The West Coast Senior Hockey League (WCSHL) is a senior ice hockey league based in Newfoundland and Labrador. The WCSHL was founded in 1996 as a senior B intermediate league and developed into a senior A league.
Merger[]
On September 10, 2011, the league merged with the Avalon East Senior Hockey League to form the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League.
2016-17 The Early Restart[]
The league has been reported to be returning to play for the 2017-18 season with four teams including the Port-aux-Basques Mariners, Stephenville Jets, Deer Lake Red Wings, and the Corner Brook Royals. This incarnation of the league has been reported to be stictly an amateur league with no imported players. The league pushed up its start and played an abbreviated 12 games schedule with each team playing six games and their being a single game championship.
2017-18 Full Relaunch[]
The league champion did not participate in the 2017 Herder Memorial Trophy tournament as the league was organized well after the format for the tournament was finalized. The league will not try to compete for the Herder Memorial Trophy in 2018 either as the league is just getting organized and trying to cut down on expenses and all of the teams are relatively short rides from one another (three hours or less drive time in ideal weather). The league was not even on the table for the Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador annual meeting agenda discussion on the Herder Tournament for 2018.
2018-19[]
With the state of Senior hockey in the province in general being in peril, a new set up has been made for the senior teams in the province. The three leagues would have limited interlocking play during the regular season with some of the West Coast teams playing games against some of teams from the Central/West Senior Hockey League to help each team fill out more dates on their schedules. The current plan is for the league to participate in the 2019 Herder Memorial Trophy tournament, though the exact format has not been worked out as of mid-September 2018. The league is returning all four of its members from the 2017-18 season. The Deer Lake Red Wings would sit out the 2018-19 season and return for the 2019-20 season. The Stephenville Jets would sit out the 2019-20 season again leaving the league with three teams.
2019-20 to 2022-23[]
The league would end up losing its' 2000 playoffs, the 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league would reform for 2022-23 with three teams playing.
2023-24 (and the likely demise of the league)[]
On September 19, 2023 the Deer Lake Red Wings announced that they were leaving the Newfoundland West Coast Senior Hockey League in an attempt to reform the Central/West Senior Hockey League along with the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts. The Corner Brook Royals and the Port-aux-Basques Mariners are attempting to salvage a season as it appears unlikely that Port-aux-Basques would be welcome in a league with Grand Falls-Windsor involved due to the travel distance concerns between Grand Falls-Windsor and Port-aux-Basques, which is 5 1/2 hours under ideal circumstances as opposed to most other locations being 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.[1] The following day the Red Wings announced that the new league would also include the Stephenville Lightning, who had attempted to join the Newfoundland West Coast Senior Hockey League for 2023-24 but were rejected twice, and plans to add a fourth team for the season and that the WCSHL did not want to expand for the 2023-24 season and that was a major reason for Deer Lake's withdrawal.[2]
The Corner Brook Royals players coaching staff, and supporting bench staff issued a media release later on September 20th stating that the team had been invited to join the CWSHL but the higher executives didn't seem interested in committing to the newly reformed league. A meeting had been scheduled for the 19th with the president, general manager, coaching staff, bench staff, and players. The release further stated that the president did not show up for the meeting. The release further stated that the players, GM, coaching staff, and bench staff had lost all confidence in the executive of the team and stated that all of them would like to join the proposed CWSHL and that this would be best for the longevity of senior hockey on the island's west coast..[3]
Teams[]
Team | Town | Arena |
---|---|---|
Corner Brook Royals | Corner Brook, NL | Pepsi Centre |
Port-aux-Basques Mariners | Port-aux-Basques, NL | Bruce II Sports Centre |
Deer Lake Red Wings | Deer Lake, NL | Hodder Memorial Centre |
Seasons and Playoff champions[]
The league playoff champion is awarded the Cliff Gorman Memorial Cup.
Original League[]
- 2000-01 WCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2001-02 WCSHL Season - Corner Brook Royals
- 2002-03 WCSHL Season - Corner Brook Royals
- 2003-04 WCSHL Season - Corner Brook Royals
- 2004-05 WCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2005-06 WCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2006-07 WCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2007-08 WCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2008-09 WCSHL Season - Clarenville Caribous
- 2009-10 WCSHL Season - Clarenville Caribous
- 2010-11 WCSHL Season - Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
Second League[]
- 2016-17 NWCSHL Season - Corner Brook Royals
- 2017-18 NWCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2018-19 NWCSHL Season - Corner Brook Royals
- 2019-20 NWCSHL season - playoffs cancelled prior to final
- 2020-21 NWCSHL season - season cancelled
- 2021-22 NWCSHL Season - season cancelled
- 2022-23 NWCSHL Season - Deer Lake Red Wings
- 2023-24 NWCSHL season - Season likely cancelled
External links[]