The American Amateur Hockey League was an amateur ice hockey league in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The league was founded in 1896, and was based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, until 1914, when the

Boston AA The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...

joined the league. In the 1900–01 season a team from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the

Quaker City Hockey Club The Quaker City Hockey Club was an amateur ice hockey team from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History Formed in 1897, the Quaker City Hockey Club was a member of the American Amateur Hockey League during the 1900–1901 season, playing its home ga ...

, also played in the AAHL. The league ceased operations after the 1916–17 season.

Players

Hobey Baker Hobart Amory Hare "Hobey" Baker (January 15, 1892 – December 21, 1918) was an American amateur athlete of the early twentieth century. Considered the first American star in ice hockey by the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also an accomplished Am ...

, famous American athlete and inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

in 1945, played two seasons in the league for the St. Nicholas Hockey Club between 1914–1916.

Sprague Cleghorn Henry William Sprague "Peg" Cleghorn (March 11, 1890 – July 12, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player from Westmount, Quebec who played 17 professional seasons between 1911 and 1929 for the Renfrew Creamery Kings and Montreal Wand ...

, another Hockey Hall of Fame member, spent the 1909–10 season with the

New York Wanderers The New York Wanderers were an amateur ice hockey team from Manhattan, New York City. The New York Wanderers played seven seasons in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1903 and 1914 and won the championship title in 1903–04. 1896 Sta ...

, as did his brother

Odie Cleghorn James Albert Ogilvie "Odie" Cleghorn (September 19, 1891 – July 13, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, linesman and referee. His brother Sprague Cleghorn also played professional ice hockey and the two played several sea ...

. During St. Nicholas Hockey Club's inaugural season in the league, in 1896–97, the team was represented by several notable American tennis players, among them

William Larned William Augustus Larned (December 30, 1872 – December 16, 1926) was an American tennis player who was active at the beginning of the 20th century. He won seven singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. Biography Larned was born ...

, Henry Slocum, Malcolm Chace and

Robert Wrenn Robert Duffield Wrenn (September 20, 1873 – November 12, 1925) was an American left-handed tennis player, four-time U.S. singles championship winner, and one of the first inductees in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Biography Wrenn w ...

. Canadian middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist

George Orton George Washington F. Orton (January 10, 1873 – June 24, 1958) was a Canadian middle and long-distance runner. In 1900, he became the first Canadian to win a medal at an Olympic Games. He won a bronze in the 400 metre hurdles, and then, 45 ...

played for the Quaker City Hockey Club in 1900–01, as did 1906 US Open tennis champion William Clothier. A great bulk of the players in the AAHL came from different

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

schools such as

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, Columbia and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. Among them were United States Senator

Leverett Saltonstall Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twenty years as a United States senator ...

and prominent businessman

Harold Stanley Harold Stanley (October 2, 1885 – May 14, 1963) was an American businessman and one of the founders of Morgan Stanley in 1935. For 20 years, he ran Morgan Stanley until he left the firm in 1955. Early life Stanley was born in Great Barring ...

. The league also had many Canadian players on its teams, among them Tom "Attie" Howard, Bob Wall, Bill Dobby, Artie Liffiton and Riley Castleman.

Teams

Crescent Athletic Club The Crescent Athletic Club was an athletic club in Brooklyn. Founded by a group of Yale University alumni in 1884 as an American football club, it later expanded to include other sports, including baseball, lacrosse, ice hockey and basketball. The ...

, "Brooklyn Crescents", 1896–97, 1899–1917 *

Brooklyn Skating Club The Brooklyn Skating Club was an amateur ice hockey team from Brooklyn in New York City. The Brooklyn Skating Club played in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1896 and 1906 and won the championship title in 1898–99. History The ice ho ...

, 1896–1906 *

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

, "Winged Footers" or "Mercury Footers", 1896–1912 *

New York Hockey Club The New York Hockey Club, also known as the Hockey Club of New York, was an amateur ice hockey team from Manhattan in New York City. The New York Hockey Club played in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1897 and 1917 and won one championshi ...

, 1897–1917 *

, 1903–1905, 1907–1910, 1911–12, 1913–14 * St. Nicholas Hockey Club, 1896–1903, 1905–1917 * Montclair Athletic Club, New Jersey, 1897–1899 *New York Naval Reserves, 1899–1900 *

, Philadelphia, 1900–01 * New York Irish-Americans, 1912–1915, 1916–17 *

Boston Athletic Association The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...

, 1914–1917 *Harvard Club, Boston, 1915–16 * Boston Arena Hockey Club, 1916–17 *Boston Hockey Club, 1916–17

Champions

*1896–97:

*1897–98: New York Athletic Club *1898–99:

*1899–1900:

Brooklyn Crescents The Brooklyn Crescents, affiliated with the Crescent Athletic Club, were an American amateur ice hockey team from Brooklyn in New York City. History The Brooklyn Crescents played in the American Amateur Hockey League in 1896–97 (the inaugural ...

*1900–01: Brooklyn Crescents *1901–02: Brooklyn Crescents *1902–03: Brooklyn Crescents *1903–04:

*1904–05: Brooklyn Crescents *1905–06: Brooklyn Crescents *1906–07: St. Nicholas Hockey Club *1907–08: Brooklyn Crescents *1908–09: New York Athletic Club *1909–10: New York Athletic Club *1910–11: Brooklyn Crescents *1911–12: Brooklyn Crescents *1912–13:

*1913–14: St. Nicholas Hockey Club *1914–15: St. Nicholas Hockey Club *1915–16:

*1916–17: Boston Athletic Association Source:Spalding's official ice hockey guide 1918
at archive.org

References

*''Society for International Hockey Research'' at sihrhockey.org

Notes

{{Authority control Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States