AHL Logo PNG
The American Hockey League, AHL, was founded in 1936. It is the second North American league in terms of status, after the NHL, in which American and Canadian NHL clubs play. Today, there are 31 clubs in the AHL, represented by 27 American and 4 Canadian teams. They are members of the Western and Eastern Conferences, formed based on geography.
Meaning and history
The AHL came into existence in 1926, and for a period was called the Canadian-American Hockey League. At that time, it included teams from four U.S. states and one Canadian region. In 1936, the Canadian-American Hockey League merged with the International Hockey League to form the International American Hockey League (IAHL). In 1941, after Canadian clubs left the league, the league was renamed the AHL.
Although the Canadians later rejoined the union, the name of the league was never changed. The structure grew in 2001 after six clubs from the disbanded International Hockey League joined its ranks.
The principle of the game season in the American Hockey League is the same as in the NHL. First, there is a regular tournament, following the results of which the twenty strongest teams get to the playoffs, where they fight for the main trophy – the Calder Cup. This hockey trophy, named after the first head of the National Hockey League, dates back to 1937. It is considered one of the oldest North American trophies and an analog of the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
The most titled clubs in the American Hockey League are Hershey Bears with 11 wins, Cleveland Barons with 9 wins, Rochester Americans with 6 wins, and Buffalo Bisons with 5.
1953 — 1971
The very first AHL logo was designed in 1953 and only stayed with the league for several months. It was a red and white badge with a pretty cool image of a hockey player in a solid red jersey, standing behind the stylized enlarged “AHL” lettering in white with a red outline. The inscription was executed in a fancy Sans-serif typeface, with a very recognizable shape of the “A”, which had its left bar arched, and two other letters having their contours more traditional and usual. The lettering was “underlined” by the thin strokes, coming out of the ice, where the player was skating, representing speed and strength.
1971 — 1984
The following version of the AHL logo was adopted in 1971. It also featured a hockey player in the middle of the game, yet now in a different position and with the help of a different color palette. Interestingly enough, this time, the player’s position again looks somewhat awkward. The white human figure breaks the roundel logo into two parts, red (top) and dark blue (below).
The emblem is encircled by the lettering “American Hockey League” in dark blue block capitals and “AHL” in red block capitals. The text features a plain sans serif type.
1984 — 1987
In 1984 the AHL logo was changed again, keeping the color palette of the previous version. This time it was a bold crest with a thick white and blue frame, sharp detail on the top part, and widened smooth bottom area. The Jody of the crest was colored solid red and had a wide blue banner placed on it diagonally from the up-left corner to the bottom right. The banner was outlined in white and had a massive and extended white inscription in Sans-serif capitals, written over it.
1987 — Today
The previous badge looked powerful, but in 1987 the League decides to come back to the version, created in 1971. The circular medallion in red and blue, divided by the white silhouette of a hockey player, is outlined in thin blue and white frame and surrounded by a bold uppercase inscription in a clean and modern Sans-serif typeface, with “American Hockey League” in blue, separated from the red “AHL” by two small five-pointed stars, also in red.
