for the 1924–25 wchl season, the pcha folded and two of its teams, the vancouver maroons and victoria cougars joined the wchl, giving the league six teams. the saskatoon franchise became the saskatoon sheiks. the league had some top-level talent on its rosters, with stars such as bun cook and bill cook and rookie eddie shore. the victoria cougars, coached and managed by pcha founder lester patrick, won the league championship and went on to face the montreal canadiens for the stanley cup. victoria easily beat the canadiens three games to one, out scoring them 16 to 8. this would be the shining moment for the wchl as victoria became the first non-nhl team to win the stanley cup since the formation of the nhl in 1917. since then, no non-nhl team has won the cup. in fact, the next season, 1925–26, would be the last time a team from outside the nhl would even challenge for it.