International Professional Hockey League
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2013) |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| First season | 1904 |
| Ceased | 1907 |
| Country |  Canada,  US |
| Last champion(s) | Houghton-Portage Lakes |
| Most titles | Houghton-Portage Lakes(2) |
The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully
In the time period around 1900, leagues in Canada fought against the professionalization of athletics. John Ross Robertson was quoted in the newspapers of the day as saying "for self preservation, the stand of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) against the professionalism of Pittsburgh, Houghton, Calumet and the Soo must be uncompromisingly antagonistic ... Any player who figures on any of these teams must be banished from Ontario Hockey."[1]
Leagues in Canada had been accused of paying individual players for several years and, in fact, Doc Gibson played on a team expelled from the Ontario Hockey Association in 1898 for paying some of its players. However, it was not until the Portage Lakes Hockey Club and the formation of the IPHL in 1904 that any hockey league achieved full-fledged professional status.
League history
In the early 20th century, the mining industry was making huge investments in Northern Michigan. In the fall of 1903, James R. Dee of Houghton started discussions with Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) representatives in Pittsburgh regarding the establishment of a national hockey association. Houghton's team had played against Pittsburgh's for a de facto United States national championship in ice hockey.
In 1903–04, the professional Houghton team, without a league of its own, played exhibition games against teams from
A meeting was held on November 5, 1904 which included prominent business leaders from Pittsburgh, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Northern Michigan.
The Houghton Portage Lakes team played at what was a new facility at the time called the Amphidrome on Portage Lake. The Calumet-Laurium Miners, a nearby rival of the Houghton team, played at the new Palestra arena in Laurium. By contrast, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan made the Ridge Street Ice-A-Torium, the local curling club, its home rink. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario team, or Canadian Soo as it was called, also played at its local curling rink.
The IPHL attracted some of the best players from established Canadian amateur leagues. Every player received a minimum salary of at least $15 to $40 a week, with many also getting lucrative jobs in the community. Ottawa's Hod Stuart, was paid $1,800 by the Calumet Miners to play for the team and manage their rink for the 1904–05 season. Frederick "Cyclone" Taylor was enticed into the league with a salary offer of $400 plus expenses.[3] Taylor would later hail the league as helping him developing into a better hockey player:
"[the] league was a wonderful testing and training ground, and I was a far better player for my experience there. It was good, scientific hockey, but robust enough to teach a young player how to take care of himself. . . . After that league, I knew I could handle anybody, anywhere. It was a marvellous maturing process."[4]
With the hockey season only lasting a couple of months a year because teams played on natural ice, most of the players went home to their families and regular jobs in Canada at the end of each season. In many cases, this meant that IPHL managers would have to organize completely new teams each season.
The Calumet Miners won the first league championship in 1905. In 1906 and 1907, the title went to Houghton-Portage Lakes.
After the 1906–07 season, Canada finally established individual professional teams and, soon after, leagues were formed drawing back many players to play for their home crowds. In addition, it was apparent that, while the league was talking about expanding to larger centres such as Toronto, Cleveland and Duluth, there were problems among the existing clubs. The Pittsburgh franchise was seeking a league closer to home to play in and the champion Houghton-Portage Lakes club wasn't interested in another season.
The other teams were still making plans for another season in 1907–08. Canadian Soo re-signed Ambrose Degray,
Gallery
Some of the high profile players who played in the IPHL:
-
Jack Gibson with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club -
Jack Laviolette with the Michigan Soo Indians -
Cyclone Taylor with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club -
Hod Stuart with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club -
William "Lady" Taylor with the Canadian Soo
Teams
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| Season | Teams | Champion |
|---|---|---|
| 1904–05 | Pittsburgh Pro HC |
Calumet-Laurium Miners |
| 1905–06 | Calumet Miners, Canadian Soo, Houghton-Portage Lakes, Michigan Soo Indians, Pittsburgh Pro HC | Houghton-Portage Lakes |
| 1906–07 | Calumet Miners, Canadian Soo, Houghton-Portage Lakes, Michigan Soo Indians, Pittsburgh Pro HC | Houghton-Portage Lakes |
Prominent players
The following players are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame:
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See also
References
- ^ Total Hockey.[full citation needed]
- ^ Mason, Daniel S. (Spring 1998), "The International Hockey League and the Professionalization of Ice Hockey, 1904–1907", Journal of Sport History, 25 (1): 5
- ^ Whitehead 1977, pp. 39–40
- ^ Whitehead 1977, pp. 52
Bibliography
- Whitehead, Eric (1977), Cyclone Taylor: A Hockey Legend, Toronto: Doubleday Canada, ISBN 0-385-13063-5