Countries Canada Founded 1966 | Region(s) Eastern Ontario No. of teams 16 | |
Conference Presidents Ron McRostie & Jack Bjergso Former name(s) list
Rideau-St. Lawrence Junior "B" Hockey League (1966–)
Eastern Ontario Junior "B" Hockey League (–2009)
Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League (2009–2015) | ||
The Central Canada Hockey League Tier 2 is a Canadian Junior ice hockey league operating in Eastern Ontario. The league is sanctioned by Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Canada. The 16 member team of the league compete for the D. Arnold Carson Memorial Trophy and acts as a second tier to the Central Canada Hockey League. Dating back to the 1960s, the league was known until 2015 as the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League.
Contents
History
The EOJHL was founded in 1966 as the Rideau-St. Lawrence Junior "B" Hockey League. Through a merger with the Upper Ottawa Valley Junior "B" Hockey League and the folding of the Lanark-Renfrew Junior "C" Hockey League, the league had grown to 22 different teams. The EOJHL was the only Junior "B" league in Eastern Ontario.
The EOJHL is broken up into two traditional conferences that operate separately of each other. Each conference has two divisions. Each conference has its own president and each one operates under variable rules allowed by HEO. Each division plays off to declare its own champion, after which the four champion teams play-off for the Metro/Valley Championship and Rideau/St. Lawrence Championship. The winner of these two championships playoff in a best-of-7 series for the D. Arnold Carson Memorial Trophy, the EOJHL crown.
For the 2007-08 season, the Kemptville 73's moved from the EOJBHL to the Central Junior A Hockey League. A season later, the EOJBHL sold their franchise rights to the then-owners of the Casselman Stars of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League and then town of Casselman, Ontario. The new team, the Casselman Vikings, began play in the 2008-09 season.
In May 2009, the league dropped the Junior "B" designation from its name, becoming the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
For the 2009-10 season, the Carleton Place Kings moved from the EOJHL to the Central Junior A Hockey League. The Kings were replaced the same year by the new Almonte Thunder.
In April 2014, the EOJHL Champion Casselman Vikings travelled to Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia to compete in the Eastern Canadian Junior B Championship. Cassleman became the first team west of Atlantic Canada to compete in the Don Johnson Memorial Cup tournament since its inception in 1982. Casselman went 6-0-0 and won the championship.
D. Arnold Carson Memorial Trophy Champions
Since there is no National Championship for Junior B hockey in Canada, similar championships are held in Ontario (Sutherland Cup), Western Canada (Keystone Cup), Quebec (Coupe Dodge), and Atlantic Canada (Don Johnson Memorial Cup). Leaving five teams at the end of the year with a claim to being the best Junior B team in Canada.
Each team listed is a division champion, both the league champion and finalists are either "Metro/Valley" or "Rideau/St. Lawrence" Conference champions. Bolded are league champions, Italicized are finalists.
(*) These are missing for one reason or another, there were probably champions in these years, but there is so far no resource that reflects who these champions may be.