The 1925–26 WHL season was the fifth and last

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

for the now defunct

Western Canada Hockey League The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921–22 WCHL season, 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926. ...

(WCHL), which was renamed Western Hockey League (WHL) at the start of the season due to one of its Canadian teams, the

Regina Capitals The Regina Capitals were a professional ice hockey team originally based in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921. Western Canada Hockey League Capitals (1921–1926) 1921 was the Regina Ca ...

, moving to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and being renamed the Portland Rosebuds. Six teams played 30 games each. At season's end, some of the teams reorganised to create a semi-pro league called the Prairie Hockey League that lasted for two seasons. The WHL was the last league other than the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

to contest for the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

Off-season

Regina's team folded, and a Portland club was formed and the Regina players transferred to it. There was discussions of moving the Edmonton team to Regina but it stayed in Edmonton. The new

New York Americans The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play ...

bought Joe Simpson, John Morrison and Roy Rickey from Edmonton, but Edmonton would have enough talent left to win the WHL title.

Teams

Map of teams

Regular season

Final standing

Note GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Playoffs

As in the previous season, the third place Victoria Cougars won the playoff championship. In the semi-final, the Cougars met the Saskatoon Sheiks. ''Victoria wins two-game, total-goals series 4–3.'' In the final, the Cougars faced off against the Edmonton Eskimos. As there was no ice available in Edmonton, Edmonton's 'home' game was played in Vancouver. ''Victoria wins two-game, total-goals series 5–3.''

Stanley Cup Finals

The Cougars faced the

champion

Montreal Maroons The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924–25 NHL season, 1924 to 1937–38 NHL season, 1938, winning the Sta ...

in a best-of-five series, losing three games to one. After the WHL folded at the end of this season, the Stanley Cup would no longer be contested as a challenge tournament between league champions, but would be automatically awarded to the NHL champion, a custom formalized in 1947.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Goaltending averages

References

External links

HockeyDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:1925-26 WHL season Western Canada Hockey League seasons WCHL WHL