The WCHL tournament began in 1967, at the end of the first season of league play. The teams with the four best conference records were arranged in a Single-elimination tournament where the winner was declared champion. In 1971 the league dropped from 5 to 4 members and the playoff was changed; the top 2 teams would play a two-game series where the team with the most goals scored was declared the champion. The following year the conference playoff became a single-game championship.