The American Hockey League is just the latest professional sports league to cancel the remainder of its regular season and playoffs. The AHL Board of Governors reportedly met on Friday and decided to end its season because of coronavirus according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN. The announcement of the cancelation decision was made on Monday.
The AHL is the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League. The NHL has not yet made a decision whether to finish its regular season and playoffs or not. Only twice since the NHL was created in 1917, that the Stanley Cup has not been awarded. The first time was 1919 because of the Spanish Flu and the second time was in 2005 because of the lockout (no games played in 2004-05 due to a conflict between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association).
While the Stanley Cup has not been awarded twice in the last 101 years, this will be the first time ever since the Calder Cup was first awarded in 1937, that there will be no American Hockey League champion.
Like the NHL, the AHL stopped its play on March 12, with teams having played between 55 and 63 games. Normally, teams in the Atlantic, North, and Central Divisions play 76 games, and teams in the Pacific Division play 68 games.
At the time of the coronavirus pause, the Milwaukee Admirals led the AHL with 90 points. The Central Division leaders and, top affiliate of the Nashville Predators had a record of 41 wins, 14 regulation losses, and eight losses in extra time.
Also at the time of the pause, Iowa Wild forward Sam Anas of Potomac, MD was the AHL scoring leader. Anas not only led the AHL in points (70) this season, but assists as well (50). The defending Calder Cup champions are the Charlotte Checkers. The top affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Wolves four games to one a year ago in the AHL championship final.
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