The Western Canada 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 Alberta and Saskatchewan from 1948 until 1956. It was formed by teams which sought a higher level of competition and more formal organization. Its teams were eligible for 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 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, ...

, and were runners-up in five seasons as 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 ...

junior champion of Western Canada.

History

The Western Canada Junior Hockey League (WCJHL) formed in 1948 after junior ice hockey teams from Alberta and Saskatchewan wanted to form a league with a higher level of competition with more formal organization by a dedicated league governor rather than a provincial governing body. All four teams from the Southern Alberta Junior Hockey League combined with two teams from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to become a six-team league. The remaining junior teams in Saskatchewan reorganized as the South Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for the 1948–49 season. Earlier in 1948, the stronger junior teams based in Saskatchewan and Manitoba proposed an inter-provincial league. Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association president Jimmy Dunn was opposed to the idea since he felt it would have a negative effect on junior hockey in Winnipeg. The WCJHL operated under the joint jurisdiction of the

Alberta Amateur Hockey Association Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. stat ...

and the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association, and participated in the playoffs for the

as organized by the

(CAHA). Teams from the WCJHL won the

as the junior champions of Western Canada in five seasons, which included 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 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, and 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 ...

in 1954. In each of these seasons, the WCJHL champion lost to the Eastern Canada champion at the head-to-head

national junior championship. The WCJHL and other junior teams in Western Canada addressed the imbalance in Memorial Cup competition in a meeting with CAHA president W. B. George in August 1954. The teams sought permission for the champions of any western leagues to add three players from their own league starting in the inter-provincial playoffs to determine the western representative 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 Abbott Cup representative was approved. The WCJHL folded in 1958 and three of the remaining four teams returned to their respective provincial junior leagues. The exception was the Edmonton Oil Kings, which joined 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) ...

, a

senior ice hockey Senior hockey refers to amateur or semi-professional ice hockey competition. There are no age restrictions for Senior players, who typically consist of those whose junior ice hockey, Junior eligibility has expired. Senior hockey leagues operate un ...

league.

Governors

List of league governors: *

Red Dutton Norman Alexander Dutton (July 23, 1897 – March 15, 1987) was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach and executive. Commonly known as Red Dutton, and earlier by the nickname "Mervyn", he played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hock ...

(1948 to 1951) *

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 ...

(1951 to 1953) * Ken Doraty (1953 to 1956)

Teams

List of teams that played in the WCJHL:

Standings

1948–49 season

*Source:

1949–50 season

*Source:

1950–51 season

*Source:

1951–52 season

*Source:

1952–53 season

*Source:

1953–54 season

*Source:

1954–55 season

*Source:

1955–56 season

*Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Canada Junior Hockey League (1948-1956) 1948 establishments in Canada 1956 disestablishments in Canada Sports leagues established in 1948 Sports leagues disestablished in 1956 Defunct junior ice hockey leagues in Canada Defunct ice hockey leagues in Alberta Defunct ice hockey leagues in Saskatchewan