Ice hockey in Saskatchewan

Saskatoon's WCHL team in 1923

Professional hockey existed in Saskatchewan as early as the 1910s. The Prince Albert Mintos went professional in 1911 and lost a series against the Port Arthur Bearcats for the opportunity to challenge the Stanley Cup champion Ottawa Senators.[1] The Western Canada Hockey League was the prairie equivalent of the National Hockey League and began in the winter of 1921; its champion played the winner of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to determine who would represent the West in the Stanley Cup finals. The Saskatoon Sheiks and Regina Capitals were among the founding franchises in the WCHL. During the league's inaugural season in 1921–22, the Sheiks moved to Moose Jaw; they returned to Saskatoon the following season under a new name, the Crescents, and then reverted to the Sheiks name ahead of the 1923–24 season. The Regina Capitals moved to Portland after the 1924–25 season, leaving the Sheiks as the only Saskatchewan team in the league. The WCHL folded after the 1925–26 season, with some of its teams and players being sold to create expansion NHL franchises. What remained of the Sheiks and Capitals, and a new team in Moose Jaw, played for two seasons in the new semi-professional Prairie Hockey League before it, too, folded, leaving Saskatchewan devoid of professional hockey for more than two decades.[14]

The Saskatoon Quakers, a veteran senior team, joined the minor-professional Pacific Coast Hockey League in 1951, capturing the PCHL championship in 1951–52 but folding in 1956 due to the financial demands of running a professional team. The 1957–58 season saw the Brandon Regals team re-branded as the Saskatoon/St. Paul Regals, which split games between Saskatoon and Saint Paul, Minnesota. This novel experiment lasted one season; in 1958, the team hosted games only in Saskatoon and adopted the old Quakers name. They played just one more season before folding in 1959.[14] The brothers Reg, Doug, and Max Bentley from Delisle were famous hockey players that played with the Quakers.

Promotional puck deriving from Bill Hunter's efforts to relocate the St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon in 1983

Although no professional hockey team has operated in Saskatchewan since 1959, interest in bringing a major professional franchise to the province has persisted. Moreover, Saskatoon native "Wild" Bill Hunter was an instrumental figure in the founding of the World Hockey Association in 1971, which ultimately merged with the NHL in 1979. Hunter became driven to bring the NHL to Saskatoon, and his first plan involved pursuing the re-location of a struggling WHA franchise to Saskatoon in hopes of having it included in that merger. However, this effort came to nothing due to opposition from other WHA owners concerned that the inclusion of a Saskatoon franchise would upset the delicate merger negotiations with the NHL, as well as Hunter's inability to get a commitment for a new facility to replace the small and aging Saskatoon Arena. Following the merger, Hunter made another attempt in 1983 when he purchased the struggling St. Louis Blues with a plan to re-locate the franchise to Saskatoon. Although this time Hunter would secure commitments for 18,000 season tickets and a new arena in downtown Saskatoon, the NHL blocked the sale and re-location and an owner willing to keep the Blues in St. Louis was found.[15]

Following the completion of the new Saskatchewan Place arena, an ownership group including Hunter applied for a Saskatoon-based franchise to join the NHL as part of the league's early 1990s expansion. The group reportedly raised $50 million for the bid, but were turned down by the province for the final $20 million required and withdrew the bid.[16] The prospect that an NHL franchise might still come to Saskatchewan persisted after the league regularly included Saskatchewan Place as a venue for a series of neutral site games included as part of the league's expanded 84 game schedule starting with the 1992–93 NHL season. However, the league scrapped the neutral site games after reverting to an 82-game schedule following the 1994-95 NHL lockout, and serious interest in bringing an NHL team to Saskatchewan declined through the latter half of the 1990s and the 2000s after the re-locations of the original Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques to American cities appeared to offer ample evidence that an NHL franchise in Saskatchewan could not be financially viable, especially while the Canadian dollar traded at a significant discount to the U.S. dollar.[15]

A number of changed circumstances in the first decade of the twenty-first century, including the introduction of a salary cap following the 2004-05 NHL lockout, a return of the exchange rate to parity, a relatively strong provincial economy, and reports of a number of U.S. franchises struggling led to speculation that Saskatchewan would again attempt to acquire an NHL franchise. Following the NHL takeover of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes, a Canadian-American ownership group called Ice Edge Holdings that was negotiating to purchase the Coyotes announced their intention to play a limited number of Coyotes home games in Saskatoon as part of an overall plan to keep the team based in Arizona. While it was speculated that this might have been part of a larger bid to prove the viability of Saskatoon as an NHL city, Ice Edge eventually withdrew its bid.[17]

In 2019, Regina hosted the NHL Heritage Classic game between the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames at Mosaic Stadium.[3]

In January 2022, the Jets considered playing home games in Saskatoon due to COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions in Manitoba. The team ultimately decided against the plan.[18]

The province was for a short time home to a women's professional team, the Saskatchewan Prairie Ice, which was based out of Lumsden and played from 2003–07 in the Western Women's Hockey League.

The University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina both ice women's and men's hockey teams that compete in the Canada West division of U Sports. The Saskatchewan Huskies have been competing nationally since 1911. The men's team has made seven appearances in the University Cup finals, winning once, in 1983. The University of Saskatchewan has hosted the competition five times, and lost in the final at home to the Alberta Golden Bears in 2014.[23] Saskatchewan is slated to host the women's final for the first time in 2024; the women's team's best national finish was third in 2014 and in 2022.[24] The Cougars men's team made one appearance in the final, losing as the host in 1980. The Cougars women's team hosted the final twice, in 2002 and 2003; the team's best finish came in 2001, when Regina lost the national final.[24]

Saskatchewan has been home to many successful senior hockey teams. Currently, the major senior league is the Qu'Appelle Valley Highway Hockey League, which currently has seven teams in the Regina area.

The Huskies and Cougars ice both men's and women's teams.