112-551: Teams in the American Hockey League first hosted games outdoors in 2010. Paralleling the National Hockey League 's Winter Classic and Heritage Classic , these outdoor games frequently pit two regional rivals in a game in an outdoor venue. Inasmuch as the games have carried a unified brand (most have been independently named and organized), the most commonly used name for these events has been
224-523: A Division II national championship from 1978 to 1984 and also from 1993 to 1999. The 84 programs in Division III hockey are part of nine conferences: The Middle Atlantic Conference officially sponsors men's and women's ice hockey, but does not hold a conference tournament. Instead, in a relationship similar to that between the Ivy League and ECAC Hockey, all MAC hockey schools are members of
336-452: A class action was filed on behalf of a player who was declared ineligible after having played two exhibition games in the OHL when he was 16 years old. Men's U.S. college hockey is a feeder system to the National Hockey League . As of the 2010–11 season, 30 percent of NHL players (a total of 294) had U.S. college hockey experience prior to turning professional, an increase of 35 percent from
448-646: A tennis tournament in Niagara Falls, Ontario . They both had dabbled a bit in a sport called ice polo; in Ontario, they met members of the Victoria Hockey Club , who introduced them to their similar game of ice hockey , and invited the two to visit Montreal to learn about their version of the game. The next winter, during Christmas break 1894-1895, Chace (who had by then transferred to Yale University ) and Wrenn returned to Canada with
560-631: A 10-day festival that included college hockey games hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology men's and women's teams, high school hockey contests, and a matchup between Americans alumni and the Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team . The Americans announced their participation on March 21, 2013. Each team wore throwback uniforms for the event, with the Monsters donning a jersey worn by their predecessors,
672-514: A college hockey game between Atlantic Hockey Association rivals Army Black Knights and American International College (Army won 4–1), as well as an exhibition between alumni of the Boston Bruins and Hartford Whalers (which ended in a 4–4 tie) which drew 10,000 fans. Announced attendance for the AHL game was 21,673, but due to extreme cold only 15,234 fans showed up at the stadium to see
784-426: A faceoff as a left and right wing (or end) on the outside and a left and right center on the inside. The two point men and goaltender were typically arrayed in a line from center ice to the goal as cover point, point and goaltender. If viewed from above, the players would form a T. If a rover was used instead there would only be one center. The rover would line up either in a defensive or offensive position depending on
896-524: A group of college students from several universities. The cadre was one of the first American ice hockey teams and, after a 10-game tour of Canada, the students returned to their respective schools with the intent of founding collegiate ice hockey clubs. Yale , where Chace served as team captain and player-coach, was the first of the group to organize its team and in February 1896 the Bulldogs played
1008-464: A much larger student body and a resulting influx in cash, colleges were more able to afford to support an ice hockey team. By 1947, college ice hockey was still a regional sport, being localized in the northeast and northern Midwest (with a few exceptions) but despite the low number of teams playing, the NCAA finally instituted a national tournament. At the start the tournament invited two participants from
1120-585: A result, half of the AHL's teams folded from 1974 to 1977. The league bottomed out in the summer of 1977, with news that the Rhode Island (formerly Providence) Reds – the last remaining uninterrupted franchise from the 1936–37 season, and the oldest continuously operating minor league franchise in North America – had decided to cease operations after 51 years in Rhode Island. The AHL appeared in serious danger of folding altogether if this downward trend
1232-456: A setback when its membership unexpectedly fell to seven teams. The West's Buffalo Bisons were forced to cease operations on December 6, 1936, after playing just 11 games, because of what proved to be insurmountable financial problems and lack of access to a suitable arena; the Bisons' original arena, Peace Bridge Arena , had collapsed the previous season (a new Buffalo Bisons team would return to
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#17327826004331344-766: A shootout against the Lake Erie Monsters before a standing-room crowd of 11,015 fans. A year after their originally scheduled date, the Griffins and Marlies played at Comerica Park on December 30, 2013, and Toronto prevailed in a shootout, 4–3, becoming the first AHL team ever with two outdoor wins. Attendance in Detroit was 20,337. As part of the recent addition of the Pacific Division, the AHL played its first outdoor hockey game in California during
1456-466: A timeline. Robert Morris resumed National Collegiate play in 2023–24, returning to CHA after having dropped men's and women's hockey following the 2020–21 season. Both teams are now in the merged Atlantic Hockey America. The newest National Collegiate conference is the NEWHA, formed in 2017 as a scheduling alliance between the then-current National Collegiate independents . It formally organized as
1568-653: A varsity conference – the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) – and a club league – the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL). " University hockey " is the term used for hockey primarily played at four-year institutions ; that level of the sport is governed by U Sports . In fall of 1892, Malcolm Greene Chace , then a freshman at Brown University , and Robert Wrenn , of Harvard University , were participating in
1680-832: A women's contest against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks . The event was known as the Steeltown Showdown in reference to Hamilton's steel mills. On March 24, 2012, the AHL and the Hershey Bears announced via Twitter that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Hershey Bears were to play the Capital BlueCross AHL Outdoor Classic on January 20, 2013. The game
1792-471: Is an annual invitational tournament featuring teams from leagues around Europe and the world. The participation of the AHL in future Spengler Cups has been discussed by both the tournament organizers and league leadership. In 2014, Swedish club Färjestad BK met the Toronto Marlies as part of a visit to Canada that included its participation in the 2014 AHL All-Star Classic. In February 2018,
1904-592: Is known as the Pairwise Rankings, which uses a number of ranking factors to create a scoring system for all NCAA Division I teams. In 2023–24, one school played its first season of Division I hockey, while another resumed D-I play after a two-season hiatus. Augustana University , a Division II school in South Dakota (and not to be confused with Augustana College , a Division III school in Illinois),
2016-515: Is launching a new varsity program as the newest member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association . Robert Morris , which had suspended its men's and women's hockey programs after the 2020–21 season due to COVID-19 impacts, reinstated both teams for 2023–24, with the men returning to their previous home of Atlantic Hockey . As of the upcoming 2024–25 season, the conferences are: The most recent change to
2128-816: The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the Adirondack Red Wings hosted exhibition games against the national teams from the United States , West Germany , Sweden and Finland . Team USA also played exhibitions against AHL teams leading up to the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The Rochester Americans participated in the 1996 and 2013 editions of the Spengler Cup , held in Davos , Switzerland . The Spengler Cup
2240-796: The Binghamton Dusters , while the Firebirds crossed over to the AHL from the NAHL. The Dusters and Firebirds, together with the Hampton Gulls (who had joined the league from the Southern Hockey League ), boosted the AHL to nine member clubs as the 1977–78 season opened. Hampton folded on February 10, 1978, but was replaced the next year by the New Brunswick Hawks . With franchise stability improving after
2352-655: The COVID-19 pandemic . Another game often cited as the "first game of intercollegiate ice hockey played in the United States" is a well-documented contest on January 19, 1898 at Franklin Park , Boston. Students from Brown took the train to Boston, where they commandeered a patch of a frozen pond in Franklin Park, asked pleasure skaters to give them room, and played students from Harvard. The details and outcome of
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#17327826004332464-704: The Canadian-American Hockey League (the "Can-Am" League), founded in 1926, and the first International Hockey League , established in 1929. Although the Can-Am League never operated with more than six teams, the departure of the Boston Bruin Cubs after the 1935–36 season reduced it down to just four member clubs: the Springfield Indians , Philadelphia Ramblers , Providence Reds , and New Haven Eagles for
2576-685: The Cleveland Barons . One year after their game had been originally scheduled, the Grand Rapids Griffins hosted the Toronto Marlies at Comerica Park in Detroit on December 30, 2013, as part of the Hockeytown Winter Festival leading up to the 2014 NHL Winter Classic . The Marlies won in a shootout, 4–3, to become the first team ever to win two AHL outdoor games. In lieu of an outdoor game,
2688-580: The Cleveland Monsters Outdoor Classic at Cleveland Browns Stadium against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins . The game was scheduled for 1:00 p.m., but the start was delayed until 6:00 p.m. due to unsafe ice conditions caused by increased sunshine throughout the morning. The Monsters went on to defeat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 3–2 in overtime. Official attendance was 22,875,
2800-604: The Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies , to be held in Detroit's Comerica Park on December 30, 2012, as part of the NHL Winter Classic, was moved indoors to Grand Rapids' Van Andel Arena as a regular-season game for the Griffins. The Rochester Americans hosted the Frozen Frontier on December 13, 2013, taking on the Lake Erie Monsters at Frontier Field . The game kicked off
2912-703: The Hershey Bears , 4–3, in overtime before 45,653 fans at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia , as the final event of the week-long activities associated with the 2012 NHL Winter Classic , which also included a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers on Jan 2 and an alumni game between retired players (including eight honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame ) of those two clubs on December 31, 2011. The contest
3024-862: The Laval Rocket in 2017. The Binghamton Senators were also purchased by the Ottawa Senators and were relocated to Belleville, Ontario , to become the Belleville Senators while the New Jersey Devils ' owned Albany Devils were relocated to become the Binghamton Devils . For the 2018–19 season , a 31st team joined the league with the Colorado Eagles as the NHL's Colorado Avalanche affiliate. With
3136-736: The Montreal Voyageurs hosted the Canadian National Team in Winnipeg. Several club teams from the Soviet Union toured the United States and Canada during the 1970s and 1980s and played exhibitions against AHL clubs, including the Soviet Wings (1974–75), HC Spartak Moscow (1976, 1986), Moscow Khimik (1976), HC Dynamo Moscow (1977–78), Traktor Chelyabinsk (1978–79) and Sokil Kyiv (1989). Prior to
3248-509: The Ontario Reign hosted and defeated the DEL's Eisbären Berlin , 6–3, in a friendly matchup organized by Anschutz Entertainment Group , the owner of both teams. The formation of an American Hockey League Hall of Fame was announced by the league on December 15, 2005, created to recognize, honor and celebrate individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions specifically in
3360-544: The Ontario Reign on January 7, 2017, at Bakersfield College 's Memorial Stadium in the Condorstown Outdoor Classic . The game went on as scheduled despite the sometimes steady rain, which caused puddles to cover the ice. The Condors went on to defeat the Reign 3–2 in overtime. The 2018 Capital Blue Outdoor Classic was hosted by the Hershey Bears as part of their 80th anniversary season. The game
3472-898: The Outdoor Classic . The Mirabito Outdoor Classic was the first-ever outdoor hockey game in the 74-year history of the American Hockey League (AHL) as well as the first minor league outdoor game. The game was put on by the Syracuse Crunch and played at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York . The game took place on February 20, 2010, with the Crunch beating the Binghamton Senators , 2–1. The game set an AHL attendance record with 21,508 fans in attendance. The title sponsor of
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3584-592: The Philadelphia Flyers ), faced the Hershey Bears (themselves a former Flyers farm club). The Phantoms scored with 20.8 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime before Shane Harper scored 58 seconds into overtime giving the Phantoms a 4–3 victory. The game was held in conjunction with the 2012 NHL Winter Classic , which took place at the same venue four days prior. The game set an AHL attendance record with 45,653 fans attending, more than double
3696-707: The San Antonio Rampage franchise was bought and relocated by the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights for the 2020–21 season as the Henderson Silver Knights and was moved to the Pacific Division. For the 2021–22 season , the Vancouver Canucks relocated their franchise from Utica to Abbotsford while the Utica Comets agreed to relocate and operate the franchise that was operating as the Binghamton Devils . On May 23, 2022, it
3808-750: The Springfield Falcons franchise was purchased by the Arizona Coyotes and relocated to become the Tucson Roadrunners and join the one-year-old Pacific Division. The Falcons were subsequently replaced by the Springfield Thunderbirds , the relocated Portland Pirates franchise under a new ownership group. The Montreal Canadiens -owned IceCaps relocated to the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec , and became
3920-413: The Stockton Heat hosted the Bakersfield Condors in an outdoor game called the Golden State Hockey Rush at Raley Field in West Sacramento, California . Stockton defeated Bakersfield 3–2 in front of 9,357 fans. The game was originally scheduled for December 18 but was postponed due to rain. For the second consecutive season the AHL played an outdoor game in California. The Bakersfield Condors hosted
4032-430: The Utica Comets planned to host the AIS Empire State Classic between the Comets and the Syracuse Crunch on February 13, 2021. The game would have been played at the Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome, New York . However, the game was canceled due to the delayed start to the 2020–21 AHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; it has yet to be rescheduled. On March 4, 2023, the Cleveland Monsters hosted
4144-403: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association . These schools had announced in late 2019 that they would leave the WCHA after the 2020–21 season, and subsequently announced that they would operate as a new CCHA. In July 2020, the new CCHA added an eighth member in St. Thomas , a Twin Cities institution that made an unprecedented move from NCAA Division III directly to Division I. Augustana became
4256-430: The Whale Bowl , the AHL's second outdoor game held on February 19, 2011, as part of a 10-day Whalers Hockey Fest at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut . Attendance for Connecticut's game against the Providence Bruins was announced at 21,673, the largest in AHL history to that point. Providence won, 5–4, in a shootout. On January 6, 2012, the largest crowd in AHL history saw the Adirondack Phantoms defeat
4368-492: The 1938 meeting to fill the void in its membership left by the loss of Buffalo two years earlier with the admission of the then two-time defending Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL) champion Hershey Bears . The Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season. The newly merged circuit also increased its regular-season schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After
4480-441: The 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League . It generally enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, the cost of doing business in professional ice hockey began to rise sharply with NHL expansion and relocation (the NHL placed teams in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, forcing two long-time AHL clubs,
4592-433: The 1941–42 season as a fundraiser for American Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross efforts during World War II . Players from the Eastern Division faced off against players from the Western Division at Cleveland Arena. The event was not played again until the 1954–55 season, and was then held annually until the 1959–60 season. These six annual games pitted a team of all-stars against the defending Calder Cup champions (with
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4704-427: The 2004–05 season (the franchise was sold in 2006 and returned to the ice in Cleveland in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters, now known as the Cleveland Monsters ). The Chicago Wolves ( 2002 , 2008 , 2022 ), Houston Aeros ( 2003 ), Milwaukee Admirals ( 2004 ), and Grand Rapids Griffins ( 2013 , 2017 ) have all won Calder Cup titles since joining the AHL from the IHL. Chicago and Milwaukee have also made multiple trips to
4816-471: The 2015–16 season, called the Golden State Hockey Rush. On December 18, 2015, the Stockton Heat defeated the Bakersfield Condors , 3–2, at Raley Field in West Sacramento, California . For the second consecutive season, the AHL played an outdoor game in California as the Bakersfield Condors hosted the Condorstown Outdoor Classic against the Ontario Reign on January 7, 2017, at Bakersfield College 's Memorial Stadium . Despite sometimes heavy rain during
4928-415: The AHL's 2001 expansion was that the league had two teams with the same nickname: the Milwaukee Admirals and the Norfolk Admirals . The latter team transferred to the league from the mid-level ECHL in 2000. This situation lasted until the end of the 2014–15 season when the Norfolk team moved to San Diego and was replaced by another ECHL team with the same name. The Utah Grizzlies suspended operations after
5040-502: The AHL. College hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In Canada, the term " college hockey " refers to community college and small college ice hockey that currently consists of
5152-555: The Americans 5–2. Bolded teams denote winners American Hockey League The American Hockey League ( AHL ) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). As of the 2024–25 AHL season , all 32 NHL teams held affiliations with an AHL team. Historically, when an NHL team does not have an AHL affiliate, its players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL franchises. Twenty-six AHL teams are located across
5264-422: The Calder Cup Finals, and Houston made their second Finals appearance in 2011. The Manitoba Moose moved to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011 and were renamed the St. John's IceCaps after the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg as the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets . In 2013, Houston moved to Des Moines, Iowa to become the Iowa Wild . This left Chicago, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee as
5376-410: The ECAC). The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference sponsored D-I men's hockey, but dropped the sport in 2003. The most recent additions to D-I men's ice hockey are the aforementioned Augustana and Robert Morris. The 2022–23 season saw Alaska Anchorage resume D-I play after a successful fundraising drive. In May 2021, Tennessee State University announced that it was conducting a feasibility study on
5488-399: The Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins met outdoors at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania with the Penguins earning a 2–1 overtime victory in front of 17,311 fans. The Rochester Americans hosted an outdoor game in 2013–14, the Frozen Frontier , which was held at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York , on December 13, 2013. The Americans took a 5–4 decision in
5600-431: The IHL quartet playing as the West Division. The IHL also contributed its former championship trophy, the F.G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy , which would go to the regular-season winners of the merged league's West Division until 1952. The Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHL's North Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance and symmetry of the new combined circuit suffered
5712-407: The NCAA Eligibility Center, a process that examines a student-athlete's academic qualifications and amateur status. Players who have played in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) historically were considered to be professionals and therefore ineligible. In 2024 the NCAA changed its position and decided that CHL players were no longer ineligible as of the 2025–26 season. The decision was made after
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#17327826004335824-523: The NEWHA, having joined for administrative purposes a year earlier. Delaware will start National Collegiate play in the 2025–26 season. When announcing the addition of women's ice hockey, Delaware stated that it would join College Hockey America, but CHA had already announced its planned merger with the Atlantic Hockey Association. Delaware's future CHA membership accordingly transferred to Atlantic Hockey America. Also, as noted previously, Tennessee State has plans to add women's hockey, although it did not set
5936-477: The NHL parent club wished to make call-ups from the AHL more practical by having closer affiliates. In January 2015, the AHL announced the relocation of five existing AHL franchises— Adirondack , Manchester , Norfolk , Oklahoma City , and Worcester —to California as the basis for a new "Pacific Division" becoming Stockton , Ontario , San Diego , Bakersfield , and San Jose respectively. The relocated teams were all affiliated and owned or purchased by teams in
6048-451: The NHL planning to expand to 32 teams in 2021 with the Seattle Kraken , the Seattle ownership group was approved for a 2021 AHL expansion team, later announced to be the Coachella Valley Firebirds based in Palm Springs, California , following the construction of a new arena . The original plans for the new arena was eventually cancelled and the team postponed their launch by a year while new arena plans were developed. In February 2020,
6160-399: The NHL's Pacific Division . The franchise movements continued with two more relocations involving Canadian teams with the St. John's IceCaps going back to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose and the Hamilton Bulldogs becoming another iteration of the IceCaps to fulfill the arena contract in St. John's. In the following seasons, more NHL organizations influenced league membership. In 2016,
6272-401: The Pittsburgh Hornets and Buffalo Bisons, to fold) and especially the 1972 formation of the World Hockey Association (WHA), which forced the relocation and subsequent folding of the Cleveland Barons , Baltimore Clippers , and Quebec Aces . The number of major-league teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up dramatically with
6384-445: The TSU athletic department. TSU plans to eventually upgrade its men's and women's teams to NCAA play. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award honors the top player in men's Division I hockey. The Mike Richter Award honors the top goaltender in Division I. The NCAA does not currently sponsor a championship in NCAA Division II , as there is only one conference that currently sponsors hockey, the Northeast-10 Conference . The NCAA conducted
6496-410: The U.S.' entry played during the 1942–43 season but were mothballed afterwards. There were notable exceptions such as Yale and Dartmouth , who continued to play through the duration of the war, but many teams returned to the ice for an abbreviated 1945–46 season. One benefit to college hockey that resulted from the war was the G.I. Bill which helped returning servicemen pay for a college education. With
6608-484: The UCHC, and the MAC uses regular-season results of games between MAC members to extrapolate a MAC champion. MAC members compete for the UCHC's automatic NCAA tournament berth. The NCAA has conducted a Division III national championship since 1984. The current championship format is a 12-team (formerly 11-team), single-elimination bracket. There are 108 colleges and universities that sponsor women's ice hockey in two divisions: National Collegiate and Division III. As of
6720-476: The United States whereas the remaining six are situated in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts , and its current president is Scott Howson . A player must be at least 18 years of age to play in the AHL or not currently be beholden to a junior ice hockey team. The league limits the number of experienced professional players in a team's lineup during any given game; only five skaters can have accumulated more than 260 games played at
6832-399: The armistice was signed. Colleges in the midwest began their own ice hockey programs. At the beginning these were typically restricted to upper-echelon universities like the University of Minnesota or the University of Michigan but some of the smaller schools got into the game as well. From the MIAC 's foundation in 1920, member schools have played ice hockey and were able to establish
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#17327826004336944-506: The demise of the WHA in 1979, the league continued to grow steadily over the years, reaching 20 clubs by the 2000–01 season. In 2001–02, the AHL's membership jumped dramatically to 27 teams, mostly by the absorption of six teams— Milwaukee , Chicago , Houston , Utah , Manitoba , and Grand Rapids —from the International Hockey League . The IHL had established itself as the second top-level minor league circuit in North America, but folded in 2001 due to financial problems. One oddity caused by
7056-416: The enthusiasm of the students. For at least the first 25 years of intercollegiate play the teams used a 7-on-7 format, a typical setup for turn of the century ice hockey. On a faceoff players were typically arranged as either four forwards , two point men and one goaltender or three forwards , one rover , two point men and one goaltender . In the four forward setup the players were arranged from
7168-471: The exception of the 1959-60 event, which featured the Springfield Indians). The modern AHL All-Star Game was reinstituted for the 1994–95 season and a skills competition was introduced in 1995–96, with the two-day event being dubbed the AHL All-Star Classic. The 1995 and 1996 games featured players from teams based in Canada taking on players from teams based in the United States. Beginning in 1997, Canadian-born players faced players born outside Canada (known as
7280-407: The field for the team to use. As rinks continued to be built in areas near to the colleges, specifically the Boston Arena , New Haven Arena and Philadelphia Ice Palace , college teams had more and more ice rinks available to them and with most using artificial ice the teams were no longer dependent on weather conditions. Owing to the popularity of the game the first on-campus, purpose-built arena
7392-487: The first consistent lower-tier competition in college hockey. While college ice hockey flourished in the 1920s the Great Depression did have an impact on the game in the '30s. Most schools that had established programs made the effort to keep their teams going but some less-acclaimed teams like Pennsylvania or Columbia decided that ice hockey wasn't worth the cost. Some of the smaller schools like Rensselaer had no choice but to suspend their programs as they did not have
7504-588: The first period, the game went on as scheduled and the Condors defeated the Reign 3–2 in overtime. Hersheypark Stadium hosted its second outdoor game in 2018. Cleveland's FirstEnergy Stadium became the first National Football League venue to host an AHL outdoor game in 2023, and Truist Field in Charlotte hosted the Queen City Outdoor Classic in 2024. Teams from the AHL have competed against non-North American teams, in both international tournaments and one-off matchups. The first recorded games between an AHL team and international competition took place in 1969, when
7616-452: The first time in its history. At the same time, the then-rival IHL lost half of its eight members after the 1935–36 season, leaving it with just four member teams: the Buffalo Bisons , Syracuse Stars , Pittsburgh Hornets , and Cleveland Falcons . With both leagues down to the bare minimum number of teams to be viable, the governors of both leagues recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs' long-term survival. Their solution
7728-421: The first two intercollegiate ice hockey games against Johns Hopkins University . While Johns Hopkins' program would cease for 90 years after 1898, Yale has served as a bedrock of college hockey ever since, playing continually including through the Great Depression and two world wars . Yale's 125-year continuous streak was broken for the 2020-21 season , when all Ivy League winter sports were cancelled due to
7840-575: The first-ever Calder Cup championship. The Calder Cup continues on today as the AHL's playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues' seven active teams met in New York City on June 28, 1938, and agreed that it was time to formally consolidate. Maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHL's first president. The former IHL president, John D. Chick of Windsor, Ontario , became vice-president in charge of officials. The new I-AHL also added an eighth franchise at
7952-404: The full Division I members are in the Football Bowl Subdivision . Seven of the FBS schools compete in the Big Ten Conference ; six are full conference members and the seventh is a single-sport member. The NCAA Division I Championship is a 16-team, single-elimination tournament, divided into four, 4-team regional tournaments. The winner of each regional advances to the Frozen Four to compete for
8064-799: The game was Mirabito Energy Products with other prime sponsors including Time Warner Cable , Toyota , Labatt Blue , Coca-Cola , Dunkin' Donuts , Wynit, the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel. The second outdoor AHL game, known as the Whale Bowl , was held between the Providence Bruins and the recently re-christened Connecticut Whale on February 19, 2011, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The game
8176-470: The game were recorded in the following day's Boston Herald : Brown 6, Harvard 0. Within ten years all eight schools that would eventually comprise the Ivy League had played their first game as well as several other nearby teams. A lack of available ice was the primary concern for most schools as to whether they should start a program or continue supporting an existing team but that did not detract from
8288-462: The game with a winner decided but even after multiple overtimes ties did result. From the start college hockey teams were rarely in a place of surety. In the 10 years since Johns Hopkins University 's exit in 1898 at least a dozen teams were forced to cancel seasons or suspend their program entirely, including some of the more financially sound institutions like Cornell University and Brown University . The two main factors in this were interest from
8400-569: The game. Providence defeated the Whale in a shootout, 5–4. AHL teams scheduled two outdoor games for the 2011–12 season, one in the United States and another in Canada (a first for the series). The first of the two was played on January 6, 2012 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. The Adirondack Phantoms (who previously played in Philadelphia and are the top affiliate for
8512-531: The ice on Beebe Lake until after World War II . The vast majority of teams ceased operating in 1917 after the United States entered World War I . This made sense as many of the students who would otherwise have been playing had instead joined the military. Because the war ended in November 1918 many of the teams returned to the ice for the 1918–19 season and, while the game continued to grow around New England , an interesting development happened shortly after
8624-399: The increased demand and competition for their services. This did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970. However, to help compensate for the rise in player salaries, many NHL clubs cut back on the number of players they kept under contract for development, and players under AHL contracts could now also demand much higher paychecks to remain with their clubs. As
8736-559: The league in 1940 after a new arena was constructed for them). The makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season (as well as all of the next) with just seven teams. At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified three-round playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy, the Calder Cup , was established. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, to win
8848-455: The lineup of Division I men's hockey conferences was the creation of Atlantic Hockey America shortly after the 2023–24 season. It was formed by the merger of the men-only Atlantic Hockey Association and the women-only College Hockey America . The CCHA, the revival of a league that had operated from 1971 to 2013 before folding in the aftermath of major conference realignment , initially consisted of seven schools that had previously competed in
8960-419: The men-only Atlantic Hockey Association. The National Collegiate championship is an 8-team, single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion. The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is awarded annually by USA Hockey to the top player in women's Division I hockey. The most recent school to start National Collegiate play is Assumption , which begins varsity play in 2023–24 as the newest member of
9072-638: The move a "suspension"). The other remaining WCHA men's member was Alaska , representing the Fairbanks campus of the University of Alaska; it chose to continue play as a D-I independent. The Ivy League recognizes ice hockey champions for both sexes, but it does not sponsor the sport; it instead uses the results of regular-season ECAC Hockey matches involving two Ivy League schools to extrapolate an Ivy champion (all six Ivy League schools that sponsor varsity hockey do so for both men and women, and compete in
9184-456: The national championship. For many years, 5 teams earned automatic bids through winning conference tournament championships, while 11 earned at-large berths through a selection committee. With the addition of the Big Ten hockey conference for the 2013–14 season, the tournament now features 6 automatic qualifiers, and 10 at-large bids. The ranking system that is used to determine the at-large teams
9296-477: The need. The remaining five positions would be unchanged. By the 1921–22 season college hockey adopted the increasingly more common six–a–side format with the abandonment of the second center/rover position and the two point men being renamed as 'defensemen'. The change from point men to defensemen came as a result of an alignment change where instead of lining up one in front of the other, the two defensive players would play beside one another. The ice surfaces that
9408-619: The new AHL city of Portland, Maine both the regular-season and Calder Cup playoff titles in each of that club's first two seasons of operation. The folding of the NAHL, meanwhile, suddenly left two of its stronger teams, the Philadelphia Firebirds and Binghamton, New York -based Broome Dusters , without a league to play in. The owners of the Dusters solved their problem by buying the Reds franchise and moving it to Binghamton as
9520-478: The ninth member in 2023. As for the WCHA, it folded its men's division. Not only did the aforementioned group of seven schools leave to form the revived CCHA, but an eighth men's member, Alaska Anchorage , had announced it would drop hockey (plus two other sports) after the 2020–21 school year. Still another men's member, Alabama–Huntsville (UAH), had also filed papers to leave after the 2020–21 season, then dropped
9632-605: The only NHL team currently without an AHL affiliate. However, the Hurricanes loaned some players to the Wolves, such as Vasili Ponomaryov and Antti Raanta . On May 2, 2024, the Hurricanes and Wolves committed to a three-year affiliation beginning with the 2024–25 season. Notes Current member Former member Opted out of season due to COVID-19 pandemic Gold star = Won Calder Cup Still-active teams in bold . The American Hockey League first held an All-Star Game in
9744-520: The only ex-IHL teams still in their original cities until the 2015 relocations when the IceCaps moved back to Winnipeg as the Manitoba Moose. Beginning with the 2015–16 season , twelve franchises have since relocated due to NHL parent clubs' influence on their development teams and players. Of the twelve relocated franchises, nine were relocated because they were directly owned by NHL teams and
9856-525: The players played on were not of a uniform size. Rinks like the St. Nicholas Rink or Duquesne Gardens were few and far between and quite often teams would only be able to play on frozen ponds. Slightly more consistent were the length of games, however, there was no set game time. Most were played as two 20-minute halves but some games had 15- or 25-minute halves and others were one 40-minute period. Occasionally games were not able to be played entirely at one time so
9968-738: The possible addition of varsity men's and women's hockey teams. Should TSU add either team, it would become the first historically black university to field a varsity hockey team. The study was partially backed by the NHL and the Nashville Predators , located in TSU's home city . TSU announced in June 2023 that it would start a men's hockey program at club level in 2024–25, with women's hockey to be added at an indeterminate future time. While hockey will initially play at club level, it will be overseen by
10080-448: The previous 10 years. That percentage has been maintained the past three seasons, with a record 301 NHL players coming from college hockey in 2011–12. One hundred thirty-eight colleges and universities sponsor men's ice hockey in the NCAA's three divisions. NCAA Division I will have 64 ice hockey teams in the 2024–25 season. Of these schools, 20 are Division II or III athletic programs that "play up" to Division I in hockey, and 16 of
10192-725: The previous record. Another outdoor game was held at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario , which featured a match-up between the Toronto Marlies and the Hamilton Bulldogs , on January 21, 2012. A crowd of 20,565 spectators watched the Marlies beat the Bulldogs, 7–2. Included in the festivities were two college hockey games hosted by the Brock Badgers : a men's test against the Waterloo Warriors and
10304-404: The professional level (goaltenders are exempt from this rule). The annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup , named for Frank Calder , the first President (1917–1943) of the NHL. The defending champions following the 2023–24 season are the Hershey Bears , winning their 13th Calder Cup in franchise history. The AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues:
10416-566: The resources that a Harvard or Yale did. After the first half of the 1930s, however, the depression lessened and schools were able to found or restart their programs. The game continued to expand west with the addition of Gonzaga , USC , UCLA and others, however, none of the Pacific-coast teams would make it to the 1950s. As was the case during World War I , the majority of universities suspended their ice hockey teams during World War II . Most of teams that were active just prior to
10528-437: The sport entirely due to fallout from COVID-19, but soon reinstated the sport following a successful fundraising drive led by UAH hockey alumni. This reprieve proved temporary, as the school and its hockey supporters agreed that the continuation of the sport beyond 2020–21 would be contingent on finding a new conference home; when no conference move materialized, the hockey program was dropped again (although UAH officially called
10640-545: The stadium showcase for the 2014–15 season was the Toyota Frozen Dome Classic , which was hosted by the Syracuse Crunch on November 22, 2014. The game was played at the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University and featured the Crunch defeating the Utica Comets 2–1 in front of 30,175 fans, an indoor attendance record for professional hockey in the United States. On December 19, 2015,
10752-521: The student body and the lack of available or good ice. While the interest conundrum required a more nuanced solution, the ice troubles had a more tangible answer. Teams near to public skating rinks would be able to hold their games at venues where ice conditions could be ensured but at the start, with so few available, some programs came up with novel solutions. One such idea came from Harvard University who, after completing construction of their football stadium in 1904, decided to erect two open-air rinks on
10864-436: The teams would arrange to meet at a later date to finish the match. Overtime after a tie did not always occur, as ice times at public skating rinks were constrained, but even when teams were able to play extra frames the rules were somewhat flexible; because there were no lights illuminating the ponds, games could only be played while the sun was shining and in the winter months dusk came quickly. The teams would attempt to finish
10976-789: The third-largest in league history, with several thousand fans still in attendance following the five-hour delay. On January 13, 2024, Truist Field in Charlotte , North Carolina hosted the Queen City Outdoor Classic between the Charlotte Checkers and the Rochester Americans . In both the first outdoor game for the Checkers and first outdoor hockey game in Charlotte, the Checkers defeated
11088-401: The top two teams advance to the final game, with the winner declared the challenge champions. The AHL All-Star Classic was postponed in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Laval Rocket , who had been selected to host, ultimately hosted the event in 2023. Since the 2009–10 season, at least one team in the AHL has hosted an outdoor ice hockey game each year. The Syracuse Crunch
11200-788: The two regions: east and west. The east region was loosely defined as any college east of the Pennsylvania - Ohio border with all other teams being lumped into the west region. The tournament was held at the Broadmoor World Arena for the first ten years. Partially due to a lack of competition, Michigan was invited to participate in each of the first ten tournaments and won six National Championships in that time. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has conducted national championships for men's ice hockey since 1948, and women's ice hockey since 2001. U.S. college hockey players must be deemed eligible for NCAA competition by
11312-539: The upcoming 2024–25 season, 44 teams compete in the National Collegiate division (commonly referred to as Division I). All of them play in one of five conferences: The WCHA remains in operation as a women's league despite the demise of the conference's men's side. As noted in the Division I men's section, Atlantic Hockey America was formed by the 2024 merger of the women-only College Hockey America and
11424-704: The “World” team in 1997 and “PlanetUSA” from 1998 to 2010). The format was revamped again in 2011 to pit the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference. In 2014, a team of AHL all-stars hosted the Swedish Hockey League club Färjestad BK . Since 2016, the all-star game has been replaced by the AHL All-Star Challenge, a three-on-three round-robin tournament among teams from the league's four divisions;
11536-665: Was announced that the Stockton Heat would be relocating to Calgary , Alberta , starting the 2022–23 season . For the 2023–24 season , the Chicago Wolves operated as the league's only unaffiliated team, making them the first team to operate without an NHL partner since the inaugural season of the Worcester IceCats during the 1994–95 season . Consequently, the Carolina Hurricanes became
11648-568: Was constructed by Princeton University in 1923. Most schools were content with buying ice time from local rink operators while others simply didn't want to fund the building of their own version of the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink . As the weather warmed in the 1930s and 40s many of these teams would be forced to decide whether they were willing to financially support their ice hockey programs or not. Army , for instance, had Smith Rink built in 1930 while Cornell struggled with
11760-613: Was held on January 20, 2018, at Hersheypark Stadium against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms . Alex Lyon made 41 saves as the Phantoms defeated the Bears, 5-2, in front of 13,091 fans. A second outdoor event, in conjunction with the NHL 100 Classic , was also reportedly under consideration with the recently transplanted Belleville Senators potentially hosting the event at TD Place Stadium at Lansdowne Park, but did not materialize. After two seasons without an outdoor game,
11872-460: Was held one day before the NHL's 2011 Heritage Classic and Hockey Day in America celebrations, and took place as part of USA Hockey 's Hockey Weekend Across America promotions. The Whale Bowl was a highlight of a multiple-day "Whalers Hockey Fest" organized by the Whale in honor of the former Hartford Whalers ; prior to the game, two other hockey games were held on the outdoor surface, including
11984-507: Was not reversed. However, two events in the fall of 1977 helped reverse the trend. The first of these was the decision of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers to return to the league as a team owner, and the second was the unexpected collapse of the North American Hockey League just weeks before the start of the 1977–78 season. The Flyers' new AHL franchise became the immediately successful Maine Mariners , which brought
12096-509: Was played at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania . Hershey took the lead in the second period but the Penguins scored a goal in the third to send the game to overtime. Paul Thompson would score in overtime, winning the game 2–1 for the Penguins. The game was played before a crowd of 17,311 spectators. As a result of the 2012–13 NHL lockout , a second planned outdoor game between
12208-544: Was preceded the previous night by a game between Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens alumni. Two outdoor games were announced for the 2012–13 AHL season, but a meeting between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies at Comerica Park in Detroit as part of the festivities surrounding the NHL Winter Classic was not held because of the cancellation of the NHL Winter Classic. On January 20, 2013,
12320-566: Was the first organization to put on an outdoor game in the AHL on February 20, 2010, building a rink at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York , and packing a record 21,508 fans in for the Mirabito Outdoor Classic against the Binghamton Senators . The contest, which was also televised to an international audience on NHL Network , was won by the Crunch, 2–1. The Connecticut Whale hosted
12432-477: Was the third outdoor game in AHL history and it more than doubled the league's previous single-game attendance mark. On January 21, 2012, the Steeltown Showdown between Ontario rivals, the Toronto Marlies and Hamilton Bulldogs , was held at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario , with the Marlies winning 7–2 in front of 20,565 fans, the largest crowd ever for an AHL game in Canada. The AHL game
12544-802: Was to play an interlocking schedule. While the Can-Am was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes , their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option. The two leagues' eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new two-division "circuit of mutual convenience" known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with
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