Edmonton Oil Kings Statistics and History [1956-1963 CAHL]

The Edmonton Oil Kings were a Junior hockey team that played in the Central Alberta Hockey League from 1956 to 1963. This was an unusal arrangement because the Central Alberta Hockey League was an Intermediate league, meaning that they fielded older players than a Junior league. The Oil Kings chose to play in the CAHL because the level of competition was higher than other junior leagues at the time. The strategy of playing higher-level competition paid off; the Oil Kings were the Western Canadian Junior Hockey Champions from 1959 to 1965.

The Oil Kings were sponsored by the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL.

In 1965, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association ruled that all junior teams must compete in junior leagues. This forced the Oil Kings out of the Central Alberta Hockey League. The Oil Kings made a bid to join the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the 1965-66 season, but the league turned them down because the Oil Kings made unspecified demands that the league said was against its constitution.

Because of this rejection, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association amended its decision to require the Oil Kings to play in a junior league. The team entered the Alberta Senior Hockey League for the 1965-66 season.