The Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the regular season champion of the Western Hockey League. It is named after one of the league's founders, Scotty Munro.[1][2] Munro served as the general manager of the Estevan Bruins, one of the league's founding franchises, and later as the head coach and general manager of the Calgary Centennials.
The WHL began play in 1966 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, before it was renamed the Western Canada Junior Hockey League and, by 1979, the Western Hockey League.[3] The first team to win the regular season title was the Edmonton Oil Kings, although it was the Flin Flon Bombers that established an early run of success, winning the Scott Munro Trophy three straight seasons from 1967–68 to 1969–70. This feat has been repeated only twice, with the Brandon Wheat Kings winning three straight from 1976–77 to 1978–79—Brandon's 125 points in the 1978–79 season are a league record—and the Kamloops Blazers from 1989–90 to 1991–92. The Blazers' run was part of a remarkable twelve-year period in which the team won its record seven regular season titles. The most recent repeat-winner is the Winnipeg Ice, who won the title in 2021–22 and 2022–23.
Twenty five of the fifty seven winners have gone on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as the league's playoff champion in the same season, while nine winners have gone on to win the Memorial Cup as Canadian junior champions.