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 11 teams from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.
The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly amateur, allowing former players to compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college hockey.
The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa Oilers name was shared with Tulsa's former minor-league baseball team that pre-dated the Tulsa Drillers. To reduce confusion in local news reporting, the hockey team was often called the "Ice Oilers".
The Waterloo Black Hawks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL) under Head Coach Matt Smaby and General Manager Bryn Chyzyk. The Black Hawks' home ice is the Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa.
Clinton James "Snuffy" Smith was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and head coach best known for his time spent in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player with the New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks. Following Smith's 10-year NHL career, he served as both a head coach and player in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and American Hockey League (AHL).
William Robert Baker is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 143 regular season games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers between 1980 and 1983.
Willi Plett is a Paraguayan-born Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 834 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames, Minnesota North Stars and Boston Bruins. He reached the 1981 NHL playoff semifinals with the Flames and the 1984 NHL playoff semifinals with the North Stars.
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 Central Professional Hockey League was a minor professional ice hockey league that operated in the United States from 1963 to 1984. Named the Central Hockey League for the 1968–69 season and forward, it was owned and operated by the National Hockey League and served as a successor to the Eastern Professional Hockey League, which had folded after the 1962–63 season. Four of the CHL's initial franchises were, in fact, relocations of the previous year's EPHL teams, while the fifth came from the International Hockey League. Its founding president was Jack Adams, who served in the role until his death in 1968. The CHL's championship trophy was called the Adams Cup in his honor.
Michael Walter Blaisdell is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1980 and 1989 and later in the British Hockey League (BHL) from 1990 to 2001. He was selected 11th overall in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. Blaisdell later worked as a coach in the United Kingdom.
Mark Allen Reeds was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and a former player who had played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1981 and 1989. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, but grew up in Burlington, Ontario.
The Southern Elite Hockey League (SEHL) was an independent Jr. A ice hockey league based in Florida and Alabama.
Chris B. Jensen is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey centre who played 73 games over six seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1986 and 1991 for the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1986 to 1998, was spent in the minor leagues. He captained the Portland Pirates to a Calder Cup championship in 1994. In 1997, Jensen was named a player-assistant coach for the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers under head coach Peter Laviolette. He retired following the 1997–98 season, first being named a full-time assistant coach with Wheeling before being elevated to head coach after Laviolette accepted the same position with the AHL's Providence Bruins.
Mark Major is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He played two games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996–97 season. He was drafted 25th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. Major acquired many penalty minutes over his career due to his playing style, which involved battling in front of the net for loose pucks, scoring garbage goals, and blocking the goaltenders view. Major only played in two NHL games, for the Detroit Red Wings. He also enjoyed a short career as a professional inline hockey player in Roller Hockey International (RHI). Taking into account all of his hockey games played at a professional level, Major played in 1,339 games and acquired 4,334 penalty minutes, giving Major an average of 3.24 penalty minutes per game during his career. After 4 seasons and 2 Championships as head coach of the Amherstview Jets Junior A team, Major is taking a year off to help coach his daughter's Kingston Ice Wolves' Peewee AA team.
James Edward Malone is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey centre.
Donald Granato is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player who most recently served as the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Dubuque Fighting Saints are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and are based in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River at the intersection of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Home games are played at the ImOn Arena.
The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at Trinity Health Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchise (IHL) of the same name, which relocated to Evansville, Indiana, at the end of the 2009–10 IHL season.
Karson Kuhlman is an American professional ice hockey center for Lukko of the Liiga. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets.
