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

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

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 (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

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 Lockhart may refer to: *Lockhart (surname) Places Australia *Lockhart, New South Wales *Lockhart River, Queensland *Lockhart River, Western Australia United States *Lockhart, Alabama *Lockhart, Florida *Lockhart, Minnesota *Lockhart, Sout ...

Cup was the league's championship trophy. With the loss of a number of franchises, the NAHL elected to fold in September 1977. 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 Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War Memorial Arena. The Jet ...

, was the brother of the film's screenwriter,

Nancy Dowd Nancy Dowd (born 1945) is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter most famous for her films '' Slap Shot'' and '' Coming Home''. Career Dowd is a graduate of the UCLA Film School. Her brother Ned Dowd inspired the story behind ''Slap Shot'' b ...

. 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.

Teams

Lockhart Cup

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

Tommy Lockhart Thomas Finan Lockhart (March 21, 1892 – May 18, 1979) was an American ice hockey administrator, business manager, and events promoter. He was president of the Eastern Hockey League from 1933 to 1972, and was the founding president of the Amat ...

, founder of the

. The trophy was last awarded on April 10, 1977, to the

Syracuse Blazers The Syracuse Blazers were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in the Onondaga County War Memorial and State Fair Coliseum in Syracuse, New York. The team played in the Eastern Hockey League from 1967 to 1973 and the North ...

, and has since gone missing. 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 ...

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 Daniel George Belisle (May 9, 1937 – November 28, 2022) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. Belisle played junior hockey for the Guelph Biltmores and the Trois-Rivières Lions. He then signed with the New York Ranger ...

, the coach of the Blazers in the 1976–77 season.

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