when did the NHL start?

Answer 1

from http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=280069

Hockey was a strictly amateur affair until 1904, when the first professional league was created -- oddly enough in the United States. Known as the International Pro Hockey League, it was based in the iron-mining region of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That folded in 1907, but then an even bigger league emerged three years later, the National Hockey Association (NHA). And shortly after that came the Pacific Coast League (PCL). In 1914, a transcontinental championship series was arranged between the two, with the winner getting the coveted cup of Lord Stanley. World War I threw the entire hockey establishment into disarray, and the men running the NHA decided to suspend operations.

But after the war, the hockey powers that be decided to start a whole new organization that would be known as the National Hockey League (NHL). At its inception, the NHL boasted five franchises- the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators, the Quebec Bulldogs, and the Toronto Arenas. The league's first game was held Dec. 19, 1917. The clubs played a 22-game schedule and, picking up on a rule change instituted by the old NHA, dropped the rover and employed only six players on a side. Toronto finished that first season on top, and in March 1918 met the Pacific Coast League champion Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup. Toronto won, three games to two. Eventually the PCL folded, and at the start of the 1926 season, the NHL, which at that point had ten teams, divided into two divisions and took control of the Stanley Cup.

Answer 2

The NHL officially started as a league in November of 1917. The Stanley Cup was first awarded to the Montreal AAA team in 1893 as the "champions of the dominon of Canada," 24 years before the NHL started. The NHL assumed full ownership of the Stanley Cup as their playoff championship trophy for the beginng of the 1926-27 season, won by the old Ottawa Senators. The only two years that the Stanley Cup has not been awarded since its inception are 1919 (the Spanish flu epidemic spread through both Seattle and Montreal's teams, who were contesting for the Cup, and actually killed Joe Hall) and 2005 (the year of the NHL lockout).

Answer 3

The League was Founded in 1917. With the Canadiens, Wanderers, Senators, and Arenas (Now the Toronto Maple Leafs)

In 1926-1927 The NHL was the only team competing for the Stanley Cup. There were 10 teams: Boston Bruins, Montreal Maroons, New York Americans, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Rangers, Chicago BlackHawks, Detroit cougars (now Red Wings), Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas (Now Maple Leafs).

Answer 4

1917 with five teams: Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas (renames St Patricks, renamed Maple Leafs) It eventually expanded with the Montreal Maroons joining and then Boston Bruins, New York Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates. The depression killed off Ottawa, Maroons, Pittsburgg, Americans. Wanderers building burned in 1918 (essentially they were reborn as the Maroons who were the Anglais team in Montreal). Quebec just folded. Also Hamilton had a team for a few years. I could go on but that's the basics. The Stanley Cup BTW dates back much further, originally known as the Dominion Challenge Cup

Answer 5

Check things out at the following site: http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/evolution.html

In brief, hockey has been around for a long time, maybe since the 17th century. By the 1880s, there was organized competition, but among amateur teams. In 1897, the Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley, announced that he was donating the Stanley Cup symbolizing the championship awarded to the winning team in competitive (Canadian?) hockey. But the champions were drawn from the amateur teams and some small town teams won the early Stanley cups. By 1904, there was a shift to competition among professional teams and some leagues, e.g., the Pacific Hockey League, were organized for the professional sport. Before World War I broke out in 1914, there was wider competition among winning teams in regional leagues.

In 1917, the National Hockey League was formed to organize competition within a mature constellation of professional teams and has continued to do so ever since.

Answer 6

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&...check this site

Answer 7

1899 or something?