List of Pre-NHL Seasons - Amateur and Professional Leagues

Amateur and Professional Leagues

Season Amateur leagues Professional leagues Champion /
Stanley Cup
Champion
MWCT AHAC CAHL FAHL/FHL ECAHA WPHL IPHL OPHL CHA NHA PCHA WCHL/WHL
1883 1883 McGill University
1884 1884 Montreal Victorias
1885 1885 Montreal Hockey Club
1886 Montreal Crystals
1887 1887 1887 Montreal Hockey Club
Montreal Victorias
Montreal Crystals
1888 1888 Montreal Hockey Club
1889 1889 1888–89 Montreal Hockey Club
Montreal Crystals
Montreal Hockey Club
1890 1890 Montreal Hockey Club
1891 1891 Montreal Hockey Club
1892 1892 Ottawa Hockey Club
Montreal Hockey Club
1893 1893 Montreal Hockey Club
1894 1894 Montreal Hockey Club
1895 1895 Montreal Hockey Club
Montreal Victorias
1896 1896 Winnipeg Victorias
1897 1897 1896–97 Montreal Victorias
1898 1898 Montreal Victorias
1899 1899 1898–99 Montreal Shamrocks
1900 1900 1899–1900 Montreal Shamrocks
1901 1901 1901 Winnipeg Victorias
1902 1902 1902 Winnipeg Victorias
Montreal Hockey Club
1903 1903 1903 Montreal Hockey Club
Ottawa Hockey Club
1904 1904 1904 1904 Ottawa Hockey Club
1905 1905 1904–05 1904–05 Ottawa Hockey Club
1906 1905–06 1906 1905–06 Ottawa Hockey Club
Montreal Wanderers
1907 1906–07 1907 1906–07 Montreal Wanderers
Kenora Thistles
Montreal Wanderers
1908 1908 1907–08 1908 1908 Montreal Wanderers
1909 1909 1909 1909 1909 Montreal Wanderers
Ottawa Hockey Club
1910 1910 1910 1910 Ottawa Hockey Club
Montreal Wanderers
1911 1911 1910–11 Ottawa Hockey Club
1912 1911–12 1912 Quebec Bulldogs
1913 1912–13 1912–13 Quebec Bulldogs
1914 1913–14 1913–14 Toronto Blueshirts
1915 1914–15 1914–15 Vancouver Millionaires
1916 1915–16 1915–16 Montreal Canadiens
1917 1916–17 1916–17 Seattle Metropolitans
1918 1917–18 Toronto
1919 1919
1920 1919–20 Ottawa Senators
1921 1920–21 Ottawa Senators
1922 1921–22 1921–22 Toronto St. Pats
1923 1922–23 1922–23 Ottawa Senators
1924 1923–24 1923–24 Montreal Canadiens
1925 1924–25 Victoria Cougars
1926 1925–26 Montreal Maroons
Notes
  • The Montreal Winter Carnival ice hockey tournaments (MWCT) were a series of annual tournaments held in the 1880s in conjunction with the Montreal Winter Carnival, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. First held in 1883, these tournaments are considered to be the first championship ice hockey tournaments and the predecessor to the first championship ice hockey league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada.
  • The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) existed from 1886 to 1898. Season series play started in 1893.
  • The Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) existed from 1899 to 1905.
  • The Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL/FHL) existed from 1904 to 1909. The league was professional from 1908 onwards.
  • The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) existed from 1906 to 1909. The league allowed professional players from 1907 onwards, becoming fully professional in the 1909 season.
  • The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) existed from 1896 to 1909. It was the first league to officially allow professional players.
  • The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) existed from 1904 until 1907.
  • The Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL) existed from 1908 until 1911.
  • The Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) existed in 1910 for part of one season.
  • The National Hockey Association (NHA) existed from 1910 to 1917.
  • The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) existed from 1911 to 1924.
  • The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) existed from 1921 to 1926. While the WCHL wasn't a pre-NHL league, it is generally deemed by hockey historians to have been a major league. Two years prior to its folding, the PCHA merged with it. The last season, 1925–26, it had been renamed the Western Hockey League because one of its teams had moved to the United States. The NHL would buy the rights to the WHL players as part of its disbanding.
  • Prior to 1905 (FAHL), 1910 (NHA) and 1912 (PCHA) league play started in January and ended in March of one calendar year.
  • The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893.
  • Prior to 1915, championships could be won or lost during a season through challenge play. Hence, multiple championship holders were possible during each season.

Read more about this topic:  List Of Pre-NHL Seasons

Famous quotes containing the words amateur, professional and/or leagues:

    “I have been reporting club meetings for four years and I am tired of hearing reviews of the books I was brought up on. I am tired of amateur performances at occasions announced to be for purposes either of enjoyment or improvement. I am tired of suffering under the pretense of acquiring culture. I am tired of hearing the word “culture” used so wantonly. I am tired of essays that let no guilty author escape quotation.”
    —Josephine Woodward, U.S. author. As quoted in Everyone Was Brave, ch. 3, by William L. O’Neill (1969)

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