History of the NHL

The NHL’s first season was 1917-18. There were only five teams: Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas, Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadians, and Montreal Wanderers. In the early years of the NHL the champion would play the champion of another league for The Stanley Cup. Starting in 1926 however only the NHL competed for the highly coveted cup.

The first year of the NHL was brutal. Only 700 people came to see the opening game despite the fact that soldiers were admited for free. The Bulldogs lost too many players to the army and couldn’t finish the season. On Jan. 2, 1918 a fire destroyed the Montreal arena and almost brought the end of the NHL. The owner of the Wanderers used this as an excuse to get his team out of the NHL, so the first season was played with three teams.

The early setup was one with 2 sections. The winner of each section would play of for NHL champion. However, the Arenas quit late in the season so the Senators and the Canadians played off in a 7 game series won by the Canadians.

After the World War I, intrest in hockey grew and the Bulldogs rejoined in 1919. However in 1920-21 they again incounterred finacial problems and were forced to move to Hamilton and renamed the tigers.

By 1924 with the added Montreal Maroons and Boston Bruins the NHL was up to 6 teams.
After the depresing 20's the NHL adopted set rules and more teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Detroit Red Wings.

The NHL flourished and now has 30 teams and many different Stanley Cup winners. Unfortunately, the players for some reason decided they didn’t get enough money (although the average salery is over $1 million) and now there is a stupid lock-out. Can you believe that! Now how will hockey fans like me watch hockey. I just hope they’re going to play again next season and the NHL doesn’t die out after all the years it has survived.