Ice hockey in Europe; Oxford University vs. Switzerland, 1922. Future Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson is at right front.

In North America, two openly professional leagues emerged: the National Hockey Association in 1910 and the Pacific Coast League shortly after. In 1914 these two leagues competed for the Stanley Cup before World War I forced a suspension in league activities. The National Hockey League was formed in November of 1917, when members of the former National Hockey Association were engaged in a dispute with one of their fellow owners over insurance proceeds. The NHA disbanded, and the new league began play in December of that year with four Canadian teams. The Pacific Coast League folded and in 1926 the NHL, now with ten teams, took control of the Stanley Cup and formed a Canadian and an American division.

With the growth of professionalism in Canada, a new challenge cup, the Allan Cup, was instituted for amateur players to replace the Stanley Cup. This led to the foundation of an amateur governing body, the Canadian Hockey Association, which entered the winning Canadian team for the first Olympic title in Antwerp in 1920.

Between the wars, British ice hockey grew rapidly with new ice rinks and an influx of Canadian players. A European competition was instituted, and in the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch, Germany, Great Britain won the gold medal, imposing the first ever Olympic defeat on the Canadians. However, because of the disruption of World War II and a lack of suitable venues afterwards the sport faded rapidly. This contrasted with rapid growth elsewhere. The NHL doubled in size in 1968, and now has thirty teams and has reorganised itself several times.

On 16 February, 2005, the NHL became the first major professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire season because of a labor dispute. Play resumed again in the fall of 2005. During the dispute, a Canadian senior’s league asked to play for the cup, but weren’t allowed, in violation of the terms of the Stanley Cup’s handover to the NHL. Subsequent to the 2004-05 strike the NHL and the Stanley Cup wardens reached an agreement whereby if a future NHL season is cancelled, other teams may be allowed to challenge for the Stanley Cup.

The official museum for the NHL is the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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