The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada, alongside the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times. The WHL is composed of 22 teams divided into two conferences of two divisions. The Eastern Conference comprises 11 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, while the Western Conference comprises eleven teams from British Columbia and the American states of Washington and Oregon.
The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) is an independent Canadian Junior ice hockey league with 22 teams in British Columbia and Alberta. It was classified as a Junior "A" league, the second tier for junior hockey within the Hockey Canada framework, until it became independent in 2023. Since becoming independent, the league characterizes itself simply as a Junior ice hockey league.
The Calgary Vipers were a professional baseball team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They were part of the Western Division of the independent North American League. The Vipers played all of their home games at Foothills Stadium. Previously, the Vipers played in the Northern League from 2005 to 2007. The Vipers were champions of the Golden Baseball League in 2009, having defeated the Tucson Toros in the Championship Series.
The Edmonton Capitals, originally the Edmonton Cracker-Cats, were a Canadian professional independent minor-league baseball team that played between 2005 and 2011 in several leagues.
The Edmonton Oil Kings were a Canadian junior ice hockey team, and founding member of the Western Hockey League. They played at Edmonton Gardens in Edmonton, Alberta, and later Northlands Coliseum. In 1976, they moved to Portland, Oregon to become the Portland Winter Hawks. A second incarnation of the team played only one season in 1977–78 before moving to Great Falls, Montana.
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
The Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL), formally the Heritage Junior B Hockey League, is a Junior B ice hockey league in Alberta, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The HJHL was founded in 1987 and is made up of teams from southern and central Alberta. The HJHL is the largest Junior B league in the province, with 13 teams. The top two teams qualify for the Alberta Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship, whose winner had an option to compete in the Keystone Cup.
The Noralta Junior Hockey League is a Junior "C" ice hockey league in Alberta, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada, under Hockey Alberta. It currently has 11 teams throughout the greater Edmonton area.
This is a timeline of events throughout the history of the Western Hockey League (WHL), which dates back to its founding in 1966. The league was founded by a group of team owners and managers in Saskatchewan and Alberta, including Bill Hunter, Scotty Munro, Del Wilson, and Jim Piggott, who thought a larger western league would help western teams compete for the Memorial Cup against teams from the larger associations in Ontario and Quebec. Since the league's founding, it has expanded to include 22 teams across the four Western Canadian provinces along with the Northwest United States, and it has produced 19 Memorial Cup championship teams.
The Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) is a Canadian developmental junior ice hockey league. The league has primarily had teams in the Greater Toronto Area, Central Ontario, Northeastern Ontario, and Quebec.
The Western States Hockey League (WSHL) was a junior ice hockey league established in 1993. It was sanctioned by the United Hockey Union, the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union. Previously, it was sanctioned by USA Hockey from 1994 to 2011. Teams played approximately 50 games in the regular season schedule, mimicking what players would experience at the collegiate level. As of January 2022, there are no active teams in the league following the creation of the Can-Am Junior Hockey League by former WSHL teams.
The Phoenix Polar Bears were a USA Hockey-sanctioned Junior A Tier III ice hockey team based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Their host facility was the Desert Schools Coyotes Center in Chandler, Arizona. The Polar Bears were a member of the Western States Hockey League but vacated their membership in the league when the WSHL moved away from USA Hockey sanctioning in 2011.
The El Paso Rhinos are a junior ice hockey organization based in El Paso, Texas. Their home games are played at the County Events Center located within the El Paso County Coliseum complex. The Rhinos are members of the Tier II junior North American Hockey League (NAHL) after adding the team as an expansion franchise in 2021. The organization also has a Tier III team that was originally a member of the Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned Western States Hockey League from 2006 to 2020 before joining the North American 3 Hockey League for the 2020–21 season.
The West Sound Warriors were a junior ice hockey that played at the Bremerton Ice Center in Bremerton, Washington. Formerly, the team was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III ice hockey team that played in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac/NPHL) and the United States Premier Hockey League-USP3 (USPHL-USP3). In the 2017–18 season, the team was an AAU-sanctioned junior team in the Western States Hockey League. The WSHL franchise was sold to a new ownership group in Bremerton after the one season and became the West Sound Admirals.
The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. The 2023–24 season began with 16 teams, however 5 teams did not finish the season after it was announced that they planned to join the BCHL in the 2024–25 season. The regular season league champions receive the Dave Duchak Trophy. The playoff champions receive the Inter Pipeline Cup. The winner of the AJHL playoffs continues on to play in the Centennial Cup tournament, which determines Canadian Junior A champion.
Ryan Stanton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently playing with HC Pustertal Wölfe in the ICE Hockey League (ICHEL).
The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States fielding teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), Premier, Elite, EHF, 18U, 16U, 15U, and High Performance youth divisions.
The United Hockey Union (UHU), founded in 2012, is a group of ice hockey leagues in North America. The UHU is overseen and insured by the Amateur Athletic Union. Neither body is recognized by USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or the International Ice Hockey Federation.
League1 Alberta (L1AB) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Alberta, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Alberta Soccer Association as a third division pro–am league in the Canadian soccer league system.
