the stanley cup was donated in 1893 to serve as a trophy to be awarded to the national champion of canadian amateur ice hockey. the trophy eventually became open to professional teams in 1906 and a new trophy, the allan cup was donated to serve as the national amateur trophy. by this time, the canadian prairies were being rapidly settled and in 1914 a team based in saskatchewan (the regina victorias) would capture the allan cup for the first time. by this time, competition for the stanley cup, had evolved into a world series-inspired "east vs. west" affair to be contested between the winners of the two professional hockey leagues then in business, the pacific coast hockey association (pcha), based in british columbia, washington and oregon and the national hockey association (nha), based in ontario and quebec. although the pcha won two of the first three stanley cup series contested under this format, the national hockey league (nhl) came to dominate stanley cup play after it replaced the nha as the premier eastern competition in 1917.