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History of AHL The history of AHL started in the late 1920s, where you can trace the beginning of the league to two earlier pro leagues. The history of AHL started in 1926 in the Canadian-American Hockey League, aka "Can-Am" league and the International Hockey League which was created in 1929. The Can-Am league had only six teams through 1936 when it dropped to four teams. The International Hockey League had eight teams when it started in 1929, but they also lost teams and ended up with four teams after the 1935-36 season. Both the Can-Am and IHL league were on the verge of folding, so the governors of both leagues knew they had to do something so the leagues could both survive.  What they decided to do was have the two leagues play an interlocking schedule with each other. November 1936 was an important month in the history of AHL. The two leagues became one, and the International American Hockey League (I-AHL)was created with eight surviving teams. They I-AHL had two divisions, the East division which had the four Can-Am teams, and the West divisions that had four IHL teams. But the league had problems as soon as the first month of its first season. The Buffalo Bisons ceased operations on December 6, 1936 only after playing eleven games due to financial problems and a lack of a suitable arena.  After the Buffalo Bisons folded, the I-AHL played out the rest of its first season and the next season with just seven teams. In the 1936-37 season, a three round playoff format was created and as well as a new championship trophy, the Calder Cup. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers three games to one to win the first Calder Cup Championship. Unless you are a hockey fan, you probably might not have heard of the AHL, even though it is older the the NBA. The Calder Cup is only second to the Stanley Cup in both age and prestige among North American hockey's championship trophies. The trophy is still used today and given to the AHL playoff champion. In 1938, the I-AHL added their eight team to fill the void left by the loss of the Buffalo Bisons. That eight team was the two-time defending EAHL champion Hershey Bears. (The Hershey Bears still operate in the AHL today and have become the most successful AHL team in the history of AHL.) Beginning with the 1938–39 season, more games were added to the regular season schedule bring it to 54. After the 1939-40 season, the I was dropped from the I-AHL, and the league became officially known as the AHL. During its first three decades the AHL, enjoyed moderated financially success and stability on the ice. But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the AHL started to run into some trouble. The increase in the cost of doing business in pro hockey began to rise especially with the expansion of the NHL in the late 1960s to early 1970s and the creation of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972. With the increase in major league teams, it brought upon competition for players. Salaries for players at all levels grew dramatically. Because of this NHL teams kept lesser players on development contracts and AHL players started to ask for more money. The result was that from 1974 to 1977 half of the teams in the AHL folded. This brought the league from twelve teams to just six. One of the AHL's longest surviving franchise, the Providence Reds, which joined the league in 1936-37 decided to cease operations before the start of the 1977-78 season. Things weren't good at all for the AHL during this time. The AHL was in trouble of folding all together if teams kept folding. In the Fall of 1977, two events occurred that helped the AHL return to great health. First, the owner of the NHL Philadelphia Flyers decided to return to the AHL as a owner. Second was the unexpected collapse of the North American Hockey League before the start of the 1977-78 season. The Flyers owner added a new AHL franchise to the AHL, which was the Maine Mariners. They became immediately successful and brought the city of Portland, Maine the AHL regular season and Calder Cup in the teams first two seasons in 1978 and 1979.  The AHL continued to grow at a good steady pace over the years. It reached 20 teams in the 2000-01 season. In the 2001-02 season, the league grew dramatically by adding six teams in the cities of Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston, Salt Lake City, Winnipeg, and Grand Rapids from the International Hockey League which folded in 2001 after fifty six seasons of operation. As of 2010, the AHL serves as the primary developmental circuit for the NHL. Twenty nine of the thirty NHL teams have primary affiliation agreements with one of the AHL's active member clubs of which 25 are located in the United States and the remaining four are in Canada. At the start of the 2010-11 season, two new teams will be added to the AHL, the Albany River Rats will move to Charlotte and become the Charlotte Checkers, while a new team will be created in Oklahoma City. The history of AHL is filled with ups and downs. The league has grown, it has almost gone out of business, and a lot of teams have folded or moved to new cities. But the AHL is the second longest professional hockey league in North America, and has and will continue to develop the next stars of hockey. If you like to learn more information about the history of AHL, decade by decade please Click here. ************************************************************** History of NHL | History of KHL | History of IIHF | History of SM liiga | History of Olympc Hockey | History of Czech Extraliga | History of Swedish Elite League | History of NCAA College Hockey **************************************************************
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