Central Canada Hockey League - History

History

The league started in 1961 as the "Ottawa-Hull District Junior Hockey League", under the sponsorship of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, in hope of a better development program. The league has featured such NHL stars as Steve Yzerman and Larry Robinson, for which its two divisions are named. As this league was for the Ottawa District, teams out of the area were not allowed to compete, with one exemption - Pembroke. In the early years, any player in the league was automatically a member of the Montreal Canadiens, and were forced into a contract which would disallow them to sign with any other National Hockey League team if they were ever to achieve such greatness. The Canadiens also wanted the league to be strictly for development, allowing 4 19-year-olds and 5 18-year-olds per team with the rest of the players being 17 or younger. This was met with much anger and disappointment with players who had just reached their 20's, but the league substantially gained in popularity, and they were ignored. A remarkable alumnus of the league is 4-time Stanley Cup Champion Billy Smith of New York Islanders fame, a former member of the Smiths Falls Bears. In 1963, the Montreal Canadiens allowed the Chicago Blackhawks-sponsored Brockville Braves into the league.

In the late 1960s, the Cornwall Royals applied to enter into what is now the Ontario Hockey League, when they were turned away, they applied to join the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and were accepted. In 1973, the Hull Hawks, also departed for the QMJHL. In 1975, the Canadian Hockey Association informed the league that they had to allow 20-year-olds into their league, as all other leagues of their calibre already were doing.

In February 1966, players from the Hawkesbury Braves went on strike over coaching issues. The Braves brought in replacement players from midget and Jr. B leagues for a game against the Cornwall Royals. The Royals went on to win 43-0. It still stands as the highest margin of victory in the league to date.

In 1976, Bryan Murray, now General Manager of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, took over as head coach of the Rockland Nationals. With Murray at the wheel, the Nationals won the leagues, the region, and then went on to win the National Championship as Centennial Cup Champions. The financial cost of the playoff run was too much for the team's backers to handle and they declared bankruptcy one disappointing season after winning it all. The Nationals have resurrected since then as a member of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League.

After the ruling that allowed 20-year-olds to play in the league, teams began attempting to "buy" championship teams by going after former Major Junior players. The effect of this resulted in the labeling of the league as a "goon league" or "bush league" as the league got more violent. The fan base dwindled, and by 1984 there were only 5 teams left in the league, all on the verge of bankruptcy. The owners of the five teams approached the owners of Ottawa's Talisman Hotel and asked them to purchase the league. Through new management and rule changes, the league barred 20-year-olds from the Major Junior ranks, created a limit of 5 20-year-olds (homegrown from the CJHL), and banned the paying of players. The new rules worked, and the league was once again successful. The league then approached the Canadian Hockey Association, and requested a new system. After the fall of the Rockland Nationals, the league realized there was a revenue problem amongst its teams. The league demanded longer regular seasons and a shorter National playdown schedule to determine the National Champion. This new system was guaranteed to increase revenue amongst all teams nation-wide as they were allowed to have more home games, increasing revenue through ticket sales, and decreased the travel expenditures that forced the Rockland Nationals to fold soon after they won the National Championship.

The league began flourishing, and by the early 90's, had expanded over 2-fold. Teams that had folded during the "dark days" of the late 70's and early 80's came back. The league even allowed for the expansion of their first American hockey team, the Massena Americans. Also, now a member of the OHL, the Cornwall Royals moved from Cornwall. In response, the CJHL allowed the Messena Americans to move to Cornwall, hoping the Cornwall Colts could help the city fill its competitive hockey "void".

The Gloucester Rangers hosted the last Centennial Cup tournament in 1995 before it was transformed into the Royal Bank Cup. The Rangers boosted NHL stars like Mathieu Dandenault and Robert Esche. The Gloucester Rangers were seconds away from defeating the Calgary Canucks in the final, until the Canucks scored a last-minute goal and won it all in overtime, to continue the drought of a CJHL team winning the National Junior "A" Championship.

In 2004-05, the Central Junior Hockey League saw higher attendance figures in all arenas with the NHL lockout. All teams in the CJHL had doubled their attendance.

In April 2007, it was announced that the Kemptville 73's were joining the CJHL as its 11th member team. The 73's formerly played in the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League.

The Cornwall Colts became the 4th team in CJHL history to play host to a Centennial/Royal Bank Cup tournament in 2008. The Colts managed to qualify for the semi-finals, but were ousted 7-1 by the Humboldt Broncos.

In 2009, the Carleton Place Canadians, another former EOJBHL team, was announced as the league's 12th franchise. They began play during the 2009-10 season. At the beginning of the 2009-10 season, the league dropped the "A" from their name, switching to the Central Junior Hockey League.

In February 2010, it was announced that the Smiths Falls Memorial Centre - one of the leagues oldest facilities and home to the Smiths Falls Bears was staging its final home game of the 2009-10 season. The Bears will be moving into a brand-new multipurpose facility for that fall. The Memorial Centre was demolished to accommodate parking spaces for the new facility.

In April 2010, the Pembroke Lumber Kings made CJHL history by winning four-consecutive Art Bogart Cup championships, which is now the most-consecutive championships won by a CJHL team, however the Pembroke Lumber Kings qualified for the Fred Page Cup for the fifth consecutive year, but lost the finals to the Brockville Braves, who advanced to the Royal Bank Cup in Dauphin, Manitoba. The 2012 Fred Page Cup was awarded to the Kanata Stallions to commemorate their 25 years of Jr. A hockey in Kanata.

On April 26, 2010, the league rebranded by changing their league to the Central Hockey League, from the Central Junior Hockey League. A league, by the same name "Central Hockey League" already exists, which is a minor professional league below the East Coast Hockey League, which is 15 teams throughout the mid-western United States. In January 2011, the league rebranded itself again the Central Canada Hockey League.

On May 8, 2011, at the 2011 Royal Bank Cup in Camrose, Alberta, the Pembroke Lumber Kings defeated the BCHL's Vernon Vipers 2-0 to win the CCHL's second ever National Title during the league's 50th anniversary season.