The G. P. Bolton Memorial Trophy was awarded to the champion of senior ice hockey in Eastern Canada, and was named for the first president of the MAHA.[5]
The Maritimes saw growth in senior hockey during the Great Depression in Canada, as men sought to make a living and it was reported by The Winnipeg Tribune as common knowledge that amateurs were being paid to play in the Maritimes.[8] In December 1934, CAHA president E. A. Gilroy asked the MAHA to make a declaration on operating a commercial league which was considered professionalism and not allowed.[9] After a month of negotiations, the CAHA approved a senior league that excluded players suspended by the CAHA for improper transfers to the MAHA.[10]
The Halifax Forum was the largest ice hockey rink in the Maritimes and home to the Halifax Wolverines.
Prior to the 1936 Winter Olympics, four members of the Halifax Wolverines that had been added to the Canada men's national ice hockey team were removed after reports of them demanding money.[11] The MAHA called Gilroy's explanation unsatisfactory and threatened to resign as a branch of the CAHA.[12]
Nova Scotian lawyer Hanson Dowell served four years as president of the MAHA from 1936 to 1940, and became the first person from Atlantic Canada to be elected president of the CAHA in 1945.[13]
The MAHA, the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association, and the Ottawa and District Amateur Hockey Association, worked together on a proposal in 1941 to establish an Eastern Canada Hockey Association; where they would oversee the Eastern Canada playoffs to determine one team to play against the Ontario champion, and alleviate their financial struggles by sharing the profits from the gate receipts among themselves before the CAHA took its portion.[14] At the CAHA general meeting in 1942, travel expenses were increased to teams during the playoffs, instead of forming the proposed Eastern Canada Hockey Association.[15]
New Brunswick first attempted to become a separate branch of the CAHA in 1953. A second attempt was made in 1967, and after a trial run of one year as its own association, the New Brunswick Amateur Hockey Association separated from the MAHA and became its own branch of the CAHA in 1968.[17]
The Maritime Junior A Hockey League was founded in 1968, to bring the highest level of Canadian junior hockey to the Maritimes. It operated until 1971 when junior hockey was reorganized in Canada, and the league was downgraded to Junior B status.[18]
