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© Jeff Obermeyer 2024
Seattle has a long history of strong amateur hockey leagues, starting right after the opening of the Civic Arena in the fall of 1928. Various leagues and teams played on the Arena ice - college fraternities, adults, and junior leaguers, called the building home for decades.
Perhaps the most successful amateur circuit in Seattle was the City Hockey League. Officially founded in 1932 (previous incarnations went by other names, including the Puget Sound Hockey League), the City League provided high level amateur hockey to fans for a decade, eventually giving way to the Pacific Coast Hockey League in the fall of 1944. Two of the most important figures in Seattle hockey laced up for the City League - PCHL and WHL President Al Leader, and Vince Abbey, a part-owner of the Totems from 1958-75 and the man who made the first serious attempt to bring the NHL to Seattle.
While the City League did get some mention in the press, statistical information is almost impossible to come by and often different sources report conflicting data. The best I can provide is a list of the league champions over the years as originally published in the Official Rules and Records of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States 1945-46.
1932-33 Hullin Transfer
1933-34 Hullin Transfer
1934-35 Queen Anne-Ballard
1935-36 Ballard
1936-37 Era’s Grocery
1937-38 Shurfine Groceries
1938-39 Shurefine Groceries/Fishers Flour (tied)
1939-40 Langendorf Bakery
1940-41 Green Lake
1941-42 Shurfine Groceries
1942-43 Lake Washington Shipyards
(Defense Industrial League)
Members of the 1931-32 Hullin Transfer squad
City League Legend
Jim Forsythe
Courtesy Dave Eskenazi