The first professional ice hockey teams in Saskatchewan were the Regina Capitals and the Saskatoon Sheiks who first played in the Western Canada Hockey League's (WCHL) inaugural season in 1921–22. After the collapse of the WCHL following the 1925–26 season, these teams and the Moose Jaw Maroons joined the Prairie Hockey League (PHL). The PHL folded after two seasons, which resulted in the end of professional hockey in Saskatchewan. In 1952 professional hockey returned to Saskatchewan when the Saskatoon Quakers joined the minor-pro Western Hockey League (WHL). The Quakers folded in 1956 and were replaced by the Saskatoon/St. Paul Regals who split their home games between Saskatoon and St. Paul, Minnesota for the 1957–58 season. The following season, the Regals became the second incarnation of the Saskatoon Quakers, abandoning St. Paul, but folded after just one season, leaving the province without professional hockey once again. Since then, there have been a number of attempts to return professional hockey to Saskatchewan. In 1983, a bid to buy and relocate the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon was vetoed by the NHL, who preferred to find an owner to keep the team in St. Louis.[1] In 2009, Ice Edge attempted to purchase the bankruptPhoenix Coyotes with a plan to keep the team in Phoenix, but to also play five home games a year in Saskatoon.[2] However, The Conference Board of Canada has reported that Saskatoon's population of approximately 250,000 is well below the minimum 750,000 required for an NHL team to survive economically.[3] Additionally, Saskatoon was rumoured as a possible destination for the American Hockey LeagueManitoba Moose after the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.[4][5] However, the Moose eventually relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, due in part to the presence of the Saskatoon Blades occupancy of the Credit Union Centre.[5]
The first recorded Provincial Junior Hockey League was organized in the 1916–17, when E.C. Corbeau donated the Corbeau Cup. The first champions were the Regina Arenas.[6] The 1916–17 season was also the first season of the Regina Pats, who are the oldest continuously operating junior team in Canada.[7] In 1919 the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association created the Abbott Cup in memory of E.L. (Hick) Abbott who died in the First World War. The Abbot Cup was originally awarded to the best Junior "A" team in Western Canada. After Western Hockey League was sanctioned as the top junior league in Western Canada and the creation of the Ed Chynoweth Cup, the Abbot Cup was awarded to the best junior "B" team in Western Canada until 1999 when the trophy was retired.[8]
Organized women's hockey has been played in Saskatchewan since at least 1912 when a women's team was set up at the University of Saskatchewan. However, as women's hockey only became a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) sport in 1997–98, they played unsanctioned competitions against other university and local women's teams, winning the Western Canadian women’s inter-university hockey league champion in 1921 and 1922. They also won the Saskatoon women's city championship in 1929, 1932, 1939 and 1942. Women's hockey was an intramural sport between 1955 and 1976, before the creation of the Labatt Cup: Women’s Hockey Tournament, later renamed the Western Canada Cup, in 1979.[9] The University of Saskatchewan played in the first CIS sanctioned women's championship in the 1997–98 season,[10] while the University of Regina women's team joined one year later.[11] The University of Regina won their first, and only, conference title in 2000–01. In 2004, the Saskatchewan Prairie Ice began play in the minor-pro Western Women's Hockey League based out of Lumsden located near Regina. After three losing seasons the team folded in 2007 due to financial reasons. Saskatchewan has won one Abby Hoffman Cup, awarded to the Canadian senior women's "A" champion, won by the Notre Dame Hounds in 2010–11.[12]
This list does not include teams below the junior age group, or senior teams below the AAA level.
Major professional
Western Canada Hockey League
The Western Canada Hockey League was the first major-professional league on the prairies. Founded in 1921, it collapsed in 1926.[13]
Previously the Lloydminster Lancers of the SJHL (1982–88); known as the Lloydminster Blazers 1988–05.[22][23] The team's arena lies on the Saskatchewan side of the biprovincial city, one block from the border.
The Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) and the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) were the top levels of women's hockey in Canada until 2007 with the creation of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.[29] In 2006, an agreement was made that the WWHL would become a division within the NWHL, but would remain an independent league. There was no competition between the winners of the two leagues to determine an overall winner.[30]
Suspended operations for the 2007–08 WWHL season.[37]
Senior
Three senior AAA hockey teams from Saskatchewan have captured the Allan Cup as the national Senior hockey champion of Canada. the Lloydminster Border Kings are the defending Allan Cup champions.
^"1997–98 Year in Review"(PDF). Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
^"1998–99 Year in Review"(PDF). Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
^"Abbey Hoffman Cup". legendsofhockey.com. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
^Gaschnitz, K. Michael (1997). Professional Sports Statistics: A North American, Team–by–Team, and Major Non–Team Events, Year–by–Year Reference, 1876 through 1996. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 158.
^ abBrucato, Thomas W. (2002). Major League Champions, 1871–2001. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 184. ISBN0-8108-4480-X.
^Gaschnitz, K. Michael (1997). Professional Sports Statistics: A North American, Team–by–Team, and Major Non–Team Events, Year–by–Year Reference, 1876 through 1996. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 135.
^ abStott, Jon C. (2011). Ice Warriors: The Pacific Coast/Western Hockey League 1948–1974. Victoria: Heritage House Publishing. p. 227.