Canadian Hockey Association (1909-1910)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the Evolution of the NHL series.

Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (1893-1898)
Canadian Amateur Hockey League (1898-1905)
Federal Amateur Hockey League (1903-1906)
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (1905-1909)
Canadian Hockey Association (1909-1910)
National Hockey Association (1909-1917)
Pacific Coast Hockey Association (1911-1924)
National Hockey League (1917-present)
Western Canada Hockey League (1921-1926)
World Hockey Association (1972-1979)

The Canadian Hockey Association was founded in 1909 as the top professional hockey league in Canada.

The CHA was formed by three teams from the Eastern Canada Hockey Association: Ottawa, Quebec, and the Montreal Shamrocks. They wanted to form a new league after the Montreal Wanderers of the ECHA were sold to new owners that wanted to move the club to a smaller arena. The CHA rejected applications from Wanderers and other teams that then formed their own league, the National Hockey Association. New teams in the league were All-Montreal, organized by former Wanderers captain Art Ross, and the Francophone Montreal Nationals.

The backers of the NHA included some very successful businessmen who had much deeper pockets than the CHA owners. The CHA folded on January 15, 1910, after only a handful of games were played. Ottawa and the Shamrocks were immediately absorbed into the NHA, while Quebec joined the league for the 1910-11 season.