International Professional Hockey League
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| Inaugural season | 1904 |
| Ceased | 1907 |
| Country |
 Canada,  United States
|
| Last champion(s) |
Houghton-Portage Lakes |
| Most titles | Houghton-Portage Lakes(2) |
The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully professional Ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack 'Doc' Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghton, Michigan. The IPHL was a five team circuit which included Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Calumet, Michigan and Houghton. The IPHL was instrumental in changing the nature of top-level senior men's ice hockey from amateur to professional.
In the time period around 1900, leagues in Canada fought against the professionalization of athletics. John Ross Robertson was quoted in the newspapers of the day as saying "for self preservation, the stand of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) against the professionalism of Pittsburgh, Houghton, Calumet and the Soo must be uncompromisingly antagonistic ... Any player who figures on any of these teams must be banished from Ontario Hockey."
Leagues in Canada had been accused of paying individual players for several years and, in fact, Gibson played on a team expelled from the Ontario Hockey Association in 1898 for paying some of its players. However, it wasn't until the Portage Lakes Hockey Club and the formation of the IPHL in 1904 that any hockey league achieved full-fledged professional status.
In the early 20th century, the mining industry was making huge investments in Northern Michigan. In the fall of 1903, James R. Dee of Houghton started discussions with Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) representatives in Pittsburgh regarding the establishment of a national hockey association. Houghton's team had played against Pittsburgh's for a de facto United States national championship in ice hockey.
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