The North American Hockey League (NAHL) was a low-level minor professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

league that existed from 1973 to 1977. Several of the NAHL teams operated as developmental ("farm") teams for

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...

franchises. The NAHL was one of two leagues, along with the Southern Hockey League, that were formed after the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart ...

ceased operations in 1973. The Lockhart Cup was the league's championship trophy. With the loss of a number of franchises and financial struggles, the NAHL folded in September 1977.

Teams

Timeline

Lockhart Cup

The championship trophy of the North American Hockey League was named the Lockhart Cup in honor of Tommy Lockhart, founder of the

. The trophy was last awarded on April 10, 1977, to the Syracuse Blazers, and has since gone missing. The

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

stated that the Lockhart Cup is one of "about three historical trophies that have disappeared". Its last known whereabouts was reported to be in the basement of Danny Belisle, the coach of the Blazers in the 1976–77 season.

League dissolves

In September 1977 the league folded. It had been struggling financially. The league by then consisted of five teams, after the Syracuse team folded in 1976 after winning the league championship. The league had discussed continuing with five teams, but the Utica team was in dire straits would have to have been carried by the other four teams. Each would have had to post $50,000 to keep the league alive. The Binghamton and Philadelphia teams declined. Due to the closing of the league, all the players were released outright from their contracts.

Legacy in film

The league served as the inspiration for the film '' Slap Shot''. Ned Dowd, who played for the

Johnstown Jets The Johnstown Jets were a professional ice hockey team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Jets were founded in the Eastern Hockey League, Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War M ...

, was the brother of the film's screenwriter, Nancy Dowd. Ned played for Johnstown during a season where the team was for sale, when his sister came to live in Johnstown and was inspired to write the screenplay. The film contains references to "Syracuse" and "Broome County", which were teams in the NAHL. Some of the incidents depicted actually occurred in actual NAHL games.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of the North American Hockey League Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:North American Hockey League (1973-1977) Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United States Defunct ice hockey leagues in Canada World Hockey Association 1973 establishments in North America 1977 disestablishments in North America Sports leagues established in 1973 Sports leagues disestablished in 1977