Western Canada Hockey League The Western Canada Hockey League ( WCHL ) , founded in 1921 , was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada . It was renamed the Western Hockey League ( WHL ) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926 . History . In 1921 the four founding teams of the WCHL were the Edmonton Eskimos , Calgary Tigers , Regina Capitals , and Saskatoon Sheiks . Edmonton and Calgary were previously members of the Alberta Big Four League . The Edmonton Dominions were supooosed to be in the league . but withdrew before the season . They were involved in some player dispute . Also the other teams did not want the problems of a div - team ( versus a four team ) schedule . Only months into the first season , the Saskatoon Sheiks were having money problems and relocated to Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , to become the Moose Jaw Sheiks . The WCHL ' s first season 1921 - 22 saw the Edmonton Eskimos win the regular season , but they were upset in the playoffs by the second place Regina Capitals . The Capitals then faced the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA to determine who would go on to face the Toronto St . Patricks of the NHL for the Stanley Cup . Vancouver won the series against Regina , but lost to Toronto in the Stanley Cup finals . In 1922 - 23 , both western leagues dropped the Rover position . The Moose Jaw Sheiks team folded , but the WCHL returned to Saskatoon with a new franchise , the Saskatoon Crescents , led by Newsy Lalonde . The WCHL and PCHA started playing inter - league games , but kept separate standings . The Edmonton Eskimos won the regular season and the league final , but lost to the PCHA ' s Vancouver Maroons in the Stanley Cup playoffs . In the 1923 - 24 WCHL season , the Calgary Tigers finished in first place and then beat the second place Regina Capitals in the league final . . The Stanley Cup playoffs were changed this year , despite a protest from the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League . Instead of the two western leagues playing off to see who would play the NHL champion for the Stanley Cup , the president of the PCHA , Frank Patrick , insisted that the NHL champion had to play the PCHA winner first . It ended up not making any difference for Montreal , though , as the team swept Vancouver and then Calgary for the Stanley Cup . For the 1924 - 25 WCHL season , the PCHA folded and two of its teams , the Vancouver Maroons and Victoria Cougars joined the WCHL , giving the league six teams . The Saskatoon franchise became the Saskatoon Sheiks . The league had some top - level talent on its rosters , with stars such as Bun Cook and Bill Cook and a rookie Eddie Shore . The Victoria Cougars , coached and managed by Lester Patrick , finished in third place and won the league semi final and final . They then went on to face the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup . Victoria easily beat the Canadiens three games to one , out scoring them 16 to 8 . Victoria became the first non - NHL team to win the Stanley Cup since the formation of the NHL in 1917 . Since then , no non - NHL team has won the Cup . With the NHL rapidly expanding into the United States , salaries were on the rise and the WCHL was finding it difficult to keep its star players . The Regina Capitals relocated to Portland , Oregon , and rekindled the old name of Portland Rosebuds , which had been out of use since 1918 . With the move into the U . S . came a name change for the WCHL . " Canada " was dropped and the league was renamed the Western Hockey League . The Edmonton Eskimos won the regular season for the third time in five seasons , but it was the third place Victoria Cougars who won the league playoffs and moved on to play for the Stanley Cup . Expectations were high for the defending Stanley Cup champions , but Montreal ' s other NHL team , the Montreal Maroons , were too strong for Victoria handily beating them three games to one and out scoring them 10 to 3 . With financial problems too great to overcome , the league folded following the 1925 - 26 season , leaving the NHL as the only top - level professional league in North America . The NHL board of governors purchased the contracts of every player in the WHL for $ 258 , 000 . However , separate deals were made in stocking two NHL expansion teams . The rights to the Victoria Cougars ' players were bought by the Detroit franchise causing the team to be named the Detroit Cougars in their honor , and the Portland Rosebuds ' players ' rights were purchased by Frederic McLaughlin for his new Chicago Blackhawks team . The remnants of five former WHL teams formed the minor - professional Prairie Hockey League in 1926 . While minor - pro , senior , and junior league hockey thrived in the west for many years thereafter , top - level professional hockey did not return to western Canada until 1970 , when the Vancouver Canucks joined the National Hockey League .