Fred Page Cup - History

History

The first Fred Page Cup was awarded in 1995. The trophy was donated by the Quebec Provincial Junior A Hockey League to create an Eastern Canadian Championship in honour of past Canadian Amateur Hockey Association President Fred Page. The 1995 Championship marked the first time teams outside of the maritime provinces were allowed to compete for the Eastern Canadian Championship for a berth to the National Championship. Now allowed are the maritime champions, the Quebec champions, and the Ottawa District champions of the Central Canada Hockey League. Prior to 1995, the Callaghan Cup was the championship trophy of Eastern Canada to be played for by a representative of the maritime provinces. Early championships were dominated by the Island Junior Hockey League. In the early 1990s, the top teams of the IJHL jumped to the Maritime Junior A Hockey League.

CCHL "powerhouse" Nepean Raiders had the chance to bid for the 2006 Fred Page Cup in 2004; was to be played at the Nepean Sportsplex in suburban Ottawa. Raiders owner Gord Black expressed no interest in hosting the tournament. The 2006 Fred Page Cup was then awarded to Pembroke, Ontario and the Pembroke Lumber Kings. The Fred Page Cup has yet to be awarded to a CCHL team in the Ottawa-area.

In 2009, the City of Dieppe, New Brunswick was chosen to host the Fred Page Cup, when a Central Canada Hockey League team was supposed to host the event, but CCHL backed out due to the region already having prior commitments to a Hockey Canada-sanctioned tournament to be run around the same time. The Dieppe Commandos of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League were the host team. The tournament was held at the J. Louis Levesque Arena. The Fred Page Cup committee considered the Maritime Junior A Hockey League champion Summerside Capitals to co-host and play their games at the Credit Union Centre in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The Quebec Junior "AAA" Hockey League champions Sherbrooke Cougars protested against the co-hosting, and therefore the all the games were staged at the J. Louis Levesque Arena.

To date, the Central Canada Hockey League has won the Fred Page Cup 7 times, winning the Royal Bank Cup finals once, (Pembroke Lumber Kings) since its inception in 1996. The Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League has won the Fred Page Cup only 3 times, and no team from Quebec have qualified for the Royal Bank Cup finals. The Maritime Junior A Hockey League is the only league to win the Fred Page Cup and have teams win the Royal Bank Cup, as the Summerside Capitals won in 1997 and the Halifax Oland Exports won in 2002.

The 2010 Fred Page Cup was awarded to the Brockville Braves, who also hosted the tournament in 1997. Brockville won the 2010 Fred Page Cup by defeating the Pembroke Lumber Kings 5-1. The Braves are the 2nd host team since the 1998-99 Charlottetown Abbies, who defeated the CCHL's Hawkesbury Hawks 2-0 at the Charlottetown Civic Centre. The 2013 Fred Page Cup will be held in Truro, Nova Scotia.