NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

'Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League'
'Head Office'	North Bay, Ontario
'Official Web site'	NOJHL
'Chairman'	Wayne Stickland
'COO'	Hector Seguin
'Founded'	1978

The 'Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League' is a Tier II Junior A ice hockey league under the supervision of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League, the Northern Ontario Hockey Association, and Hockey Canada. The North Bay Skyhawks also compete in inter-league games with the Central Junior A Hockey League. The winner of the NOJHL playoffs competes for the Dudley Hewitt Cup with the winners of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League and the Superior International Junior Hockey League. The winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup then moves on to compete for the Royal Bank Cup.

Contents

The Modern NOJHL

The Teams

2006-07 McNamara Trophy Playoffs

Copeland-McNamara Trophy Champions

Former Member Teams

Moved On

See also

External links

The Modern NOJHL

The current incarnation of the NOJHL is comprised of six Canadian teams and one American team. With teams in North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Michigan, Blind River, Iroquois Falls, and Manitoulin Island, the league is spread across the the southern region of Northeastern Ontario.
The story of the current NOJHL began in 1972. The NOJHL was not on stable footing and was competing as a Junior "A" league. In Southern Ontario, the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League was looking to expand North. The league's two top teams, the Sudbury Wolves and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, accepted an invitation from the OMJHL to compete in the high octane league. The next best team, the North Bay Trappers chose not to stick around either and jumped to the Ontario Hockey Association's new Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League. With the top tier of talent sheered off, the only remaining team in the league was the Chelmsford Canadiens. A season before, the Espanola Screaming Eagles had been a member of the league, but opted to drop to the NOHA Jr. B Hockey League in 1971 -- the Canadiens joined them in 1972.
The NOHA Jr. B Hockey League came into prominence in the late 1960s. In 1970, the Capreol Hawks joined and won a championship in their first year. In 1971, Espanola jumped on board, followed by Chelmsford in 1972. In 1973, the Canadiens moved to Rayside-Balfour and became the Canadians. The Onaping Falls Huskies joined in 1974, the Nickel Centre Native Sons joined in 1976, and at one point the league had a Michigan entry -- the Marquette Americans.
In 1978, the NOHA Jr. B Hockey League was renamed the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and was promoted to Tier II Junior "A". With the five former Jr. "B" clubs and the Sudbury Cubs, the league was back in action. In 1981, the Elliot Lake Vikings jumped into the fold. In 1983, the Onaping Falls Huskies dropped out despite winning three league titles in the past four seasons. After a one season hiatus, they came back for two more years and then folded for good. In 1986, Rayside-Balfour went on hiatus and Capreol folded, dropping the league down to four teams. The Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League, also down to four teams, operated with the NOJHL as essentially two divisions of the same league. With an interlocking schedule, the NOJHL survived the 1986-87 season, the OPJHL did not and folded after the season concluded. Also, after 8 years of trying and failing, an NOJHL champion defeated an OPJHL champion for the Ontario Hockey Association championship. The Nickel Centre Power Trains defeated the Owen Sound Greys 4-games-to-2 for the right to compete for the Dudley Hewitt Cup -- the Central Canadian Junior "A" Championship. The next year, the Canadians were back and a new team known as the Thessalon Flyers entered the league. In 1988, the Haileybury 54's joined the league and in 1989 so did the Rouyn-Noranda Capitales. Thessalon folded in 1990, Haileybury moved to Powassan in 1991 and the Timmins Golden Bears joined as well. A season later, Sudbury became Nickel Centre and then later folded. In 1994, Powassan moved to Sturgeon Falls and the Parry Sound Shamrocks joined the league. In 1996, Rouyn-Noranda folded to make way for a new Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team that was moving to their town. In 1999, Timmins moved to Iroquois Falls, Elliot Lake moved to Nickel Centre, and the Soo Thunderbirds were founded. Also in 1999, Parry Sound moved to a new OPJHL (founded in 1993). A year later, Nickel Centre moved to Blind River and the Sudbury Jr. Wolves were founded. In 2002, Sturgeon Falls moved to North Bay. A season after that, a team from Manitoulin joined and Espanola jumped over to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Finally, in 2005, the league's most dominant team in history and the last remaining shred of the original NOJHL, Rayside-Balfour, folded. They did not go without leaving their mark. From 1996 until 2002, the team won 7 straight NOJHL Championships, three Dudley Hewitt Cups, and once came within one win of winning the Royal Bank Cup as national champions.
There are currently six teams in the NOJHL as of 2007. The 2006-07 league champions, the Soo Indians, have take a year off in an attempt to sell.

The Teams

'Team'	'Centre'	'2007-08 Record'	'Points'
'Soo Thunderbirds'	Sault Ste. Marie	2-0-0-0	'4'
'Blind River Beavers'	Blind River	1-0-0-0	'2'
'Manitoulin Islanders'	Little Current	1-1-0-0	'2'
'North Bay Skyhawks'	North Bay	0-0-0-0	'0'
'Abitibi Eskimos'	Iroquois Falls	0-1-0-0	'0'
'Sudbury Jr. Wolves'	Copper Cliff	0-2-0-0	'0'

2006-07 McNamara Trophy Playoffs

:''For the next round of the playoffs, please go to the 'Dudley Hewitt Cup'.''
:''For the National Championship, please go to the 'Royal Bank Cup 2007'.''

Copeland-McNamara Trophy Champions

'NOJHL Modern Era' :1979 Nickel Centre :1980 Onaping Falls Huskies :1981 Onaping Falls Huskies :1982 Onaping Falls Huskies :1983 Elliot Lake Vikings :1984 Rayside Balfour Canadians :1985 Sudbury Cubs :1986 Onaping Falls Huskies :1987 Nickel Centre :1988 Sudbury Cubs :1989 Sudbury Cubs :1990 Sudbury Cubs :1991 Sudbury Cubs :1992 Powassan Hawks :1993 Powassan Hawks :1994 Powassan Hawks :1995 Timmins Golden Bears :1996 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :1997 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :1998 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :1999 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :2000 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :2001 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :2002 Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats :2003 North Bay Skyhawks :2004 North Bay Skyhawks :2005 North Bay Skyhawks :2006 Sudbury Jr. Wolves :2007 Soo Indians ''NOJHL reformed for 1978-79 Season.''

'NOHA Jr. B' ''The Northern Tradition continued at the "B" level.'' :1971 Capreol Hawks :1972 :1973 :1974 :1975 :1976 :1977 :1978 'NOJHL' ''NOJHL resurrected in 1962.'' :1963 Espanola Eagles :1964 North Bay Trappers :1965 Garson Falconbridge Native Sons :1966 North Bay Trappers :1967 Soo Greyhounds :1968 North Bay Trappers :1969 Sudbury Wolves :1970 Soo Greyhounds :1971 Sudbury Wolves :1972 Soo Greyhounds ''After 1972, the NOJHL folded due to the Wolves and the Greyhounds jumping to the Ontario Hockey League.''

Copeland-McNamara Trophy 'NOJHA' :1928 Soo Greyhounds :1929 Soo Greyhounds :1930 Soo Greyhounds :1931 Soo Greyhounds :1932 Sudbury Cub Wolves :1933 Sudbury Cub Wolves :1934 North Bay Trappers :1935 North Bay Trappers :1936 Sudbury Cub Wolves :1937 Copper Cliff Redmen :1938 North Bay Trappers :1939 North Bay Trappers :1940 :1941 :1942 Soo Greyhounds :1943 :1944 :1945 :1946 :1947 :1948 Copper Cliff Redmen :1949 :1950 :1951 Soo Red Wings ''League officially folded.''

Former Member Teams

★ Capreol Hawks

★ Garson Falconbridge Native Sons

★ Nickel Centre Native Sons

★ Onaping Falls Huskies

★ Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats

★ Rouyn-Noranda Capitales

★ Soo Indians

★ Soo Michigan Realtors

★ Thessalon Flyers

Moved On

★ North Bay Trappers

★ Parry Sound Shamrocks

★ Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds

★ Sudbury Wolves

See also

★ Northern Ontario Hockey Association

★ Ontario Hockey Federation

★ Canadian Junior A Hockey League

★ Hockey Canada

★ Elliot Lake Vikings

External links

★ NOJHL's Official Website