Sport Ice hockey CEO Mark Kumpel | Founded 2003 Country United States | |
No. of teams 17 — Premier
15 — Elite Most recent
champion(s) Premier — New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (2015–16)
Elite — Boston Junior Rangers (2015–16) | ||
The Eastern Hockey League (EHL) is an American Tier III Junior ice hockey league with 18 teams in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The EHL was officially announced on June 6, 2013 after the Atlantic Junior Hockey League welcomed six new members from the old Eastern Junior Hockey League and the AJHL re-branded itself under the EHL banner
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The league prepares high school and college aged players for college and professional hockey. The league has hundreds of alumni that have gone on to play for NCAA colleges, various professional leagues, the CHL, and in Europe.
History
The Atlantic Junior Hockey League (AJHL or AtJHL) was part of the Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League organization and was formed in 2003 with a stated goal to "meet the needs of the junior hockey community and the players it serves in the Eastern United States". The AJHL played its first season in 2003–04 with six teams that had previously played in the Junior B Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. On May 30, 2012 the AJHL announced that after nine years of being a part of the Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League, the 12 AJHL ownership groups successfully became a stand-alone entity. After the split, the AJHL was managed and governed solely by the league owners.
In 2013, Tier III junior hockey leagues underwent a large reorganization that led to the dissolution of the Eastern Junior Hockey League and six of their former members joining the AJHL. Prior to the 2013–14 season, the AJHL re-branded to become the Eastern Hockey League (EHL). The six members who came from the EJHL were the Boston Bandits, Connecticut Oilers, New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs, New York Apple Core, Philadelphia Revolution, and the Valley Jr. Warriors.
In December 2014, the EHL announced the Connecticut Nighthawks as an expansion franchise to start in the 2015–16. They also announced the formation of the EHL-Elite Division and that eight teams would participate in the first season composed of the former Junior B teams for EHL organizations. The formation of the Elite Division led to the previous Junior A members to be placed in the EHL-Premier Division. In May 2015, the North American Hockey League, a Tier II league, announced that the New Jersey Junior Titans and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights had been approved to elevate their organizations. After their promotion, the two EHL franchises went dormant.
In March 2016, the EHL announced that it was changing the name of the Elite Division to 19U Elite Division for the 2016–17 season and doubling in size by adding eight more teams, mostly the prospect teams from the Premier Division's South Conference teams. However, the 19U Elite Connecticut Nighthawks team were dropped from the schedule prior to their first season.
In December 2016, it was announced that six organizations (the Boston Bandits, Connecticut Nighthawks, Hartford Jr. Wolfpack, New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs, New Jersey Rockets, and the Northern Cyclones) would be leaving the EHL for the 2017–18 season for the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL). The Bandits, Rockets, and Cyclones had already been announced as adding free-to-play teams in the USPHL's National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) for the 2017–18 season. All six organizations will add their Premier and Elite teams to the USPHL's Premier and Elite Divisions.
In February 2017, the EHL announced that they would expand to make up for the teams lost to the NCDC. The first team announced was New Hampshire Avalanche, an organization that previously only had youth teams. Next, it was announced the league would be adding the teams from the North American 3 Atlantic Hockey League (the former Metropolitan Junior Hockey League). The six teams from the NA3AHL were the Central Penn Panthers, Jersey Wildcats, Long Island Royals, Metro Fighting Moose, New Jersey Renegades, and the return of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. The league also listed the New Jersey 87s and Cape Cod Athletics. The one-year dormant New York Bobcats are also expected to return.