1.
Amateur Hockey Association of Canada
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The Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was an amateur mens ice hockey league founded on 8 December 1886, in existence until 1898. It was the ice hockey league organized in Canada, after one in Kingston. It was organized to provide a season to determine the Canadian champion. Prior to its founding the Canadian championship was determined in a tournament in Montreal and it is the first championship ice hockey league. A meeting was called, for those in favor of the formation of a Dominion hockey association, for the evening of 8 December 1886. James Stewart, J. G. Monk, H. A. Budden, E. Sheppard, green of Ottawa had played on the 1883 McGill hockey team. In that age, ice hockey was a different game compared to today. These were defined as, left wing centre right wing rover point coverpoint The left wing, centre and right wing were the forwards, the rover would line up behind the centre, with the point and coverpoint following, in an I formation towards the goaltender. The face offs were at an angle to todays practice. The goaltenders used no special equipment, the goals were two posts, with no crossbar. An umpire would judge the legality of each score, there were no boards along the sides of the ice, and there were no standard dimensions for a rink, although dimensions were instituted for the positioning of the goal out from the ends of the rink. A match was two halves of thirty minutes, sudden-death overtime was also in place, and a match would continue until a goal was scored in the event of a tie after regulation. Players in all positions would normally play the entire 60 minutes, the captains of contesting teams shall agree upon two umpires and a referee. All questions as to games shall be settled by the umpires, all disputes on the ice shall be settled by the referee, and his decision shall be final. The game shall be commenced and renewed by a bully in the centre of the rink, goals, six feet wide and four feet high, which shall be changed after each game, unless otherwise agreed. A player must always be on his own side of the puck, the puck may be stopped, but not carried or knocked on, by any part of the body. No player shall raise his stick above his shoulder, when the puck gets off the ice behind the goals it shall be taken by the referee to five yards at right angles from the goal line and there faced. When the puck goes off the ice at the sides it shall be taken by the referee at five yards at right angles from the boundary line and there faced
2.
Western Pennsylvania Hockey League
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The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, was a semi-professional ice hockey league founded in 1896 and existing through the 1910s. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league was the pre-eminent ice hockey league at the time in the United States and it was the first league to openly hire and trade players. In 1895, Pittsburgh officials, constructed the Schenley Park Casino which featured the first artificial ice-making plant in North America, the 1895-96 winter season also saw the first introduction of hockey in the city. On December 30,1895, the Pittsburgh Press made mention of an international hockey. The paper noted that 2,500 to 3,000 fans showed up to watch the game, no score or records were reportedly kept but the paper did note that the team from Queens University outplayed the Pittsburghers, who had never played the game before. The city quickly realized that in order to make money they would need to have more events than just speed skating, family skates and they decided that since hockey was a relatively new game, it could catch on in Pittsburgh. The PAC was managed by Charles S. Miller, who became the leagues president, the league played at the Casino twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday nights. The first big league game was November 17,1896 between Duquesne and PAC, won by Duquesne 2–1. Play continued until December 16, when the Casino rink was destroyed by fire, the league dissolved without a championship. The league would remain dormant until 1899 and the erection of a rink at the Duquesne Gardens. The league was revived with three teams, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, Pittsburgh Duquesne and Western University, the PAC won the leagues first championship. The following season the Pittsburgh Bankers, which was composed entirely of bankers, were admitted to the league, despite the fact that the league could be traced back to 1895, the WPHL wasnt officially started until the 1901-02 season. In 1901, Arthur Sixsmith, a member of the Ottawa Senators, traveled to Pittsburgh. The two men, along with the manager of the Duquesne Gardens, James Wallace Conant, then established the WPHL. By 1902, Sixsmith convinced several Canadian players, including his brother Garnet Sixsmith, to come to Pittsburgh, also in 1901, the Keystone Bicycle Club was admitted to the league, replacing Western University. The Keystones were instrumental in changing the league from amateur to professional, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club repeated as champions, although the Keystones were instantly competitive. In one memorable game occurred during this era, the WPHLs Garnet Sixsmith scored 11 goals in a game at the Duqesne Gardens. The 1901–02 season is considered the first season whereby the league was recognized as professional, the league had three teams in 1901-02, Pittsburgh Bankers, Pittsburgh Athletic Club and the Pittsburgh Keystones
3.
Canadian Amateur Hockey League
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The league existed for seven seasons, folding in 1905 and was itself replaced by the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. Formed because of a dispute between teams of the AHAC, it developed the sport in its transition to professional. The CAHL itself would fold over a dispute, leading to the new ECAHA league, the annual meeting of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was held in Montreal on December 10,1898, and was reported as a cataclysm in the hockey world. At the previous meeting, the application of the Ottawa Capitals to join was declined. In 1898, the Capitals had won the championship and applied again for AHAC membership. The AHAC executive then voted in favor of admitting the Capitals for league membership and this led to the representatives of the Quebec, Montreal Victorias and Ottawa clubs opting to withdraw from the association. The representative of the Montreal Hockey Club asked the group to reconsider but was declined, the withdrawing teams then met at the Windsor Hotel the same day. A representative of the McGill University also attended on the possibility that McGill would join, on December 14, the group met again and organized the CAHL, adding also the Montreal Shamrocks and not McGill. The new league adopted the constitution of the AHAC. Proposed by the Quebec team, a rope was used to connect the tops of the goal posts. Attached to the rope and the posts was netting in a pocket, nets had been in use for the goals in lacrosse and ice polo. The nets became a permanent part of the CAHL rinks after a series in 1899. The league would stay with the five teams until the 1904 season. During the season, Ottawa withdrew from the league in a dispute with the league, the league continued its schedule with the remaining four teams. The following season, the league admitted the Montreal Le National and Montreal Westmount clubs in place of Ottawa, which joined the Federal Amateur Hockey League. It would be the season of the league, as in the off-season the Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa would form the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. † Stanley Cup winner ‡ Ottawa resigned February 8,1904, Federal Amateur Hockey League List of Stanley Cup champions List of pre-NHL seasons List of ice hockey leagues
4.
International Professional Hockey League
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The International Professional Hockey League was the first fully professional Ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack Doc Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghton, the IPHL was a five team circuit which included Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Calumet, Michigan and Houghton, the IPHL was instrumental in changing the nature of top-level senior mens ice hockey from amateur to professional. In the time period around 1900, leagues in Canada fought against the professionalization of athletics, any player who figures on any of these teams must be banished from Ontario Hockey. However, it wasnt until the Portage Lakes Hockey Club and the formation of the IPHL in 1904 that any hockey league achieved full-fledged professional status, in the early 20th century, the mining industry was making huge investments in Northern Michigan. In the fall of 1903, James R. Dee of Houghton started discussions with Western Pennsylvania Hockey League representatives in Pittsburgh regarding the establishment of a national hockey association, houghtons team had played against Pittsburghs for a de facto United States national championship in ice hockey. In 1903–04, the professional Houghton team, without a league of its own, marie, Ontario and Michigan prompting the OHA to ban both the American Soo Indians and Canadian Sault Hockey Club from competing against Canadian amateur teams. As a result, the two teams had nowhere to go but to the professional league. A meeting was held on November 5,1904 which included prominent business leaders from Pittsburgh, a number of cities were considered for this new professional league including Montreal, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, and Duluth. However, the league accepted teams from Houghton, Pittsburgh, the two Soos, and Calumet, the representatives of the Canadian Soo suggested a revenue sharing plan that would divide gate receipts in a 60–40 home-visitor split. This revenue sharing plan would make the journey to Pittsburgh possible, considering that team played at the 5. The WPHL, which had been paying players to play ice hockey since 1901, put its best professionals into one team, the Pittsburgh Pros, the Houghton Portage Lakes team played at what was a new facility at the time called the Amphidrome on Portage Lake. The Calumet-Laurium Miners, a rival of the Houghton team. Marie, Michigan made the Ridge Street Ice-A-Torium, the curling club. Marie, Ontario team or Canadian Soo as it was called also played at its local curling rink, the International Hockey League attracted some of the best players from established Canadian amateur leagues. Every player received a salary of at least $15 to $40 a week. Ottawas Hod Stuart, was paid $1,800 by the Calumet Miners to play for the team, cyclone Taylor was enticed into the league with a salary offer of more than $3,000. In many cases, this meant that IHL managers would have to completely new teams each season
5.
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
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The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association was a mens amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11,1905 with the top clubs from two leagues, four from the Canadian Amateur Hockey League and two from the Federal Amateur Hockey League. It was formed to maximize the revenues of a now popular spectator sport, the league would itself dissolve in 1909 over a dispute between team owners over business issues. Founding The CAHL held its 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 G. P. Murphy, Ottawa Dr. From the start, the league allowed teams to use professional players. The players who were professionals had to be printed publicly, in 1908, the amateur-only Montreal Victorias and Montreal Hockey Club teams left the league. The league became a 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 spectator seats. The three other teams announced that they were leaving the ECHA, creating the Canadian Hockey Association, the Wanderers helped form a competing league, the National Hockey Association. The CHA played for less than two weeks, merging with the NHA in January 1910, a silver championship trophy, designated the Arena Cup, was donated by the Montreal Arena Company. It was crafted from 90 ounces of sterling silver and designed by Birks of Montreal, 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, a - Ottawa and Wanderers are both considered 1906 Stanley Cup Champions. List of Stanley Cup champions List of pre-NHL seasons List of ice hockey leagues Coleman, the Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol
6.
Ontario Professional Hockey League
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The Ontario Professional Hockey League, sometimes referred to as the Trolley League, and also known as the Canadian Hockey League in its time, was a professional ice hockey league in Canada. It was a professional league and consisted of teams from Toronto. The leagues annual champion would challenge for the Stanley Cup, the Ontario Professional Hockey League was organized in November 1907. The Toronto Professionals had been playing games against teams of the International Professional Hockey League. In early November 1907, the International League had folded, reducing the number of opponents for Toronto, at the annual meeting of the Toronto team on November 7, the first discussions of a possible league were held. A founding meeting was held in Berlin, Ontario on November 12 where a league was formed with Berlin, Brantford, Guelph, the leagues initial name was the Canadian Hockey League and the officers were, J. P. Downey, M. P. P. Guelph, Hon. President, Alex Mine, Toronto, President A. B, burnley, Brantford, Vice-President N. E. Irving, Guelph, Secretary Otto Vogelsang, Berlin, Treasurer J. C. Palmer, Toronto, George Roehmer, Berlin, J. A. Fitzgerald, Guelph and Roy Brown, the rules would be based on the Ontario Hockey Association and the International League. Representatives of Galt had shown interest in being a part of the league, in the 1908 off-season, Brantford left the league and was replaced by Galt and St. Catharines. Galt would win the OPHL championship and Galt challenged for the Stanley Cup in January 1909, after the 1909 season, Guelph, St. Catharines and Toronto left the league. In 1910 the OPHL added the Waterloo Colts to become a four-team league, Berlin got off to such a strong start in the season, that the league decided to start a new season in later January. In March 1910, Berlin challenged the Wanderers for the Cup and were defeated, the leagues final attempt to win the Cup came a year later in March 1911, with Galt again losing to Ottawa, which now played in the National Hockey Association. The league disbanded after the 1911 season, the OPHL teams were raided for players by the NHA after the NHA was itself raided for players by the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Players who left included Eddie Oatman, Jack McDonald and Goldie Prodgers, the Moncton Victorias of the Maritime Professional Hockey League signed nearly all of the champion Galt teams players. The Victorias would win the MPHL championship and challenge NHA champion Quebec, a namesake league would play for one season in 1930–31 with teams in Galt, Guelph, Kitchener, Niagara Falls, Oshawa and Stratford. † Guelph and St. Catharines withdrew after six games of the schedule, List of pre-NHL seasons List of ice hockey leagues Coleman, Charles L. The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol.1, 1893–1926 inc
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