The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League was a

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

based in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

from 1948 until 1966. It operated under the jurisdiction of the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association. Two of its teams won 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 ...

as the junior champions of Western Canada, and the

Flin Flon Bombers The Flin Flon Bombers are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in Flin Flon, a city located on the Manitoba–Saskatchewan provincial border. The Bombers are members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), which is a member of the Canadia ...

won the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

as the national junior champion of Canada in 1957.

Frank Boucher François Xavier Boucher (October 7, 1901 – December 12, 1977) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. Boucher played the forward (ice hockey), forward position for the Ottawa Senators (original), Ottawa Senators and New ...

served as commissioner of the league from 1959 to 1966. The league disbanded when five of its eight teams joined the newly formed Canadian Major Junior Hockey League.

History

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) began play as the North Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for the 1948–49 season, and was formed in response to teams in South Saskatchewan and Alberta combining to establish the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. The North Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League renamed itself to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for the 1950–51 season. Clarke bombers

The league operated under the jurisdiction of the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association, and its teams were eligible for the national junior hockey playoffs as organized by the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...

(CAHA). The SJHL and other junior teams in Western Canada addressed the imbalance in

competition in a meeting with CAHA president W. B. George in August 1954. The teams sought permission for any league champion to add three players in the inter-provincial playoffs for the Memorial Cup, and contended that the imbalance in competition caused lack of spectator interest and less prestige for the event. At the next CAHA meeting in January 1955, the request for three additional players for the

representative was approved. Two teams from the SJHL won the Abbott Cup as the junior champions of Western Canada; which included the

in 1957, and the

Regina Pats The Regina Pats are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. Founded in 1917, the Pats are the world's oldest continuously operating major junior hockey franchise in its original location and using its original name. The ...

in 1958. Flin Flon also won the Memorial Cup in 1957, as the national junior champion of Canada.

served as commissioner of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League from 1959 to 1966. He proposed to establish a junior hockey league of the best twelve teams in Canada sponsored by 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 ...

(NHL), and to compete for a trophy at a higher tier than the Memorial Cup. CAHA president

Art Potter Arthur Thomas Potter (August 8, 1909 – January 19, 1998) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1962 to 1964, and oversaw the establishment of a permanent Canada men's ...

and the resolutions committee were against increasing NHL influence into amateur hockey in Canada and declined to present the proposal at the semi-annual meeting. Potter also wanted more study into programs to support continued junior hockey growth and the Memorial Cup. Boucher and team owners in Saskatchewan and Manitoba accused Potter and the CAHA of disregarding their concerns and favouring the

Edmonton Oil Kings The Edmonton Oil Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, that play in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team, founded in 2006, shares an ownership group with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The te ...

. Boucher threatened to withdraw the SJHL from the Memorial Cup playoffs, due to the "unfair domination of western junior hockey by the Edmonton Oil Kings", since they had the pick of all the players from Alberta and used loopholes in rules to import stronger players. After a playoffs game between the Edmonton Oil Kings and the

Estevan Bruins The Estevan Bruins are a junior ice hockey team playing in the Junior "A" Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). The team is based in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, and plays at Affinity Place. They were founded in 1971, when a previous fran ...

in April 1963, Potter announced that broadcast rights for CAHA games by Ken Newmans of

CHAB François Chabloz, known profesionally as Chab, is a Swiss trance music record producer and remixer . Known for his progressive trance style, Chabloz has an extensive history as a remixer and he has also released original material under the mon ...

in Moose Jaw, and Linus Westerbeg of

CKOS-TV CKOS-TV (channel 5) was a television station in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. The station was in operation from 1958 to 2002 as a private affiliate of CBC Television. It was a twinstick with the city's CTV affiliate CICC-TV. History In Mar ...

in Yorkton, had been indefinitely suspended. Potter stated that the suspensions resulted from "continuously and severely criticizing officials, thereby giving an erroneous picture of the game as played". The SJHL disbanded following the 1965–66 season, when five of its eight teams joined the newly formed Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL). The two Manitoba-based teams joined the

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior ice hockey, 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 thirt ...

, and the

Melville Millionaires The Melville Millionaires are a Canadian junior "A" ice hockey based in Melville, Saskatchewan. They are members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). They play their home games in the CN Community Centre which has a seating capa ...

suspended operations. The Saskatchewan Amateur Junior Hockey League was established in 1968, and included teams which formerly played in the SJHL and the CMJHL.

Teams

List of teams that played in the SJHL:

Standings

1948–49 season

*Source:

1949–50 season

Standings include one-point games between Humboldt and Prince Albert. *Source:

1950–51 season

*Source:

1951–52 season

The 1951–52 season scheduled included games against the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. *Source:

1952–53 season

Al Pickard Allan Wilfrid Pickard (January 2, 1895April 7, 1975) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1947 to 1950. When Canada opted out of the 1947 Ice Hockey World Champ ...

was elected to be the league's governor. *Source:

1953–54 season

Al Pickard was re-elected to be the league's governor. *Source:

1954–55 season

*Source:

1955–56 season

*Source:

1956–57 season

Flin Flon won ten games valued at one point instead of two points. *Source:

1957–58 season

*Source:

1958–59 season

Moose Jaw played most of its games in

Weyburn Weyburn is the tenth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 11,019. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

due to a delay in replacing their home arena which had been damaged in a storm. *Source:

1959–60 season

Games played in Flin Flon were allotted 2.5 points each. *Source:

1960–61 season

*Source:

1961–62 season

Prince Albert played the season in

Dauphin, Manitoba Dauphin () is a city in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 8,368 as of the 2021 Canadian Census. The community is surrounded by the Dauphin, Manitoba (rural municipality), Rural Municipality of Dauphin. The city takes its name from Lake Daup ...

due to a fire at their arena. *Source:

1962–63 season

*Source:

1963–64 season

The

, a junior hockey team participating in the

Central Alberta Hockey League The Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL) is a defunct senior amateur hockey league that operated in Alberta, Canada from 1956 to 1966. The creation of the CAHL coincided with the folding of the original Western Canada Junior Hockey League (WCJHL) ...

for

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

level teams, played an interlocking schedule of two games against each of the seven teams in the SJHL during the 1963–64 season. *Source:

1964–65 season

*Source:

1965–66 season

*Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (1948-1966) 1948 establishments in Canada 1966 disestablishments in Canada Sports leagues established in 1948 Sports leagues disestablished in 1966 Defunct junior ice hockey leagues in Canada Defunct ice hockey leagues in Manitoba Defunct ice hockey leagues in Saskatchewan