The Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL; French: Liguede hockey centrale du Canada, LHCC) is a Junior A ice hockey league in Eastern Ontario composed of 12 teams, all around the National Capital Region. The CCHL is one of the nine Junior A hockey leagues in Canada and is considered as the highest level of Junior A hockey compared to all the other eight leagues in the country. The Bogart Cup, the oldest Junior A ice hockey sports trophy in Canada, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) views the Bogart Cup as one of the "most important championship trophies available in amateur sports". The CCHL is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.
The Central Canada Hockey League was formed in 1961 under the auspices of the Montreal Canadiens.[1] At its inception, the CCHL only had six teams, collectively nicknamed the Original Six, like the National Hockey League's Original Six teams. The original members included Hawkesbury, Hull, Cornwall, Ottawa, Smiths Falls and Pembroke. The CCHL is sanctioned by Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Canada, and is a member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).[2] The winner of the CCHL playoffs competes for the national Centennial Cup, an annual tournament organized by Hockey Canada and the CJHL, which determines the national champion of Junior A ice hockey.[3][4]
The CCHL's regular season is typically held from September to March, with each team playing 55 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, eight teams advance to the Bogart Cup playoffs, a three-round tournament that runs into May to determine the league champion. Since the league's founding in 1961, the Pembroke Lumber Kings have won the most combined CCHL titles with 14, including five in a row between 2006–07 and 2010–11. The reigning league champions are the Rockland Nationals, who defeated the Carleton Place Canadians in the 2025 Bogart Cup Final.[5][6]
History
The league was founded in 1961 as the Ottawa-Hull District Junior Hockey League (OHDJHL) 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 NHL team if they wanted to play in the NHL. The Canadiens also wanted the league to be strictly for development, allowing four 19-year-olds and five 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 20s, but the league substantially gained in popularity and did not step back from the changes.[7] In 1963, the Montreal Canadiens allowed the Chicago Blackhawks-sponsored Brockville Braves into the league. The league rebranded itself as the Central Junior A Hockey League (CJHL) starting with the 1964–65 season.
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 CJHL's perennial champions, the Cornwall Royals. The Royals went on to win 43–0, which still stands as the highest margin of victory in the league. As CJHL champions, the Royals represented the league at the playdowns for the 1966, 1967 and 1968 Memorial Cup national junior hockey championships. They applied to enter into the stronger Ontario Hockey Association (today's OHL) but were turned away; they next applied to join the new Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and were accepted as one of the inaugural teams for the 1969–70 season. In 1973, the Hull Festivals, 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, matching what all other leagues of their calibre were doing.[7]
In 1976, Bryan Murray took over as head coach of the Rockland Nationals. With Murray at the wheel, the Nationals won the league, the region, and then went on to win the Junior A National Championship Centennial Cup. 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.[7] The Nationals have resurrected since then as a member of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League.[8]
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.[7] 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 five 20-year-olds (homegrown from the CJHL), and banned the paying of players. The new rules worked, and the league was once again successful.[7] 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 nationwide 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.[7]
The league began flourishing, and by the early 1990s, had more than doubled. Teams that had folded during the "dark days" of the late 1970s and early 1980s 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 Massena Americans to move to Cornwall, hoping the Cornwall Colts could help the city fill its competitive hockey "void".[7]
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.
On April 26, 2010, the league changed its name to the Central Hockey League. A league by the same name already existed, a minor professional league below the ECHL, which was 15 teams throughout the mid-western United States. In January 2011, the league rebranded itself as the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL).[9]
Prior to the 2014–15 season, the CCHL announced it was adapting the American Hockey League's overtime format.
Following tied games, teams will remain at the 3rd period ends and 7:00 minutes will be placed on the clock after a 30-second break. Each team will receive 1 point.
The first 3 minutes of over time will be played 4 on 4. At the first whistle after 3 minutes (i.e. if the clock reads 4:00 or less) the teams will play 3 on 3. The same penalty regulations apply. The games are again sudden victory with the first team to score collects an additional point.
In the event the game remains tied after the conclusion of seven minutes of overtime, a 30-second break during which the team coaches will provide a list of 3 shooters will precede a shoot out. Home teams shall determine if they shoot first or second. If the score after 3 rounds of shooters remains tied, there will be a continued sudden death single round shoot out until a winner is declared.
No shooter may shoot twice until all eligible shooters have shot once.
Players in the penalty box at the conclusion of overtime shall not be eligible to participate in the shoot out.
In the 2013–14 season, 69 CCHL regular season games were tied after regulation. The outcome of 30 games was determined in the over time session and 39 games required a shoot out.
For the 2015–16 the CCHL made a significant move to the development model for the league. The EOJHL was aligned directly with the CCHL to establish direct affiliations and specific guidelines for players to move up and down between leagues. The EOJHL also took on a re-branding to become the CCHL Tier 2. The development model is also to be extended to affiliation with midget (under18) teams.
In fall 2016, the Gloucester Rangers were sold to new ownership, who relocated the team to Clarence-Rockland, Ontario to become the Rockland Nationals starting at the 2017–18 season.[10]
David Frost incident
David Frost, the agent of former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton, was banned from all CJHL games and events in fall 2005 after Frost entered an off-limits-to-fans area at the Jim Durrell Arena, home to the Ottawa Jr. Senators, in which Frost "accosted, harassed and threatened an official of the CJHL".[11] League commissioner Mac MacLean stated "We don't want him around period". The Lumber Kings were fined $1,000 for David Frost's actions, because the league considered Frost to be associated with owner Sheldon Keefe. MacLean sent posters to each league arena to help security staff identify Frost if he were to show up at games, and to refuse entry to Frost. Weeks later, the ban was lifted after Mac MacLean was relieved of his duties of CJHL commissioner. Newly appointed commissioner John Comerford lifted the ban, stating "We can't stop David Frost from entering the rink and I haven't received any complaints from anybody about him".[12] David Frost had no affiliation with the Pembroke Lumber Kings hockey organization. He was allowed to attend league games, but was barred from restricted areas.[13] Frost disregarded the advisement not to enter restricted areas, and was seen getting off the Lumber Kings team bus by CBC Fifth Estate film crew, and was filmed following the team to a dressing room during a playoff game in Nepean. At the end of the season, Frost severed un-affiliated ties with the league and informed that he would not attend any more league games or events.[14]
1990 – Massena Turbines become the Massena Americans
1991 – Cumberland Grads join league from the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League
1992 – Massena Americans relocated to Cornwall, Ontario to become the Cornwall Colts to fill in the void for the Cornwall Royals, who moved to Newmarket, Ontario
1992 – Ottawa Senators re-brand to Ottawa Jr. Senators because of new the NHL expansion team Ottawa Senators
2000 – Smiths Falls Bears relocate to Perth, Ontario and become the Lanark Thunder
2002 – Kanata Valley Lasers become the Kanata Stallions
2002 – Lanark Thunder suspends operations and team is returned to Smiths Falls as the Bears
2005 – Gloucester Rangers become the Orleans Blues
2007 – Kemptville 73's join league from the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League
2008 – Orleans Blues become the Gloucester Rangers after league refuses permit to move team to Orleans
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2025–26 CCHL season 
