The 1896–97 WPHL season was the first season of championship hockey of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Western Pennsylvania Hockey League The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) was an originally amateur and later professional ice hockey league founded in 1896 and existing through 1909. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league became the pre-eminent ice hockey league in ...

. The season opened on November 17, 1896, and was well underway when brought to an end by the destruction of fire of the league's facility, the Schenley Park Casino ice rink on December 17, 1896.

League business

The Casino had installed an artificial ice-making plant in 1895 and the 1895-96 winter season saw the first introduction of hockey at the rink. Challenge exhibition matches of

ice polo Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally occur ...

between the Canadian Queen's University of

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, and

Western University of Pennsylvania The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, hom ...

were held at the rink, and Queen's demonstrated the game of

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 ...

. Between then and November 1896, the Casino management decided to organize two leagues at the rink; an inter-scholastic league for high schools, and a senior league. Both leagues were amateur. The senior league was named the Western Pennsylvania League. The first league members were

Pittsburgh Athletic Club The Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) was one of the earliest professional ice hockey teams. It was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from around 1895 until 1905 and again from 1907 to 1909. The team was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey ...

Duquesne Country and Athletic Club The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1 ...

, Western University and the All-Pittsburgh (or simply Pittsburgh) team. The league played twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday nights.

Rules

The rules of the league were published in the ''Pittsburg Press'' on December 20, 1896: Source:

Season

Play continued until December 16, when the Casino rink was destroyed by fire. The Pittsburghs, PAC and Western University teams, and all of the inter-scholastic teams lost their hockey equipment in the fire. The Pittsburghs loss was estimated at $300.

Final standing

Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PCT = Percentage

Results

Play was suspended after fire destroyed the Casino rink. No championship was declared.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1896-97 WPHL season Western Pennsylvania Hockey League seasons WPHL