The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major 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. Many players have been drafted from WHL teams, and have found success at various levels of professional hockey, including the National Hockey League (NHL).
Earl Phillip Dawson was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, politician and civil servant. He rose to prominence in Canadian hockey when he served as president of the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1963. He established a council to reverse the decline of hockey in rural Manitoba and saw the association continually increase its registrations by spending more per player to develop minor ice hockey than other provinces in Canada. Dawson became chairman of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) rules committee and organized the first nationwide clinic for referee instructors to standardize the interpretation of hockey rules. Dawson became vice-president of the CAHA in 1966 then served as its president from 1969 to 1971. The International Ice Hockey Federation had approved a limited use of professionals at the 1970 Ice Hockey World Championships, but later reversed the decision when the International Olympic Committee objected. Dawson and the CAHA perceived the situation to be a double standard since the Europeans were believed to be state-sponsored professionals labelled as amateurs, and withdrew the Canada men's national ice hockey team from international competitions until it was allowed to use its best players.
Frederick George "Steamer" Maxwell was a Canadian amateur ice hockey player. He played rover in the days of seven-man hockey at the turn of the 20th century, spending six seasons with the Winnipeg Monarchs of the Manitoba Hockey League (MHL) between 1909 and 1915. Considered one of the top players of his era, he won two Manitoba provincial championships with the Monarchs and was a member of the team that won the 1915 Allan Cup as Canadian senior amateur champions. Maxwell spurned multiple offers to turn professional and ultimately quit playing hockey when he learned some of his peers at the senior amateur level were getting paid.
Stephen Walkom currently serves as vice president and director of officiating for the National Hockey League (NHL). This is his second stint in that position, having previously served from 2005 to 2009. From 1990 to 2004, and from 2009 to 2013, he worked as an on-ice referee for the league.
Canada competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. 52 competitors, all men, took part in 38 events in 9 sports. These games marked the introduction of winter sports to the Olympic program ; Canada won its first gold medal for ice hockey.
William Abraham Hewitt was a Canadian sports executive and journalist, also widely known as Billy Hewitt. He was secretary of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1903 to 1966, and sports editor of the Toronto Daily Star from 1900 to 1931. He promoted the establishment of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), then served as its secretary-treasurer from 1915 to 1919, registrar from 1921 to 1925, registrar-treasurer from 1925 to 1961, and a trustee of the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup. Hewitt standardized player registrations in Canada, was a committee member to discuss professional-amateur agreements with the National Hockey League, and negotiated working agreements with amateur hockey governing bodies in the United States. He oversaw referees within the OHA, and negotiated common rules of play for amateur and professional leagues as chairman of the CAHA rules committee. After retiring from journalism, he was the managing-director of Maple Leaf Gardens from 1931 to 1948, and chairman of the committee to select the inaugural members of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.
Matt Pavelich is a Canadian retired former National Hockey League ice-hockey linesman, the first to ever be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. After his career as an NHL linesman, Pavelich served as Supervisor of Officials as well as the Director of Player Discipline for the United Hockey League.
The 1971 Memorial Cup was the 53rd annual Memorial Cup competition, organized by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) to determine the champion of major junior A ice hockey. It was a best-of-three series between the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Quebec won the series in two games, both held at the Colisée de Québec, to win the first Memorial Cup championship in the city's history.
Paul Devorski is a retired National Hockey League referee, who wore uniform number 10 beginning in the 1994–95 NHL season. He refereed his first NHL game on October 14, 1989, and has been wearing a helmet while refereeing NHL games since the 2005–06 NHL season. He was one of the selected referees who officiated the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals with Dan O'Halloran, and was selected again to officiate the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals along with O'Halloran, as well as the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals alongside Dennis LaRue. He is the older brother of NHL linesman Greg Devorski.
Frederick Page was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and ice hockey referee. He originated from Port Arthur, Ontario, where he played junior ice hockey, refereed locally and later at the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup competitions. He was a league executive in Fort William, then served as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1962. He was elected second vice president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1962, and rose up the ranks to be its president from 1966 to 1968. Page wanted the CAHA to gain more control over its affairs, and become less dependent on the National Hockey League (NHL). Under his leadership, the NHL ended direct sponsorship of junior hockey teams. He was instrumental in negotiating the revised agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft in 1967, and later served as co-chairman of the resulting joint player development committee.
John Maxwell Roxburgh was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and politician. He organized minor ice hockey in his hometown of Simcoe, Ontario, co-founded the Ontario Juvenile Hockey Association in 1934, and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association in 1940. He served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1950 to 1952, improved its finances to become profitable, and appointed Bill Hanley as a full-time manager to operate the association as a business. Roxburgh served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1960 to 1962, arranged exhibition games between Canada and the Soviet Union amid an increased rivalry between the respective national teams, and pushed for the separation of politics and sport when the Cold War threatened to cancel the 1962 Ice Hockey World Championships. He was opposed to changes in the Olympic Oath and the international definition of amateurism, and later recommended the formation of a student-athlete team coached by Father David Bauer to become the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
The Hockey Canada Officiating Program is the governing body for on-ice officials for all ice hockey games played under the jurisdiction of Hockey Canada. The Hockey Canada Rulebook provides in-depth explanation and examples of all rules governing hockey in Canada.
Sylvester Patrick "Silver" Quilty was a Canadian football player, referee, coach and sport administrator. As a player, he won the Yates Cup in 1907 with the Ottawa Gee-Gees football team, and was credited as the first man to play the flying wing position. He also played with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and the McGill Redmen football team. After his playing career, he became a football referee and officiated the 10th Grey Cup, and also coached the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Gordon Ralph Renwick was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and was the team president of the Galt Hornets.
Brad Lazarowich is a Canadian former National Hockey League linesman and the current director of officiating and player safety for the British Columbia Hockey League.
Bob Nadin is a Canadian retired ice hockey referee and administrator. He refereed at the 1972 Winter Olympics, and served as a referee supervisor for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the National Hockey League, and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. He was involved with the Winter Olympic Games every Olympiad from 1972 until 2012, and was honoured by the International Olympic Committee with the Pierre de Coubertin medal. The IIHF honoured Nadin with the Paul Loicq Award, and inducted him into the IIHF Hall of Fame.
Joseph Julius Kryczka was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, coach and referee, and had a legal career as a lawyer and judge, where he was commonly known as "Justice Joe". He graduated from the University of Alberta, and played hockey with the Golden Bears. He practiced law in Calgary for more than 20 years, beginning in 1959 as a lawyer, becoming a judge, and was eventually elevated to a justice on the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.
Lloyd Thompson Pollock was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and businessman. After running the Windsor City Hockey League, he assisted in the foundation of the Windsor Softball League, and later started a junior ice hockey league in Windsor, Ontario. He was a cofounder of the International Hockey League in 1945, and founder of the original Windsor Spitfires junior team in 1946. He served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1961 to 1963, welcomed the Montreal Junior Canadiens into the OHA when it was divided by the Metro Junior A League, and supported measures to preserve the Northern Ontario Hockey Association.
Arthur Thomas Potter was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1962 to 1964, and oversaw the establishment of a permanent Canada men's national ice hockey team after he decided that sending the reigning Allan Cup champion to international competitions was no longer the answer. He felt that Canada needed discipline to handle Cold War tactics and propaganda at the Ice Hockey World Championships, sought to give its best players to develop as a team, and supported a plan by Father David Bauer to assemble a team of amateur student athletes to complete at the 1964 Winter Olympics.
Brent Ladds is a Canadian former ice hockey administrator. He served as president of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) from 2016 to 2022, president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1980 to 2012, commissioner of Allan Cup Hockey from 2013 to 2016, and chairman of the Hockey Canada junior hockey council from 2014 to 2016. He marketed the CJHL as a development program for players seeking a professional career or an education, with exposure to National Hockey League talent scouts at the annual CJHL Prospects Game and World Junior A Challenge. He also sought to increase marketing opportunities, have consistent administrative practices, and to co-ordinate public relations across the CJHL. His tenure as president also saw the withdrawal of the British Columbia Hockey League, and subsequent format change of the Centennial Cup tournament to include all nine league champions.
