1925–26 WHL season

The 1925–26 WHL season was the fifth and last season for the now defunct Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), which was renamed Western Hockey League (WHL) at the start of the season due to one of its Canadian teams, the Regina Capitals, moving to Portland, Oregon in the United States and being renamed the Portland Rosebuds. Six teams played 30 games each. At season's end, some of the teams reorganised to create a semi-pro league called the Prairie Hockey League that lasted for two seasons. The WHL was the last league other than the National Hockey League to contest for the Stanley Cup.
==Off-season==
Regina's team folded, and a Portland club was formed and the Regina players transferred to it. There was discussions of moving the Edmonton team to Regina but it stayed in Edmonton. The new New York Americans bought Joe Simpson, John Morrison and Roy Rickey from Edmonton, but Edmonton would have enough talent left to win the WHL title.
==Regular season==
===Final standings===
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Western Hockey League	GP	W 	L 	T	Pts	GF	GA
Edmonton Eskimos 	30	19	11	0	38 	90	77
Saskatoon Sheiks 	30	18	11	1	37 	93	64
Victoria Cougars 	30	15	11	4	34 	68	53
Portland Rosebuds 	30	12	16	2	26 	84	106
Calgary Tigers 	30	10	17	3	23 	71	80
Vancouver Maroons 	30	10	18	2	22 	64	90
==Playoffs==
As in the previous season, the third place Victoria Cougars won the playoff championship. In the semi-final, the Cougars met the Saskatoon Sheiks.
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 12	Victoria 	3 	Saskatoon	3 	
March 16	Saskatoon	0 	Victoria 	1 	8'10" overtime
Victoria wins two-game, total-goals series 4–3.
In the final, the Cougars faced off against the Edmonton Eskimos. As there was no ice available in Edmonton, Edmonton's 'home' game was played in Vancouver.
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 20	Edmonton	1 	Victoria	3 	
March 22	Victoria	2 	Edmonton	2 	
Victoria wins two-game, total-goals series 5–3.
===Stanley Cup Final===
The Cougars faced the National Hockey League champion Montreal Maroons in a best-of-five series, losing three games to one. After the WHL folded at the end of this season, the Stanley Cup would no longer be contested as a challenge tournament between league champions, but would be automatically awarded to the NHL champion, a custom formalized in 1947.
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
March 30	Victoria Cougars	0 	Montreal Maroons	3 	
April 1 	Victoria Cougars	0 	Montreal Maroons	3 	
April 3 	Victoria Cougars	3 	Montreal Maroons	2 	
April 6 	Victoria Cougars	0 	Montreal Maroons	2 	
==Player statistics==
===Scoring leaders===
Player 	Team 	 	 	 	 	
Art Gagné 	Edmonton Eskimos 	24	35	10	45	24
Bill Cook 	Saskatoon Sheiks 	30	31	13	44	26
Dick Irvin 	Portland Rosebuds	30	31	5 	36	29
Corb Denneny 	Saskatoon Sheiks 	30	18	16	34	12
George Hay 	Portland Rosebuds	30	19	12	31	4
Duke Keats 	Edmonton Eskimos 	30	20	9 	29	134
Barry Oliver 	Calgary Tigers 	30	13	12	25	14
Frank Fredrickson	Victoria Cougars 	30	18	8 	24	89
Frank Boucher 	Vancouver Maroons	29	15	7 	22	14
Barney Stanley 	Edmonton Eskimos 	29	14	8 	22	47
===Goaltending averages===
Name 	Club 	GP	GA 	SO	Avg.
Hap Holmes 	Victoria 	30	53 	4 	1.8
George Hainsworth	Saskatoon	30	64 	4 	2.1
Herbert Stuart 	Edmonton 	30	77 	2 	2.6
Hal Winkler 	Calgary 	30	80 	6 	2.7
Hugh Lehman 	Vancouver	30	90 	3 	3.0
Red McCusker 	Regina 	30	110	 	3.7
==Team Photos==
25-26CalgTig.jpg|Calgary Tigers
25-26EdmEsk.jpg|Edmonton Eskimos
25-26PorRos.jpg|Portland Rosebuds
25-26SasShe.jpg|Saskatoon Sheiks
25-26VicCou.jpg|Victoria Cougars
==Game Ads==
25-26OttawaExh.jpg|Pre-season @ Ottawa
25-26WHLReginaGameAdDec21.jpg|A lack of ice in Calgary forced the Tigers to open in Regina. Over 2000 attended the game. Unfortunately for Regina fans, the Christmas game was played in Calgary when the temperature dropped and the ice in the arena was suitable.
25-26WCHLCalgaryGameAd.jpg|Calgary
25-26WCHLEdmontonGameAd.jpg|Edmonton
25-26WHLSaskatoonGameAd.jpg|Saskatoon
25-26WHLVancouverGameAd.jpg|Vancouver
25-26WHLVictoriaGameAd.jpg|Victoria
25-26WHLSFVictoriaGameAd.jpg|Semi Final @ Victoria
25-26WHLFVictoriaGameAd.jpg|Final @ Victoria
==References==
==External links==
*HockeyDB
Category:Western Canada Hockey League seasons
Category:1925 in ice hockey
Category:1926 in ice hockey