First Opening Night Anniversary Review 1936 | TheAHL.com

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First Opening Night Anniversary Review 1936 | TheAHL.com

Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer

How long ago was November 7, 1936?

Eighty-nine years ago today, what is now the American Hockey League began its inaugural season. Hockey was played on Saturday nights, a tradition that continues to this day.

But the history of the AHL goes far beyond numbers. Today’s 32-team circuit, with one-to-one ties to every NHL club and stretching from Quebec to California, starts much lower.

Life in 1936

President of the United States franklin roosevelt He had just won his second term in the White House four days before I-AHL play began. WL Mackenzie King He is about to begin his third term as Prime Minister of Canada.
A dozen eggs cost 37 cents. 10 pounds of potatoes for only 32 cents. A half-gallon of milk costs 24 cents. Of course, the wages of those who had jobs were nowhere near what they are today.
New York Yankees, led by rookie outfielder Joe DiMaggiowon the World Series. In November 1936, baseball’s St. Louis Browns were sold for $300,000.
American athletes Jesse Owens Won four gold medals in track and field competition at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
In 1936, approximately 10% of U.S. farms had electricity; a total of 57.3% of U.S. households had electricity.
king Edward VIII He ascended the throne in January and abdicated in December.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1936. That same year, CBC radio aired what is today known as Hockey Night in Canada.
Syracuse played its games at the New York State Fair Arena, which still exists today. Springfield’s 1936 home, Eastern State Stadium, also survives.

Back to the end of the 1935-36 hockey season. The Canadian-American Hockey League and the International Hockey League have spent much of the past decade trying to establish themselves as viable tours. Now is not an ideal time to try to build and grow alliances. The Great Depression raged and unemployment soared. Another world war is coming. Hockey still needs to establish itself as a sport.

Managing the logistics of the league has proven to be much more difficult. In 1936, the United States had no interstate highway system; intercity rail travel was the best option. Television as a marketing tool is long gone, let alone the Internet.

As a result, the Canadian-American League and the International League experienced considerable struggles. By 1936 it was clear that they had to change tactics. So on October 4 of that year, two teams merged: Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the IHL, and New Haven, Philadelphia, Providence and Springfield from the CAHL. They adopted the “Inter-American Hockey League” as their new nickname.

The business is growing rapidly. Five weeks later, the I-AHL is in trouble. The New Haven Eagles were away to challenge the 1936 Can-Am champion Philadelphia Ramblers. The Springfield Indians host the Providence Redskins. The Syracuse Stars take on the Buffalo Bisons and the Cleveland Falcons take on the Pittsburgh Hornets.

New Haven visits Philadelphia, while Providence travels to Springfield for East Division play. In the West Division, Syracuse plays Buffalo and Cleveland plays Pittsburgh. The next day, all eight clubs hit the road and completed their home series.

The new league is already up and running, but not without its difficulties. Just 11 games into the season, Buffalo had to bow out: The Bisons’ home court in Fort Erie, Ont., was severely damaged in a snowstorm last March, and the team, which played at a rink in Niagara Falls, was in financial trouble.

But the I-AHL continues. The addition of the legendary Hershey Bears in 1938 brought the number of teams back to eight and made it a flagship market. The league simplified its name to the American Hockey League in 1940 and continued to grow, entering cities such as Indianapolis, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati, and Rochester, New York. In 1965, a chain schedule was established with the old Western Hockey League, sending AHL teams to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. The league withstood challenges from the World Hockey Association in the 1970s and the International Hockey League in the 1990s, and fully moved to the West Coast in 2015, bringing the AHL to where it is today.

Society has changed. Styles have changed. Hockey and its rulebook have changed dramatically. But the AHL continues to move forward.

Tonight’s schedule features the Providence Bruins visiting the Cleveland Monsters, two cities with AHL history dating back to Day One. Syracuse and Springfield are also in action. As the season progresses, the AHL has many plans to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the season, celebrating a league that has always found ways to survive and thrive.

About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.