The George T. Richardson Memorial Trophy was presented annually from 1932 until 1972 by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) to the Eastern Canadian Junior "A" Champions. The trophy is named in honour of George T. Richardson, an Allan Cup winner with Queen’s University in 1909. He was killed in action in World War I on February 9, 1916.
The trophy was won in a two-stage playoff. In the semi-finals, the southern Ontario champion from the Ontario Hockey Association would play the northern Ontario champion from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, and the Quebec champion from the QJHL would play the Maritimes league champion. The winners of those series would play an elimination series for the title. No team from the Maritimes ever won the George Richardson Memorial Trophy, and the last time a Northern Ontario team won it occurred in 1937.
The winner of the trophy competed against the winner of the Abbott Cup for the Memorial Cup. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was retired in 1972. The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) replaced the CAHA as the top junior league in Canada, and subsequently, the Memorial Cup become a round-robin series between the winners of the three CHL members leagues, the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Pre-1932 Eastern Canadian Champions
Before the 1931-32 season, the Eastern Canadian Champion was awarded a birth in the Memorial Cup, but not the Richardson Trophy—as it was first awarded in 1932.