The impact of Ed Chynoweth on the CHL

By Will MacLaren

In February, 1975, Murray “Muzz” MacPherson, Head Coach of the fledgling Winnipeg Clubs of the Western Canada Hockey League – a soon-to-be member of the Canadian Hockey League – did not hesitate in his assessment of league President Ed Chynoweth.

“I wouldn’t take that job for all the money in the world,” MacPherson told The Hockey News. “Personally, I think Ed does a helluva job. He keeps this league together.”

The best part? That was MacPherson’s reaction after Chynoweth handed the bench boss a three-game suspension for his team’s part in a brawl. A true punchline in every sense of the word.

Even more remarkable, Chynoweth was just a few months past his 34th birthday when he dealt that hand to the king of the Clubs. He’d already been sitting in the President’s chair for a little over two years and would continue keeping the WHL – and the CHL – together for the next two decades.

Chynoweth, from tiny Dodsland, Saskatchewan, became the WCHL’s first full-time president in December, 1972. However, to the present-day fan, it might as well have been 1872 considering the style of play and the characters at virtually every corner that made his post challenging in ways current executive couldn’t – nor wouldn’t – imagine. Bombastic old school personalities like Ernie “Punch” McLean, Pat Ginnell and “Wild Bill” Hunter were the bedrock of the newly constituted Western circuit and every bit as hard. Chynoweth quickly established his bona fides within the group and, with trust rightly earned, went about being a Renaissance Man, doing all he could to advance the junior game in Canada and beyond.

It was Chynoweth who was instrumental in creating the partnership between the WCHL, OHA (now OHL) and QMJHL that would become the Canadian Hockey League. Chynoweth would hold that organizations’ presidency from 1975-95. He helped form the organizations that would create the modern-day Canadian World Junior Team program. In 1981, he established the WHL’s first league-wide scholarship program, forging a path that would make the CHL and quality educational opportunities synonymous.

Perhaps the ultimate compliment to Chynoweth’s leadership occurred in 1980, following his first season as GM of the Calgary Wranglers. The WHL Board of Governors, searching for its next President, successfully hired the group’s top choice – Ed Chynoweth!

Before he founded the Tacoma (now Kelowna) Rockets in 1991, Bruce Hamilton was a WHL player. His teenaged days with the Saskatoon Blades coincided with Chynoweth’s first seasons at the top of the league’s hierarchy. After providing stability in the chaotic early days, Chynoweth would offer guidance to the next generations of junior hockey leaders.

“He was one of the main mentors for guys like me, Kelly McCrimmon, Tim Speltz, Kelly Kisio, Russ Farwell,” Hamilton recalls. “We were the younger guys working at that time and he kept us on the straight and narrow. He was also a wealth of information. He was a great supporter. He’d know when you needed a kick in the ass but he’d be quick to pat you on the back when it was called for, too. His mark is everywhere.”

That mark extends to the WHL Championship trophy, renamed the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2007. Also, to the Ed Chynoweth Trophy, awarded to the Memorial Cup’s top scorer since 1996. Chynoweth himself proudly hoisted the Memorial Cup with the Kootenay Ice as Team Owner and President in 2002. His legacy extends to his sons, Dean and Jeff, who have left their marks on the WHL as executives and, in the case of Dean, a Memorial Cup winning defenceman. Ed’s grandson Ryan also enjoyed a four-year career in the ‘Dub’.

Ed Chynoweth succumbed to kidney cancer on April 22, 2008. Seven months later, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, for which he sat on the selection committee for several years. A fitting tribute for a visionary that transcended the Presidency of the CHL and looked for the greater good in all pursuits.

Muzz MacPherson was one of many over the decades who’d willingly tip his hat to Chynoweth while acknowledging his role at the tipping point of the modern junior game. Besides, a little unexpected vacation wasn’t the worst thing, even if it was Winnipeg in February.