2019-20 WSHL season

This is the 2019-20 Western States Hockey League season. This is the league's 26th season.

Cancelling the season
The league issued the following statement on March 12th:

"As of 10:00 pm Wednesday March 11, in follow-up to our initial decision based totally on player, staff, spectator, community safety, the WSHL Executive Committee with the approval of the Board of Governors meeting which has taken place at 11:00am Thursday March 12 has terminated the 2019-2020 season, including the league Championship Event – the Thorne Cup."

Membership Changes
The Cheyenne Stampede announced they would be sitting out the 2019-20 season as part of a lease dispute.

The Casper Bobcats ceased operations.

The Pueblo Bulls were announced as being added to the league for the 2019-20 season. The team will be based out of the Pueblo Ice Arena in Pueblo, Colorado.

The Las Vegas Thunderbirds were announced as an expansion team for 2019-20. The team will be based out of the SoBe Ice Arena, in the Fiesta Rancho Hotel and Casino.

The Slave Lake Icedogs were also announced as an expansion team for 2019-20. They would join the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League prior to the start of the 2019-20 season.

The Long Beach Bombers were renamed the Long Beach Jets after being sold during the 2019 off-season. The team would later withdraw.

The Hinton Timberwolves were announced as an expansion team for 2019-20. They basically replaced the Hinton Wildcats when the town of Hinton, Alberta would not renew the team's lease.

An expansion team was awarded to Barrhead, Alberta for the 2019-20 season to be based out of the Barrhead Agrena. The team is owned by the former owner of the Long Beach Bombers and the new team is named the Barrhead Bombers.

On June 13, 2019 it was announced that the Western Provinces Hockey Association teams that had been previously affiliated with the Western States Hockey League for the 2018-19 season would become affiliated with the GMHL and form the GMHL's Western Division. By early July the WSHL had two teams, the Edson Aeros and Meadow Lake Mustangs that had opted stay with the WSHL and announced the formation of new teams in Cold Lake (Cold Lake Hornets) and Hinton, Alberta  (Hinton Timberwolves), The previous teams in those towns, the Cold Lake Wings and Hinton Wildcats, apparently left a trail of unpaid bills prior to joining the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.

The Ontario Avalanche move to the The Rinks-Anaheim Ice from the Center Ice Arena.

Over the American Thanksgiving holiday the league removed the Steamboat Wranglers and the West Sound Admirals from league play citing low roster numbers and player safety.

The league assumed operations of the Oklahoma City Blazers on January 1, 2020. The team would be dissolved once the season was cancelled.

In late January the league removed the Meadow Lake Mustangs from the league.

On March 8th, due the the outbreak of COVID-19 in Washington state the Seattle Totems and Bellingham Blazers announced they would be cancelling the balance of the two teams games and would be vacating their playoff positions.

On April 17, 2020 the Anaheim Avalanche, Fresno Monsters, Las Vegas Thunderbirds, Northern Colorado Eagles, Pueblo Bulls, San Diego Sabers, Southern Oregon Spartans, and Utah Outliers were announced as joining the United States Premier Hockey League's Premier League for the 2020-21 season. On April 21st the Ogden Mustangs were announced as joining them. Both announcements indicated that more announcements on teams from the west coast would be coming shortly.

Teams
''Note: The Steamboat Wranglers and West Sound Admirals were removed from the schedule during the American Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Meadow Lake Mustangs were removed in late January.''

Midwest Division
''Note:Steamboat was removed from the league over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. League records credit them with one addition additional forfeit loss this is their actual playing record.''

Northwest Division
''Note:West Sound was removed from the league over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Official league records add on six more forfeit losses. Above indicates their actual playing record''

Provinces Division
''Note: Meadow Lake was removed from the league late in January They would be credited with one additional forfeit loss. This is their actual playing record. ''

Thorne Cup Playoffs
Playoffs Cancelled, along with balance of regular season on March 11th.

The 2020 Thorne Cup Finals was to be hosted by the Northern Colorado Eagles at the Greeley Ice Haus in Greeley, Colorado.