As the North Central Hockey League's 30th Anniversary season approaches, the league will welcome two storied Alberta franchises to it's membership later this fall. Both the Stony Plain Eagles and the Innisfail Eagles will compete in the NCHL for the first time since both teams were voted into the league back in May. Both of these teams were the last teams remaining in the Senior AAA Chinook Hockey League for the last few seasons as efforts to attract new communities proved futile. While both teams say they still have interest in the Allan Cup, it's become increasingly difficult to compete at that level with no local competition. The reality was that the Chinook Hockey League could not continue with 2 teams and both of these teams wanted to keep playing, so the obvious choice was to drop down to Senior AA and apply to the NCHL. As it stands today, there is no roadmap for Alberta Senior AA teams to qualify for the Allan Cup Challenge.
According to their website, Stony Plain's hockey team was started in the early 1930's and played in a number of leagues until they joined the Chinook Hockey league and moved up to Senior AAA in 1992. It was during this time that Stony Plain became a Senior AAA powerhouse, winning 13 Alberta Provincial AAA titles (12 in a row), 8 Chinook League championships, playing in 11 Allan Cups tournaments, advancing to the Allan Cup finals 6 times, and ultimately winning the Allan Cup in 1999.
Innisfail's history started in 1947 when the team was formed. They also played in a few different leagues until joining the Chinook Hockey League in 1955. The Eagles moved up to Senior AAA in 2001. They have captured 11 Chinook Hockey League championships and 2 Alberta Provincial AAA titles and played in the last 2 Allan Cup Challenges. Innisfail lost out to the Lacombe AAA Generals in the finals of the last Allan Cup to be played in Alberta back in 2019 in Lacombe.
There have been a number of teams that have left the Chinook Hockey League to join with the NCHL over the years. The Drayton Valley Wildcats were the first team to move back in 1997. They won 2 NCHL championships in their first 2 years before moving back to the Chinook until they returned in 2004, winning 2 more Vanberg Cups in 2011 and 2012. Westlock Wolfpack left the Chinook for a couple of years starting in 1998 and the Rocky Rams left in 2010. The most recent Chinook defection came in 2019 when the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs relocated to the NCHL. Stony Plain and Devon Barons have played a few exhibition games over the last couple of years and the games were all close.
The addition of these teams bring to 3 the teams to have been in existence for over 70 years as they join Bonnyville Pontiacs as long time Alberta franchises in the NCHL.
Welcome to the NCHL Stony Plain and Innisfail!
LACOMBE
BONNYVILLE
CAMROSE
STONY PLAIN
INNISFAIL
WESTLOCK
WETASKIWIN
MORINVILLE
DEVON
