Ice Warriors: The Pacific Coast/Western Hockey League 1948-1974

Can$19.95

Ice Warriors tells the story of the Western Hockey League (known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League before 1952), a determined, ambitious league that at its height aspired to establish itself as a second major league, a western counterpart to the eastern NHL.

Between 1948 and 1974, more than 2,500 minor-league professional hockey players skated for the 23 teams that made up the Western Hockey League. A small percentage of these players went on to enjoy substantial careers in the National Hockey League; others were former NHLers who chose to end their pro careers in the minors. Most of them, however, were minor-league "lifers" who played many seasons in the WHL and other minor pro leagues.

Ice Warriors traces the league's origins, rise and fall. The author analyzes off-ice influences on the WHL's development and portrays the on-ice highlights of each season, including interviews with players, coaches and fans, and statistical records and pictures from the era. The league's aspirations ended with the expansion of the NHL, and after the 1973-74 season the WHL ceased operations. In its 26-year-run, however, it provided winter sports entertainment for countless appreciative hockey fans west of the Mississippi.

Jon C. Stott is professor emeritus at the University of Alberta. In 1973 he wrote the Western Hockey League's official commemorative magazine, and he is the author of three books on minor-league sports, including Hockey Night in Dixie (2006). Stott spent many winter evenings from 1951 to 1963 watching WHL hockey games in Victoria and Vancouver.


 

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