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solas · 05-07-2025, 05:52 PM

The SHL is currently in its 82nd season, and to mark season 83 will be adding four more teams to the majors, bringing the total to 40 across two leagues: 24 in the majors, and 16 in the juniors. This means that over the course of the league’s history, there has been a net gain of thirty teams from the six major and four junior teams that existed in the first SHL season back in 2010. There’s been a decent amount of change in the SHL. Only two of the six teams have kept the same name and location, while two more have stayed in the same location but changed names (it should be noted that Toronto only added a ‘North’ to its name in S4 and has stayed the same ever since), one has kept the same name but moved to a different location, and then there’s the Wisconsin Monarchs who have moved four times and changed names five times.

Somehow, though, the SMJHL has undergone more change than this. Despite having four teams, only one team is around with the same name or location as its S1 iteration, and one has dropped off the map entirely as a franchise. In fact, the league doesn’t even have the same name. Until Season 14, the league was referred to as the North West Junior Hockey League, or NWJHL. This was originally a regional reference to the original four teams’ locations in Western Canada, but this theme was dropped pretty quickly as the league expanded to Anaheim in season 2 and brought teams to Boston, Montreal, and Detroit shortly afterwards. For a while, some held on to the justification that the league was still located in the northwest corner of the world, but ultimately the name was changed to match its less regional nature. So what happened to its first four teams?

Prince George Firebirds: The Firebirds were the league’s first ever champions (albeit under some controversy), and for a while were one of the most notable franchises in the league as they won three Four Star Cups in the first ten seasons. They ended up falling off in the next decade, however, and were briefly relocated to Regina from Season 17 to 25 and wouldn’t end up winning another cup until S38, 30 seasons after their previous one. Three seasons after breaking the curse, however, the Firebirds moved to Anchorage to become the Armada, where they’ve remained ever since.

Brandon Blazers: Unlike the Firebirds, the Blazers, who were located in Brandon, Manitoba, were not nearly as successful in their original iteration. They relocated after only three seasons having never won a cup, becoming the beloved Montreal Impact for more than twenty seasons, then becoming the Militia for over twenty more in order to distinguish themselves from the MLS team of the same name. Today, the team that was once the Brandon Blazers is now known as the Carolina Kraken, and it seems hard to imagine the team ever changing again.

Lethbridge Lions: The Lions, in their original form, might be the most forgettable of the four, but at the same time have the strangest story. After an unsuccessful first four seasons, the Lions would move to Chicago to become the Cougars for just one season before moving a second time, becoming the Washington Patriots. The Patriots stuck around for three more seasons before gaining the dubious honor of becoming the first of two teams in SHL or SMJHL history to ever be contracted. Surprisingly, the Lions would make their way back into the league almost forty seasons later. In S45, the SMJHL brought back Lethbridge as an expansion team along with the original name of the second team to get contracted, the Anaheim Outlaws. These returns were ultimately short lived, however - Lethbridge quickly relocated to Newfoundland in S51, and Anaheim became the Yukon Malamutes in S64.

Vancouver Whalers: Finally, we get the one constant that has stuck around in the juniors. The Whalers were among the most active teams in the early seasons, and appear to have maintained not only their identity but also their status around the league. They’ve won the most cups of any SMJHL team at thirteen (just one more than the S2 expansion Kelowna Knights at twelve), a notable feat considering they didn’t win a single Four Star Cup for the first ten seasons of their existence. If the other three teams are representative of just how much the league has changed, Vancouver is a sign of the consistent spirit that has maintained it throughout those changes.

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***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 05-07-2025, 06:01 PM

Fan fucking tastic my dude

*Ara* · 05-07-2025, 09:04 PM

Approved for +5 TPE @solas

Making it eligible for the double spheal:

Double Spheal

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