Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League

The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) is a Canadian Junior ice hockey league and member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Northern Ontario Hockey Association. The winner of the NOJHL playoffs competes for the Dudley Hewitt Cup with the winners of the Ontario Junior 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. The modern NOJHL The current incarnation of the NOJHL comprises twelve teams located in Ontario and Michigan. The teams are currently located in: Blind River, Cochrane, Elliot Lake, Espanola, Hearst, Kirkland Lake, Noelville, Powassan, Rayside-Balfour, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Timmins the league is spread across the southern region of Northeastern Ontario. The current NOJHL origins were in 1970 when the previous NOJHL was unstable footing while competing as a Junior "A" league. In Southern Ontario, the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League was looking to expand north and the league's two top teams, the Sudbury Wolves and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, accepted an invitation from the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League to compete in the higher league. The next best team, the North Bay Trappers, then chose to leave and joined the Ontario Hockey Association's new Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League. With the top tier of talent gone, 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 was formed in 1970 with a North and South division and teams in Capreol, Levak, Kapuskasing, amongst others. In their first season, the Capreol Hawks won the league championship. In 1971, Espanola jumped on board, followed by Chelmsford in 1972. In 1973, the Canadians moved to Rayside-Balfour and became the Canadians. The Onaping Falls Huskies moved from Levack in 1974, and the Nickel Centre Native Sons, Coniston Flyers, and Sudbury North Stars joined in 1976 when the NOHA merged their small Juvenile league into Jr. B.