The Chinook Hockey League (CHL), named Allan Cup Hockey West from 2017 to 2022,[1] is a multi-tier CanadianSeniorice hockey league based in Alberta. The CHL is one of three Allan Cup-eligible ice hockey leagues currently operating in Canada; the others are Ontario's Allan Cup Hockey.[2] and Newfoundland's Avalon East Senior Hockey League.[3] Since the beginning of the 1998–99 season, the Chinook and ACHW have produced four Allan Cup national champions: the 1999 Stony Plain Eagles,[4] and the 2009, 2013 and 2016 Bentley Generals.[5] The Lacombe Generals have the most playoff championship wins at 12. Stony Plain collected eight consecutive titles from 1998 to 2005 while the Generals recently earned their 11th consecutive title dating back to 2008–2009.
History
Founded as the Chinook Hockey League in 1955.
In 2013, the Chinook Hockey League hired George Vanberg as their league president.[6] Prior to Vanberg, Ray Marsh was league president for over 35 years.[7]
In June 2016, the Chinook Hockey League elected Jerry Muise as their league president. He was vice president since 2013.
The league was renamed Allan Cup Hockey West prior to the 2017–2018 season.[8] In November 2018, the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs suspended operations, leaving the league with four teams.[9] Rosetown and Lacombe left the league prior to the 2019–20 season, making Allan Cup Hockey West a two-team league.[10]
The 2019–20 playoffs were cancelled due to COVID-19.[11] and the Innisfail Eagles left the league in 2020 and joined the Senior AA Ranchland Hockey League for the 2020–2021 season,[12] leaving the Stony Plain Eagles as the only team in the Chinook Hockey League.[13]
After a two-year hiatus, Allan Cup Hockey West was revived under its old name of Chinook Hockey League for the 2022–2023 season.[14] The Innisfail Eagles rejoined the league along with the Stony Plain Eagles, who hadn't managed to find another league to play in, and a new team who was supposed to play out of Carstairs but were unable to reach an agreement to use the arena and ended up playing a few games in Innisfail before moving to Cremona.[15] The Innisfail Eagles won the CHL championship in the 2022–2023 season and participated in the 2023 Allan Cup in Hamilton and Dundas, Ontario. [16] Innisfail would finish last place in the tournament which saw the Dundas Real McCoys of Allan Cup Hockey capture the 2023 Allan Cup, beating the Clarenville Caribous of the Avalon East Senior Hockey League in the championship game.[17][18]
On September 23, 2023, it was announced that the Cremona Coyotes would not be participating in the 2023–2024 CHL season, citing "unforeseen circumstances". The league is hoping for the team to return for the 2024–2025 season. [19] On the same day, the 2023–2024 season schedule was announced, the season started on October 14 and was competed by just the Stony Plain Eagles and Innisfail Eagles once again. The season ended on February 17th with the Innisfail Eagles finishing on top of the Spruce Grove Eagles by just 2 points.[20] The best of 5 playoffs began on March 2nd in Innisfail with Innisfail winning 7-3. Innisfail would go on to sweep the series with 10-4 and 5-2 wins in games 2 and 3 respectively, sending them to the Allan Cup for the 2nd year in a row. [21] Innisfail was once again eliminated in the preliminary round, finishing in last place with 0 wins and 0 points.[22][23]
In May of 2024, it was announced that the Stony Plain Eagles had left the Chinook Hockey League to join the AA North Central Hockey League and as a result, the Innisfail Eagles had no choice but to also leave the two team league and were also accepted into the North Central Hockey League, thus forfeiting the hosting duties of the 2025 Allen Cup and leaving Alberta without any AAA hockey teams once again. [24]
