History Of The Nhl And Nha

By Author: Kim Patti
Total Articles: 4
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Hockey, and particularly the NHL and NHA are both rich in history. For any hockey forum or pub debate it's useful to know the facts surrounding your favourite sport and so here we shall discuss how the organisations came to be and where they are today.

NHL, or National Hockey League, is a not-for-profit organisation which operates the major ice hockey league of the same name. It is largely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league and one of the largest sports leagues in the USA and Canada. The league was first organised in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and Canada after its predecessor, the National Hockey Association (NHA), permanently ceased operations.

The NHA was founded by Ambrose O'Brien in 1909 with teams in Ontario, Quebec and Canada and was the first major hockey league of its kind which introduced six-man hockey removing one of the positions (rover) in 1911. Ambrose was an industrialist and sports team owner. He himself had played hockey as a youth and was the owner of the Renfrew Millionaires and founding owner of the Montreal Canadians. At the time the NHA had to compete for players and ...
... attention with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and also had difficulties with players being drafted into the First World War. The organisation was also rife with ownership disputes and lawsuits and in 1917 was suspended in order to remove the unwanted owner Eddie Livingstone. Livingstone owned the Toronto Shamrocks and then later the Toronto Blueshirts, two teams who played in the NHA. The other members of the NHA thus decided to give Livingstone a deadline to sell one of the teams, and when on November 20, 1915 he still had not they then seized the franchise to keep it dormant for the season causing further arguments and disputes with Livingstone. The remaining NHA team owners then started the NHL in parallel to the NHA in order to allow players to continue while they continued negotiations with Livingstone. Over a year later no progress had been made and more lawsuits were pending and this was also at a time when Canada were increasing their contribution to World War 1 and had sent out many pro and amateur hockey players. As such the NHA was permanently suspended while the NHL became the major organisation.

Due to the difficulties with teams and drafting, the NHL begin with just four teams. Through a series of expansions, contractions and relocations however the league now has over 30 active franchises. This includes players from 20 different counties, though with a majority of players coming from Canada. Players compete for the Stanley Cup which is awarded annually and also known as 'The Holy Grail'.

In 2004 however more complications ensued when the 2004-05 'lockout' resulted in the cancellation of what should have been the NHL's 88th season. This was the first time the cup was not awarded since 1919. This was also the first time that a major professional sports league in North America was caused to cancel a complete season due to a labour dispute. This lockout lasted 310 days while the NHL Players Association and the NHL negotiating terms following the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The new terms have introduced a price cap on players' salaries among other changes. Changes have also had to take into account the availability of new mediums of entertainment such as the ability to watch NHL live online.

Today the NHL is as popular as ever and name known around the world. The internet is full of places to watch NHL live online and there is many a hockey forum and blog about hockey to be found. Computer games, clothing and merchandise all based on hockey have furthermore become a popular industry.

You can watch nhl live online on author's site, he also maintains a popular blog about hockey