockey Association (NHA), the predecessor of today's National Hockey League. Afterwards, with the cost of professionalism being too expensive, the team reverted to an amateur club and played into the 1920s in various amateur leagues. Their greatest success came when they won back to back Stanley Cups at the turn of the century in 1899 and 1900.