Professionalism in ice hockey goes back to the start of the 20th century. The Stanley Cup was originally an amateur championship for Canada that began in 1893, but after 1906, professionals were allowed to play for it and quickly came to dominate the most successful teams. After 1908 the Allan Cup became Canada's amateur title and the Stanley Cup become a professional trophy, and after 1914 was opened to teams from the United States.
The NHA became the NHL in 1917 when the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs agreed to form a new league without the Toronto Blueshirts and their hated owner Eddie Livingstone. Quebec sat out the first two seasons, the Blueshirts were replaced by the Toronto Arenas, and the Wanderers folded after the first season in the new league. However the league slowly stabilized and solidified. The NHL began to expand into the United States starting with Boston Bruins in 1924, which helped it financially. However, in trend to be repeated through the NHL's history, many of its Canadian teams in small markets struggled to compete with their richer big-city Canadian and American rivals forcing the Quebec Bulldogs to move and become the Hamilton Tigers in 1920 and to fold in 1925.
The PCHA was founded in 1912 by the New Westminster Royals, Vancouver Millionaires, Victoria Senators. The PCHA was limited in its growth compared to the NHL by Western Canada's much smaller and more disperse population relative to the East, especially at that times, and attempted to expand to the United States to compensate, but hockey was not as successful in cities like Portland and Seattle as in Boston or New York and the PCHA struggled in comparison to the NHL. When it folded in 1921 two of its teams joined the prairie-based Western Canada Hockey League (1921–1926) initially of the Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Tigers, Regina Capitals, and Saskatoon Sheiks. The WCHL also challenged the NHL for the Stanley Cup, but when the WCHL folded in 1926 the NHL took over the Stanley Cup and became the most prestigious hockey league in the world.
The NHL gradually became more American as expansion franchises appeared and Canadian teams folded or moved. The Ottawa Senators became the St. Louis Eagles in 1934 (and then folded), and the Montreal Maroons (1924–1938) folded as well, the last Stanley Cup winning team to have done so.
Thus in 1980 there were seven strong Canadian teams in an NHL of 21 teams: the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Quebec Nordiques. This situation persisted until began a new round of expansion and relocation in 1991. Several new American teams were created but the only Canadian team added was the Ottawa Senators franchise, which began play in 1992, increasing the amount of Canadian teams in the NHL to eight. However a low Canadian dollar and increasing income gap between the US and Canada combined with rising player salaries (denominated in US dollars) and the fact that American teams received subsidies to build new arenas soon squeezed the Canadian franchises, causing the Quebec Nordiques to move to Denver, Colorado in 1995 and the Winnipeg Jets to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996, reducing the amount of Canadian teams in the NHL to six. The Edmonton Oilers were also in danger of moving when owner Peter Pocklington put them up for sale[when?]. However they were ultimately saved by having their lease at Northlands Coliseum dropped to practically zero by the City of Edmonton, and were purchased by a group of small business people the Edmonton Investors Group.
Since the Canadian dollar rebounded during the 2000s (decade), the Canadian teams are now more profitable than their American rivals, especially since they now all (except the Oilers and Flames) own their own relatively new arenas with many luxury boxes and concessions, including Rogers Arena (opened 1995), Bell Centre (1996), Scotiabank Place (1996), Scotiabank Arena (1999), & Bell MTS Place (2004). The Flames rent the Saddledome (opened 1983) from the City of Calgary, and the Oilers rent Rogers Place (2016) from the City of Edmonton. In 2010, several American teams were in financial trouble leading to speculation that one or more may move to Canada. Although the NHL repeatedly stated that it wanted to keep its teams in their current locations if at all possible, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated from Atlanta to Winnipeg in 2011, marking the return of the NHL to the city with a reincarnated Winnipeg Jets franchise, thus increasing the amount of Canadian teams in the NHL back to seven.
Professional women's hockey has seen starts and stops. The Canadian Women's Hockey League did not pay salaries, but it did pay stipends and bonuses.[1] It folded in 2019. In 2020, the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first women's league to pay salaries, expanded into Canada[2]—the Toronto Six were joined in 2022 by the Montreal Force as Canadian franchises.[3] The Six were the last team to win the championship Isobel Cup, in 2023, before the NWHL—by then rebranded the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)—was dissolved as part of an effort to create the first unified women's professional league in North America.[4][5] The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was founded the same year and began play in 2024 with three Canadian teams: Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.[6] Toronto hosted the inaugural PWHL game on New Year's Day.[7]
The Canadian Football League is the second most popular professional sports league in Canada. Each of the CFL's 9 teams draw anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000+ spectators per game. Although western teams enjoy consistently higher stadium attendance numbers than their eastern counterparts, the league enjoys strong TV ratings across the board, comparable to other major sports leagues in North America.
Canada have participated in the World Baseball Classic, including the 2006 version in which it upset Team USA in first-round play,[9] which some people in Canada call the "Miracle on Dirt" (a play on the phrase "Miracle on Ice" for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team). There are a number of minor league, semi-professional and collegiate baseball teams in Canada (see List of baseball teams in Canada). Great achievements in Canadian baseball are recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 2015, the NBA D-League expanded into Canada with the addition of the Raptors 905. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, the Raptors 905 play out of the Paramount Fine Foods Centre and serve as a minor league affiliate of the Toronto Raptors. In 2017, Raptors 905 won the NBA D-League championship.
Professional soccer in Canada has gone through many unsuccessful incarnations. As of 2016[update] things are much more stable with three teams playing within Major League Soccer: Toronto FC (joined 2007), Vancouver Whitecaps FC (joined 2011) and the CF Montréal (joined 2012 as Montreal Impact).
Canada's first fully professional rugby team, the Toronto Wolfpack, debuted in the British/French League 1 and Challenge Cup competitions in 2017. After ceasing operations in 2020, the Wolfpack were revived and set to resume operations as a member of the North American Rugby League in 2022.
The Honda Indy Toronto is an IndyCar Series race, held annually in July on a temporary street circuit that runs through Exhibition Place and on Lake Shore Boulevard. The city has hosted the race for over thirty years and it is now IndyCar's second-longest running street race, only behind the Grand Prix of Long Beach[12] and the fourth oldest race on the current IndyCar schedule in terms of number of races run.[13] Historically, the city played host to the 1958 Jim Mideon 500, a NASCARCup Series racing event at Exhibition Stadium. Legendary NASCAR driver Lee Petty won this race, defeating his son Richard in the latter's Cup Series debut.
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era.
The National Hockey Association (NHA), initially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey League (NHL), and much of the business processes of the NHL today are based on the NHA. Founded in 1909 by Ambrose O'Brien, the NHA introduced 'six-man hockey' by removing the 'rover' position in 1911. During its lifetime, the league coped with competition for players with the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the enlistment of players for World War I and disagreements between owners. The disagreements between owners came to a head in 1917, when the NHA suspended operations in order to get rid of an unwanted owner, Eddie Livingstone.
The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.
The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to professional football careers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and elsewhere.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Other major professional games include curling, basketball, baseball, soccer, and football. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by numerous "Halls of Fame" and museums, such as Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Samuel Russell Crawford was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs of the National Hockey Association (NHA), Ottawa Senators and Toronto Arenas of the National Hockey League (NHL) and Saskatoon Crescents, Calgary Tigers and Vancouver Maroons of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). He was a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning the trophy with the Bulldogs in 1913 and the Arenas in 1918. Crawford was one of the sport's early stars and appeared in 258 games in the three major leagues, scoring 110 goals. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963.
The 1990–91 NHL season was the 74th season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the best of seven series 4–2 against the Minnesota North Stars to claim their first championship. This was the last NHL season to end in May.
The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. The Colorado Rockies relocated to East Rutherford, New Jersey, becoming the New Jersey Devils. The New York Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row with their second consecutive finals sweep by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. It remains to date the last time that any major professional North American sports team has won four consecutive playoff championships.
Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada traditionally include four leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other prominent leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL).
The 1979 NHL expansion, popularly referred to as the NHL–WHA merger, was the culmination of several years of negotiations between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA). The result of the negotiations was that the WHA folded, and four of its six surviving teams - the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets – entered the NHL as expansion teams who commenced play in the NHL in the 1979–80 season. The agreement officially took effect on June 22; it ended the seven-year existence of the WHA and re-established the NHL as the sole major league in North American professional ice hockey.
The expansion of major sports leagues in the United States and Canada has occurred throughout the twentieth century for all of the major professional sports leagues in those two countries.
The 2020–21 Vancouver Canucks season was the 51st season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.
The 2020–21 Calgary Flames season was the Flames' 41st season in Calgary, and the 49th season for the Flames' National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 6, 1972. The Flames attempted unsuccessfully to make the playoffs for a third straight year after getting eliminated in the First Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Dallas Stars.
The 2020–21 Winnipeg Jets season was the 22nd season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997, and the tenth in Winnipeg, since the franchise relocated from Atlanta prior to the start of the 2011–12 NHL season.
The 2020–21 Edmonton Oilers season was the 42nd season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, and 49th season overall, including their play in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Oilers made the playoffs for the second straight year after being eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks in the qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
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