The Western International Hockey League was a senior level ice hockey league that featured teams from the Western United States and Western Canada. It operated from 1946–62 and 1963–88. It grew out of the West Kootenay League, which operated in southeast British Columbia from the 1920s.
The league had teams in the British Columbian cities of Trail, Nelson, Kimberley, Rossland, Fernie, and Cranbrook; in Spokane, Washington; Calgary, Alberta; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles. The league did not operate in 1962–63 while the Trail Smoke Eaters competed for the world amateur championship overseas.
At various times in the 1950s and 1960s the league had an interlocking schedule with the Okanagan Senior League and the Alberta Senior Hockey League. It also played matches against the Pacific Hockey League in 1978–79.
The champions of the WIHL received the Shore-Montgomery Trophy, donated by movie stars Dinah Shore and George Montgomery in 1946. It is now on display in the Trail Sports Hall of Memories.
Read more about Western International Hockey League: Teams, Regular Season Champions, See Also
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