Despite winning the 1966 Memorial Cup, Edmonton Oil Kings' owner Bill Hunter was growing concerned about the state of junior hockey in Western Canada.

[2] CAHA informed the Oil Kings that they were required to play full-time in a junior hockey league for the 1966–67 season or would be ineligible to compete for the Memorial Cup.

This led Hunter to endorse the suggestion of Estevan Bruins owner Scotty Munro to create a new Western regional junior league.

[5] The CMJHL began legal action against the CAHA executive in March 1967, fighting to regain eligibility to enter the Memorial Cup tournament.

[8] With the agreement settled, CAHA finally sanctioned the WCHL, which allowed for the league champion Estevan Bruins to compete for the 1968 Memorial Cup.

[11] Concerns over the WCHL's relationship with CAHA and a desire to compete for the Memorial Cup led the Pats, Canucks, and Red Wings to withdraw before the 1968–69 season, and join a revived Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League instead.

[9] At the conclusion of the season, the CHA organized its own national championship, which pitted the WCHL-champion Flin Flon Bombers against the St. Thomas Barons from Ontario.

The initiative was undermined when the Barons withdrew from the best-of-seven series during the fourth game in protest of alleged violent play on the part of the Bombers.

The Bombers, who were awarded the title, proceeded to challenge the Memorial Cup champion-Montreal Junior Canadiens to a championship showdown, but the Montreal team declined.

The Flin Flon Bombers, led by future NHL stars Bobby Clarke and Reggie Leach, became the league's first powerhouse team, making three straight finals appearances and winning back-to-back championships in 1969 and 1970.

[14] In 1976, the Oil Kings, facing pressure from the professional Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association, relocated to Oregon to become the Portland Winter Hawks, marking the WCHL's first American club.

[15] With the addition of two more American teams in the Seattle Breakers and Billings Bighorns a year later, the WCHL shortened its name to the Western Hockey League.

The 1980s were marked by several brawls that involved police intervention, one of the most bizarre trades in hockey history, and the tragic deaths of four players in a bus crash.

Early in the 1980–81 WHL season, Medicine Hat Tigers manager and coach Pat Ginnell traded blows with a linesman during a bench clearing brawl against the Lethbridge Broncos.

In March 1982, a violent brawl between the Regina Pats and Calgary Wranglers saw the two teams collectively fined $2,250 and players suspended for 73 combined games.

LaForge was acquitted when the judge noted that it was hard to convict a man for assault when faced with "an obnoxious person trying to get into the coach's area.

On December 30, 1986, tragedy struck the Swift Current Broncos when their bus slid off an icy highway and rolled on the way to Regina for a game.

[20] In 1995, the Calgary Hitmen, founded by a group of investors including Bret "the Hitman" Hart, from whom the team got its name, were granted an expansion franchise.

[24] The league returned to a regular schedule for 2021–22, and the Oil Kings became the first team to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup since the Prince Albert Raiders in 2019.

[32] The league also operates a scholarship program that offers one full year of Canadian university tuition, textbooks, and compulsory fees for each season played in the WHL.

[33] Canadian universities and colleges thus recruit extensively from the WHL, affording graduating players the opportunity to continue playing hockey in U Sports competition as they attend post-secondary institutions.

[36][37] In November 2024, amid increasing pressure, the NCAA voted to open eligibility to CHL players as of the 2025–26 season, marking a significant departure from longstanding policy.