American Hockey League
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Current season | AHL 2019/20 |
sport | ice Hockey |
abbreviation | AHL |
League foundation | 1936 |
Teams | 31 |
Country countries |
Canada United States |
Title holder | Charlotte Checkers |
Record champions | Hershey Bears (11) |
Website | theahl.com |
^ National Hockey League ↓ ECHL
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The American Hockey League ( AHL ) was founded in 1936 and is one of the oldest professional ice hockey leagues in North America. It is the second highest North American league after the NHL . In the course of the merger with the International Hockey League in 2001, it was affiliated with the National Hockey League . It belongs to the so-called minor leagues and has an AAA classification, which corresponds to the highest possible standard. There are 31 ice hockey franchises in the league, most of them from eastern Canada and the USA and all of them cooperate with an NHL franchise . Mostly, players who will probably not be used for a long time due to the squad restrictions or young talents who were signed in the NHL Entry Draft are sent to the respective AHL club for a certain period of time in order to get match practice. For this reason, the AHL teams are also known as farm teams (in the figurative sense: talent factory).
Due to the complete failure of the 2004/05 NHL season , the AHL benefited from the many NHL stars who played for the respective AHL club all season, as well as from increased public interest and television presence.
It is played in the Eastern and Western Conference, each conference has been divided into two divisions since the restructuring for the 2015/16 season.
Franchises for the 2019/20 season
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
North Division
Western Conference
Central Division
Pacific Division
No longer existing AHL teams
Awards and trophies
Team trophies | |||||
Surname | Reason for award | Namesake | Award | Record winner comments |
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Calder Cup |
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Frank Calder | since 1936 |
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Richard F. Canning Trophy |
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Richard Canning | since 1990 |
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Robert W. Clarke Trophy |
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Robert W. Clarke | since 1990 |
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Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy |
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Macgregor Kilpatrick | since 1998 |
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Frank S. Mathers Trophy |
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Frank Mathers | since 1995 |
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Norman R. "Bud" Poile Trophy |
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Bud poile | since 2001 |
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Emile Francis Trophy |
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Emile Francis | since 2001 |
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FG "Teddy" Oke Trophy |
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Teddy Oke | since 1936 |
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Sam Pollock Trophy |
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Sam Pollock | since 1995 |
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John D. Chick Trophy |
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John D. Chick | since 1961 |
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Player and coach trophies | |||||
Surname | Reason for award | Namesake | Award | Record winner comments |
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Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award |
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Aldege Bastien | since 1984 |
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Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award |
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Dudley Garrett | since 1948 |
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Eddie Shore Award |
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Eddie Shore | since 1959 |
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Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award |
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Fred T. Hunt | since 1978 |
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Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award |
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Hap Holmes | since 1948 |
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Jack A. Butterfield Trophy |
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Jack Butterfield | since 1984 |
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John B. Sollenberger Trophy |
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John B. Sollenberger | since 1948 |
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Les Cunningham Award |
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Les Cunningham | since 1948 |
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Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award |
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Louis AR Pieri | since 1968 |
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Willie Marshall Award |
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Willie Marshall | since 2004 |
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Yanick Dupré Memorial Award |
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Yanick Dupré | since 1998 |
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Other trophies | |||||
Surname | Reason for award | Namesake | Award | Record winner comments |
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James C. Hendy Memorial Award |
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Jim Hendy | since 1961 |
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James H. Ellery Memorial Awards |
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James Ellery | since 1964 |
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Ken McKenzie Award |
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Ken McKenzie | since 1978 |
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Michael Condon Memorial Award |
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Michael Condon | since 2001 |
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Thomas Ebright Award |
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Thomas Ebright | since 1997 |
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AHL All-Star Game
- Main article: AHL All-Star Classic
The first All-Star Game of the American Hockey League took place in the 1941/42 season. Initially a one-time event, the game was held annually from 1954 to 1960. It then took a little more than 35 years until the 1994/95 season - and since then regularly in the middle of the current season - an AHL All-Star Game was played. The mode has changed several times over the years. Sometimes AHL teams played against an All-Star team, sometimes the conferences against each other and sometimes Canadians against Americans. Since the 1996/97 season, a world selection (including US-Americans) has been competing against a selection of the best Canadians. Since it was held in the 1995/96 season, a skills competition has been held , similar to the NHL All-Star Game .
Hall of Fame
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In January 2006, the league leadership announced the first personalities to be ceremonially inducted into the new AHL Hall of Fame on February 1, 2006: Johnny Bower , Jack Butterfield , Jody Gage , Fred Glover , Willie Marshall , Frank Mathers and Eddie Shore .
The AHL Hall of Fame now has a total of 62 members who have made an outstanding contribution to ice hockey in the league. The ceremonial admission of the new members takes place at the beginning of each year as part of the AHL All-Star Classic .
AHL logos
Web links
- The American Hockey League Official Website (English)
- Historical Statistics (English)
- AHL Hall of Fame (English)