The Western Canada Cup (WCC); was the Junior 'A'

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 ...

championship for western Canada from 2013 to 2017. The annual five-team event consisted of the host team and the champions from the four western leagues (

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The reg ...

British Columbia Hockey League The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league from British Columbia under Hockey Canada and BC Hockey. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCHL now includes 18 teams. From 1993 to 2021, the league was a member of the Ca ...

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

, and

Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. Open to North American-born players 20 years of ...

), and was used to determine the two Western seeds for the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, known at that time as the RBC Cup.

History

Much like the

Abbott Cup The Abbott Memorial Cup, commonly referred to as the Abbott Cup, was awarded annually from 1919 through 1999 to the Junior "A" ice hockey Champion for Western Canada. The Cup was named after Captain E.L. (Hick) Abbott who was a noted hockey pl ...

, the WCC was the championship for all of

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. The Abbott Cup was a playdown championship consisting of a best-of-7 series played between the winners of the

Doyle Cup The Doyle Cup is an ice hockey trophy won through a best-of-7 series conducted annually by the Canadian Junior Hockey League to determine the Pacific region berth in the Centennial Cup, the national Junior A championship. From 1971 to 2021, the se ...

(AJHL and BCHL) and ANAVET Cup (MJHL and SJHL) to determine a single seed into the old national championship, the Centennial Cup. The Abbott Cup winner from 1971 until 1979 played the Eastern Canada Champion, the winner of the

Dudley Hewitt Cup The Dudley-Hewitt Cup is a championship ice hockey trophy awarded to the Central Canadian Junior A champion. The trophy is currently decided by round robin tournament format, at the conclusion of the playoffs of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, ...

. From 1979 until 1989, the Abbott Cup winner played a round robin against the winner of the

(Central Canada) and the J. Pius Callaghan Cup (Atlantic Canada). In 1989, the Abbott Cup was divided up and both the Doyle Cup and ANAVET Cup winner were allowed into the Nationals. From 1995 until 2012, the format included the winners of the Doyle Cup, Anavet Cup, Dudley Hewitt Cup, and an Eastern Canada Championship called the

Fred Page Cup The Fred Page Cup is a championship ice hockey trophy, won by a tournament conducted by the Canadian Junior Hockey League. The award is given to the winner of a round-robin and playoff between the Bogart Cup champions of the Central Canada Hoc ...

. In 2011, the four western leagues proposed to

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

and the

Canadian Junior Hockey League The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) is an association of Canadian junior A ice hockey leagues and teams and was formed in November 1993, emerging from the Canada West Association of Junior 'A' Hockey. The champion of the Canadian Junior H ...

that the Doyle Cup and ANAVET Cup be discontinued in favour of a new tournament named the Western Canada Cup. Hockey Canada announced the tournament's creation in January 2012. Plans for the new tournament were first reported by the ''Estevan Mercury'' in October 2011. The trophy presented to the WCC Champion was unveiled in March 2013 and was named in honour of Crescent Point Energy, the title sponsor. Crescent Point Energy pulled its support of the 2017 WCC despite at least two of the four previous tournaments had turned a profit. In addition, the four participating leagues reported challenges in finding hosts for the event, expressed concern that the tournament format might be preventing the best teams from advancing to the RBC Cup, and that the WCC detracted from longstanding territorial rivalries.

Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number o ...

replaced Crescent Point Energy as the title sponsor for 2017. Hockey Canada, together with the four leagues, scrapped the WCC format following the 2017 tournament and re-instated the ANAVET and Doyle Cups for the 2017-18 season.

WCC Champions

;Notes

External links

Western Canada Cup Website

Hockey Canada Website

References

{{Hockey Canada Canadian Junior Hockey League trophies and awards Ice hockey tournaments in Canada Canadian ice hockey trophies and awards Ice hockey in Western Canada

History

WCC Champions

See also

External links

References