Western Conference (NHL)
Western Conference logo, circa 2006
|
|
| League | National Hockey League |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 1974 (as the Clarence Campbell Conference) |
| Teams | |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Most recent Western Conference champion(s) | San Jose Sharks |
The Western Conference (French: Conférence de l'Ouest) is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League (NHL) used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference.
Previously known as the Clarence Campbell Conference (or Campbell Conference), it was created in 1974 when the NHL realigned its teams into two conferences and four divisions. Because the new conferences and divisions had little to do with North American geography, geographical references were removed. The conferences and divisions were re-aligned in 1981 to better reflect the geographical locations of the teams, but the existing names were retained with the Campbell Conference becoming the conference for the NHL's westernmost teams. The names of conferences and divisions were changed in 1993 to reflect their geographic locations. Then-new NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made the change to help non-hockey fans better understand the game, as the National Basketball Association, National Football League, and Major League Baseball all use geographic-based names for their conferences and divisions. However, the trophy awarded to the conference champion, the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, retains some connection to the heritage of the league. In 2005, following the lockout, the league changed the Western Conference logo (along with the Eastern Conference and NHL logos) to its current form.
The Campbell Conference originally consisted of the Patrick Division and the Smythe Division. The 1981 realignment moved the Patrick Division to the Prince of Wales Conference and added that conference's Norris Division instead. When the names of conferences and divisions were changed in 1993, the Western Conference's divisions became the Central and Pacific. Realignment in 1998 added a third division, the Northwest.
...
Wikipedia