Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association - History

History

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Founding

The CAHL held its regular meeting on December 9, 1905. At that meeting it was decided that amalgamation with the FAHL should be attempted. On December 11, it was announced that the amalgamation would form a new league, the ECAHA. The CAHL was discontinued, but the FAHL would continue. The first executive was elected:

  • Howard Wilson, Montreal (president)
  • G. P. Murphy, Ottawa (1st vice-president)
  • Dr. Cameron, Montreal (2nd vice-president)
  • James Strachan, Wanderers ( Secretary-treasurer)

However on December 20, the vice-president titles were abolished and the Secretary-treasurer position was given to William Northey of the Montreal Arena Company.

A silver championship trophy was donated by the Montreal Arena Company. After the Wanderers won it in 1906 through 1908, they were given the trophy permanently, a condition engraved in the silver of the trophy. The trophy is now on permanent display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

From the start, the league allowed teams to openly use professional players. The players who were professionals had to be printed publicly. In 1908, the purely amateur Montreal Victorias and Montreal Hockey Club teams left the league. The league became a professional-only league, leading to several amateurs retiring from their teams. In significance of the change the league was renamed the Eastern Canada Hockey Association.

In November 1909, the league dissolved over the plans of the Wanderers to move to an arena with fewer (revenue paying) spectator seats. The three other teams announced that they were leaving the ECHA, creating the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA). The Wanderers helped form a competing league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). The CHA played for less than two weeks, merging with the NHA in January 1910.

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