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104-605: 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

208-614: A 1902 investigation by the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) revealed that players on Pittsburgh-based teams received payment in 1901 and 1902, leading the OHA to ban any club from Pittsburgh from participating in their association, claiming there was "ample and undeniable proof" that clubs in Pittsburgh were "purely professional, paying straight salaries to their players." The 1903-04 Portage Lakes Hockey Club

312-746: A new championship plaque is added, the oldest plaque is retired and joins a display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The Hershey Bears have won the Cup more times than any other team, with thirteen victories in franchise history. The Cleveland Barons come in second with nine; the Springfield Indians/Kings are third with seven. Eight teams have won back-to-back championships; the Springfield Indians of 1960–62 are

416-634: 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

520-456: 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

624-766: 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

728-649: Is a professional ice hockey club based in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2012, they left the Slovak Extraliga and joined the international Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club has won eight Slovak championships (most recently in 2012) and one Czechoslovak championship (1979). In Finland, SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland and is regarded as one of the top leagues in Europe. It

832-469: 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,

936-525: Is no single global championship for professional ice hockey. The most elite North American teams compete for the Stanley Cup as their championship. Created in 1892, the Stanley Cup was originally an amateur trophy. Starting in 1907, professionals were allowed to compete for it. Teams from several leagues played for the Stanley Cup before 1926, since which time the cup's trustees have ceded control of

1040-695: Is regarded as the first team to pay each of the players on the team, while players in prior years in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League were compensated via a mix of a small monetary payment and jobs in the Pittsburgh community, with the 30 players of the then four-team Western Pennsylvania Hockey League each receiving a weekly salary ranging from $ 10 (equivalent to $ 339 in 2023) to $ 20 (equivalent to $ 678 in 2023) per week in January of 1903, depending upon their agreements with James Wallace Conant , which resulted in

1144-527: Is the top tier of the Nationalliga or Ligue Nationale or Lega Nazionale, the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland . It is the oldest league remaining today, dating to 1916. Between the wars, British ice hockey grew rapidly with new ice rinks and an influx of Canadian players. A European competition was instituted, and in the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch, Germany, Great Britain won

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1248-556: Is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League . It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars . The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany . In its current shape, the trophy has a two-tiered square base with commemorative plaques for each of the AHL's 20 most recent champions: 12 on the bottom tier and 8 on the top tier. Each time

1352-816: 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

1456-731: The AHL , ECHL , SPHL , and FPHL . The AHL and ECHL are official minor leagues to the NHL, with the ECHL subservient to the AHL; the FPHL and SPHL operate as low-level independents. The NHL is considered one of the four major professional sports leagues of the United States. It is historically most popular in areas near the Canada–US border and along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. There

1560-796: 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

1664-634: 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

1768-629: The Estonian Ice Hockey Association , Kazakhstani Championship , Latvian Hockey League , Lithuania Hockey League , and Ukrainian Major League . The remnant Russian Federation-based teams created the Russian Super League . The Russian Pro Hockey League's "Super League" was the highest level of play in Russia from 1996 to 2008. During the 2000s (decade) the calibre of play and the league economics recovered as

1872-995: The Europa Cup from 1965 to 1997, the European Hockey League from 1996 to 2000, the IIHF European Champions Cup 2005 to 2008 and the Champions Hockey League in 2008. The Champions Hockey League returned for the 2014-15 season and has since been held yearly. The most successful North American team is the Montreal Canadiens who have won 24 Stanley Cups, the most successful European club is HC CSKA Moscow which has won 20 European Cups. Teams from North American and Europe do not regularly compete against each other in " friendlies " as do soccer clubs, although efforts to expand intercontinental play have increased since

1976-706: 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

2080-736: 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

2184-596: The Ontario Hockey Association considering each of these teams as a "purely professional team". Beginning with the start of 1904 season the semi-professional Pittsburgh-based teams of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League consolidated to become Pittsburgh Professionals and joined with the Houghton-Portage Lakes to become two of the original five teams of the International Professional Hockey League , marking

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2288-642: The Ontario Professional Hockey League was formed. The competition for players increased salaries, a factor in the demise of the IPHL in 1907 and the temporary end of professional hockey in the United States. In 1908, the ECAHA became fully professional, as the ECAHA's amateur teams separated from the league and competed for the new Allan Cup , a new challenge cup instituted for amateur teams. The ECAHA, now fully professional, renamed itself

2392-586: 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 the AHL. Professional ice hockey Professional hockey developed in

2496-809: 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 the NHL planning to expand to 32 teams in 2021 with the Seattle Kraken ,

2600-682: The Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association and opted to boycott existing leagues in pursuit of a unified, financially stable professional league. In 2023, the NWHL—rebranded as the Premier Hockey Federation in 2021—was purchased and ultimately dissolved as part of the foundation of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), the unified league many players had been working towards. The league debuted in January 2024. Calder Cup The Calder Cup

2704-570: The Quebec Hockey League , which included several stars such as Jean Beliveau and Willie O'Ree . In the 1950s, with the rise of NHL television broadcasts, such as those on Hockey Night in Canada , attendance suffered and the minor professional leagues folded or merged to survive. A new Western Hockey League was formed on the west coast with teams in several cities including Vancouver. The WHL's Vancouver Canucks organization would join

2808-648: The Red Army , Red Air Force or other national institutions. Technically they were paid for their military service, and not for their play as athletes. This allowed them compete at the Olympic games without violating the International Olympic Committee 's amateur-only rules of the era. Throughout the history of the Soviet league, Red Army -affiliated CSKA Moscow dominated, winning 32 of

2912-559: The Slovak Extraliga is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. The name of the league is leased to sponsor and changes frequently. From 1993/94 to 1997/98 season, it was called Extraliga, then the name changed to West Extraliga until the end of 2000/01 season. In 2001/02, its name was Boss Extraliga. Since 2002/03 season to 2004/05, the name changed to ST Extraliga and in 2005/06 to T-Com Extraliga. From January 16, 2007,

3016-668: The Stanley Cup brought them together for annual playoffs, starting in 1915. In November 1917, the NHA itself suspended operations and several NHA owners formed the National Hockey League (NHL) following a dispute between NHA team owners. The new league began play in December that year with four Canadian teams. The NHL continued the annual Stanley Cup playoffs with the PCHA. In the west, the Western Canada Hockey League

3120-568: The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , a semi-professional hockey league started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1896. The International Professional Hockey League began play in 1904 with teams from Houghton, Michigan ( Houghton-Portage Lakes ), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ( Pittsburgh Professionals ), Calumet, Michigan ( Calumet-Laurium Miners ), Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario ( Sault Ste. Marie Marlboros ), and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan ( Michigan Soo Indians ). Prior to 1904, playing for pay

3224-687: 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

American Hockey League - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-491: 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

3432-441: 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,

3536-432: 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

3640-452: The 2003-04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons it was known as the Tipsport Extraliga; for 2001-01 and 2001-02 it was called the Český Telecom Extraliga, and in 1999-00 the Staropramen Extraliga. During the 2006-07 season it was known as the O2 Extraliga. Hockey Club Lev Praha (stylized as HC LEV Praha) is a professional ice hockey team located in Prague, Czech Republic, which debuts in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2012–13. In Slovakia ,

3744-427: 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

3848-469: 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

3952-490: The 46 championship seasons. The Soviet League's talent level was severely diminished following the fall of communism when most elite players moved to the NHL in search of higher pay. The league also changed its name to the CIS Championship in 1991-1992, and then to the International Hockey League from 1992 to 1996. After the communist era ended, the league became explicitly professional. By 1996, most of former Soviet republics had created their own national leagues: including

4056-409: The AHL did not hold a playoff due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic . The trophy is named after Frank Calder , who was the first president of the National Hockey League . The Calder Memorial Trophy , which is awarded annually to the Rookie of the Year in the National Hockey League , was also named after Calder. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , the 2019–20 AHL season was cancelled and

4160-415: 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

4264-422: 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

American Hockey League - Misplaced Pages Continue

4368-406: The ECHA and compete for the Stanley Cup. Rebuffed by the ECHA, the mine owners formed the National Hockey Association (NHA) in 1910, splitting the ECHA's teams between the Canadian Hockey Association and the NHA. The CHA dissolved after less than a month, with some teams absorbed by the NHA. After one season of extravagant salaries, the NHA team owners imposed a salary cap, causing dissension amongst

4472-422: The ECHA. The MPHL folded in 1909, the OPHL in 1908, leaving the ECHA as the only 'elite' professional league in Canada. In northern Ontario, silver mining had made small towns affluent, and mines in the area hired professional players for their ice hockey teams. By 1910, several teams in the area had hired enough professional players from the ECHA, that the teams, notably the Renfrew Creamery Kings , wanted to join

4576-399: 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

4680-428: 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

4784-431: 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

4888-436: The KHL into a new pan-European league called United Hockey Europe . Since 2007, the NHL has operated the NHL Premiere series, which brings a limited number of NHL teams (usually four) to Europe to compete in exhibition games against both each other and local professional teams. The NHL teams have won a large majority of the games against European clubs. In North America, professional women's hockey developed much later than in

4992-426: The NHL in 1970. Since the demise of the QHL, the American Hockey League (AHL) has had Canadian teams, starting with the Quebec Aces . In 1972, the World Hockey Association was formed with professional teams in Edmonton, Ottawa, Quebec City and Winnipeg. Ottawa relocated to Toronto after one season, but the other teams survived until the WHA merged with the NHL in 1979, with Edmonton, Quebec City and Winnipeg joined

5096-476: 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

5200-434: 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, the Springfield Falcons franchise

5304-404: The NHL's 30 teams were in the United States (the loss of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg in 2011 reduced this number to 23; it returned to 24 American teams when the Vegas Golden Knights joined in 2017). The NHL reached a higher peak when the Seattle Kraken joined the league in 2021-22 as the 25th American team. There are several other pro leagues in the US as well; as of 2019 these include

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5408-439: The NHL, along with the Hartford, Connecticut -based New England Whalers, which joined the NHL as the Hartford Whalers . The inclusion of all three Canadian WHA teams was a key point of contention in merger talks between the NHL and WHA, and only after the NHL agreed to that stipulation was agreed upon did the merger happen. In 1980, the Atlanta franchise moved to Calgary. In the 1990s, the Quebec and Winnipeg franchises relocated to

5512-542: The OHA, including the two teams from Sault Ste. Marie, the Sault Ste. Marie Marlboros and Michigan Soo Indians in 1903-04. Some banned players in Ontario considered starting a professional team in 1898, and there was a proposal to start a professional league in western Ontario in 1899, but professional hockey did not take off in Canada until 1907 with the establishment of the Ontario Professional Hockey League . The earliest known instance of hockey players playing publicly for pay occurred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when

5616-401: 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

5720-403: The Russian economy did. Before the 2008-09 season the RSL was reformed into the Kontinental Hockey League which includes teams from several other former Soviet republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine) and plans to expand further. In Sweden , the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) is the highest-level professional ice hockey league. It is generally regarded as one of

5824-410: 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, the San Antonio Rampage franchise

5928-443: 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 the only NHL team currently without an AHL affiliate. However,

6032-420: The U.S., to Denver and Phoenix respectively, while Ottawa rejoined the NHL in 1992; the NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011, and a proposal to return to Quebec currently sits in purgatory. On February 16, 2005, the NHL became the first major professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire season because of a labor dispute. Play resumed again in the fall of 2005. During the dispute, controversy arose over

6136-452: The United States and Canada around the turn of the 20th century. Houghton, Michigan , was formally considered the "birthplace of professional hockey"; however, recent investigations have proven otherwise, beginning with the establishment of the International Professional Hockey League , the first fully professional hockey league, in Houghton in 1904 following conversations between James R. Dee from Houghton, Michigan and representatives of

6240-475: 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

6344-466: The WHL and took control of the Stanley Cup, forming Canadian and American divisions; it also brought in one WHL team, the Victoria Cougars , and relocated it to the U.S. to eventually become the modern Detroit Red Wings . The NHL lost Canadian teams in the 1920s and 1930s, leading to a rise in senior-level amateur teams and leagues in cities such as Quebec City and Ottawa, former NHL cities. After World War II, several of these teams became professional in

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6448-444: The beginning of fully professional hockey in North America. Professional leagues emerged from amateur leagues. In 1904, the predominantly U.S.-based International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) hosted the first Canadian professional team, the Canadian Soo. The league hired many amateur players away from Canada, causing the amateur leagues to convert to all-out professionalism or allow professional players in order to compete for

6552-411: The best teams in Europe. The winner of the Champions Hockey League will face an NHL challenger each year in the Victoria Cup providing a regular contest between NHL and European teams since the end of the Super Series in 1991. The Champions League was suspended for the 2009-10 season due to withdrawal of sponsors such as Gazprom . In 2009, KHL and Gazprom executive Alexander Medvedev proposed merging

6656-432: The board of SM-liiga . The board have committed themselves to promote the first winner of Mestis (the second highest competition) that meets certain standards. The Finnish ice hockey championship has been played since 1928. In Germany , the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German Hockey League, shortname DEL) is a German high-calibre ice hockey league, and has the highest number of American and Canadian players overseas. It

6760-535: The case of the concurrent development of professional gridiron football , the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area was one of the first areas to promote a professional ice hockey team. The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League began hiring professional players in 1902 and acted as a pro–am league. This league joined with teams in Michigan and Ontario to form the International Professional Hockey League in 1904, with Houghton, Michigan dentist Jack Gibson its founder. While this league had folded by 1907, it

6864-407: The country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia . In the Czech Republic, the Czech Extraliga is rooted in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. The Czech Extraliga was spun off in 1993 following the administrative break-up of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Extraliga is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic . The name of the league is leased a general sponsor and changes frequently. In

6968-430: The decision not to award the Stanley Cup; some considered this decision a violation of the terms of the Stanley Cup's handover ("Deed of Gift") to the NHL. Following a legal challenge, it was agreed that the Cup's trustees could award the Cup to a non-NHL team, although this did not actually occur. In Czechoslovakia , the Czechoslovak Extraliga was the elite ice hockey league in Czechoslovakia from 1930 until 1993, when

7072-506: 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

7176-471: 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

7280-588: 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

7384-452: 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

7488-690: 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

7592-479: The frequent labor disputes in the NHL (it has locked out its players three times in an eighteen-year span), picking up players who are barred from NHL play due to lockouts. Between 2000 and 2003, several NHL teams travelled outside North America to play exhibition games against some Swedish and one Finnish ice hockey teams. This series was known as the NHL Challenge . In 2008, the former Russian Super League

7696-520: The gold medal, imposing the first ever Olympic defeat on the Canadians. However, because of the disruption of World War II and a lack of suitable venues afterwards the sport faded rapidly. As of 2012, the ten-team, two-division professional Elite Ice Hockey League is the highest level of competition in the United Kingdom and features teams from each of the four Home Nations . Much as was

7800-399: 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

7904-559: 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

8008-473: The men's game, and has seen starts and stops. The Canadian Women's Hockey League , founded in 2014, did not pay salaries, but did pay stipends and bonuses. It folded in 2019 due to financial instability. The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first women's league to pay salaries, was established in the United States in 2015 and expanded into Canada in 2020. However, hundreds of prominent women's players, including Canadian and American Olympians, founded

8112-574: The name changed to Slovnaft Extraliga when a general sponsor agreement with Slovnaft was signed. The agreement is valid until the end of 2007/08 season. The Slovak Extraliga is also rooted in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. The 1993/94 season was the first season of Slovak Extraliga as Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993. Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava (Slovak: Hokejový klub Slovan Bratislava)

8216-657: The new 2000 millennium. The opportunities for fans and media to compare levels of play between the continents were especially limited during the Cold War since many of Europe’s best clubs were behind the Iron Curtain . After the success of the Summit Series which featured the Canadian and Soviet national teams, there was a demand for more international hockey at the club level. It has also proved that Soviet hockey

8320-619: 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

8424-520: 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

8528-622: The only team to have won three straight Calder Cup championships. On three occasions an AHL club has won the Calder Cup coincidentally with its NHL affiliate winning the Stanley Cup: in 1976 and 1977 when the Montreal Canadiens and their AHL affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs both won, and in 1995 , when the New Jersey Devils and Albany River Rats both won. The Calder Cup was not awarded in 2020 and 2021 as

8632-503: The players, and closed most of the teams in mining towns. In 1911, Lester and Frank Patrick, who had played in the NHA, formed the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association in British Columbia and took the opportunity to sign many of the NHA's players, notably Cyclone Taylor . In 1912, the NHA expanded west to Toronto, becoming a six-team league from Toronto to Quebec City. While the leagues competed for players, competition for

8736-403: 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:

8840-705: The top leagues of Europe, and one of the Swedish major professional sports league. SHL, or the Swedish Elite League , which it is often unofficially called in English, is composed of 14 teams. The first season under the former name Elitserien was played in 1975–76 . The Swedish ice hockey championships has been played in various forms since 1922. In Switzerland , the Nationalliga A (German), or Ligue Nationale A (French), or Lega Nazionale A (Italian)

8944-491: The top players. The first Canadian professional league was the Manitoba Professional Hockey League (MPHL), formed in 1905 from member teams of the amateur Manitoba Hockey Association . The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), formed from prior amateur hockey leagues, emerged in 1906. The ECAHA allowed teams to have professional players from the start, despite its name. In 1907,

9048-456: 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

9152-422: The trophy to the National Hockey League (NHL). The terms of the NHL's control over the trophy extended only so long as the NHL remained the undisputed, most dominant professional hockey league in the world, a distinction that arguably was voided in the 1970s after Russian teams played, and often defeated, NHL teams but has not been formally challenged since that time. The most elite European clubs have competed in

9256-551: The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers in a game infamous for its roughness . Subsequent Super Series produced more close results, but generally favoured the Soviet sides. However, following the fall of communism, many elite players from the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries went to the NHL for higher pay. The NHL became de facto the world’s most elite league as the quality of play in European leagues suffered. European leagues have, however, benefited from

9360-703: 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;

9464-586: Was at a comparable level to the NHL. This led to the Super Series which from 1975 to 1991 featured an annual tour of North America by a Soviet hockey club. The first Super Series featured CSKA Moscow against the Montreal Canadiens on New Year’s Eve 1975, in what was described in the press as a de facto world championship. The game ended as a 3-3 draw but was hailed as one of the greatest games ever played. The following week CSKA played and lost to

9568-618: 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 was announced that

9672-421: Was constituted in 1975 to replace SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. SM-liiga has an agreement of cooperation with Finnish ice hockey federation Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship". At the moment, there are 14 teams. SM-liiga was closed in 2000 so that no team can be relegated to or promoted from the lower leagues without approval of

9776-541: Was formed as a replacement for the Bundesliga . It dates back to 1958. The highest league in the Soviet Union was the Soviet Championship League , founded in 1946. This evolved into an elite league with a talent level comparable to the NHL. However, it was always considered an "amateur" league, rather than professional. This was because all elite athletes in the Soviet Union were conscripted into

9880-592: Was formed in 1921 from existing teams in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The annual Stanley Cup playoffs now became a three-way championship, alternating in location between the west and the east. The PCHA would merge with the WCHL in 1924 to form the Western Hockey League before the league ceased operations in 1926. The NHL, having expanded to the U.S.A. and now with ten teams, bought out the players' contracts of

9984-404: Was not favored by major hockey circuits, as they were established as purely amateur organizations. Players who were found to be paid were marked as professional and were banned by leagues such as the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), Canadian teams were prohibited from playing in Pittsburgh, and the Canadian teams who played games against professional teams from Northern Michigan were banished by

10088-507: 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

10192-685: 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,

10296-781: 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 the Laval Rocket in 2017. The Binghamton Senators were also purchased by

10400-530: Was refounded as the Kontinental Hockey League , expanded into Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan, and encouraged its clubs to aggressively seek talented players (sometimes at the expense of the NHL), prompting the media to speculate about eventual KHL challenge to the NHL dominance of international hockey. Also in 2008, the new Champions Hockey League was created to provide an elite tournament for

10504-744: 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

10608-635: Was the start of professional hockey. The United States would continue to see professional hockey with teams from the PCHL, beginning with the Portland Rosebuds , followed by a Seattle-based franchise a year later. When the Boston Bruins joined the NHL in 1924, the United States was finally represented in the league. It would continue to grow in the NHL until a peak in the 2000s (decade), when 24 of

10712-587: 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

10816-858: 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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