Continental Junior Hockey League

Last updated
Continental Junior Hockey League
Continental Junior Hockey League logo.png
Sport Ice hockey
Founded2010
No. of teams2
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Most recent
champion(s)		 Alpena Thunder
Official website CJHL League Website

The Continental Junior Hockey League (CJHL) was an independent junior ice hockey league based in the Northeastern United States and Canada. League President Jim Cashman is the former President of the now defunct semi-pro Gulf Coast Hockey League and North Eastern Hockey League. League offices were based in Fort Erie, Ontario and Erie, Pennsylvania. The CJHL originally claimed to have 5 teams in Canada and the United States of America for the inaugural season in 2010–11 but only ever played with two teams in its only season of operation. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

Formation

The league was officially announced on May 28, 2010 on the league website. The teams were announced on June 2, 2010 in Erie, Pennsylvania and Indiana, Pennsylvania, June 4, 2010 in Syracuse, New York and June 11, 2010 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Niagara Fury were announced on June 25, 2010 on the league website. [4] On September 3, 2010 the Alpena Thunder joined the league after their league, the Northern Junior Hockey League folded. [5] Prior to the start of the 2010–11 season it was announced that Johnstown, Indiana, and Syracuse would not play until the 2011–12 season. [6] [7]

The league's first ever game was on October 23, 2010, when the Alpena Thunder defeated the Niagara Fury 6-4 in Alpena, Michigan. As the only two teams in the league, they played an 18-game season for the 2010–11 season.

The 2011–12 season saw Cashman promise and announce many new teams and an affiliation with the Amateur Athletic Union. At the beginning of the season it became apparent that the league would only have two teams (Erie and Niagara after Alpena folded at the end of the 2010–11 season) and no affiliation with a governing body. Erie announced through the press that it was withdrawing from the league in November, [8] but the team, partially owned by Niagara owner Cashman, later became a founding member of the Midwest Junior Hockey League in 2011 but folded before the season.

Amateur Athletic Union

Early in the summer of 2011, the CJHL entered into an agreement with the Amateur Athletic Union for sanctioning. As a part of this agreement the league claimed to have ascended to Tier II Junior A, which would put them on par with the likes of the North American Hockey League. When hockey blog site AmericanJuniorHockey.com inquired to the AAU about the Tier II claim, the AAU informed the blog site that they did not have "tiered" hockey structures like USA Hockey and that the claim was therefore false (although the AAU would promote the Western States Hockey League to "Tier II" in 2015, however AAU Tier II still required players to pay to play, meaning AAU Tier II was still not equivalent to USA Hockey Tier II). The AAU also has launched an audit into the CJHL's prior roster keeping practices and allegations of using unsigned and uncarded players. Since these allegation, most mentions of the AAU have been removed from the CJHL website. [9]

Teams

TeamArenaLocation
Alpena Thunder Northern Lights Arena Alpena, Michigan
Niagara Fury Chippawa Community Centre Chippawa, Ontario

Announced teams

Champions

Related Research Articles

North American Hockey League US Tier II junior ice hockey league

The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 47th season of operation in 2021–22. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternative to the Tier I United States Hockey League (USHL). The NAHL is one of the oldest junior hockey leagues in the United States and is headquartered in Addison, Texas.

Canadian Junior Hockey League Association of Canadian junior A ice hockey leagues

The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) is an association of Canadian junior A ice hockey leagues and teams and was formed in November 1993, emerging from the Canada West Association of Junior 'A' Hockey. The champion of the Canadian Junior Hockey League wins the Centennial Cup.

British Columbia Hockey League Junior hockey league

The British Columbia Hockey League is a Junior A ice hockey league from British Columbia under Hockey Canada and BC Hockey. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCHL now includes 18 teams.

Centennial Cup Annual ice hockey competition

The Centennial Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament organized by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), which determines the national champion of junior A ice hockey. It is a ten-team round robin featuring the winners of all nine CJHL member leagues as well as a pre-selected host city.

Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur and operate within regions of each country.

Western States Hockey League Amateur ice hockey league

The Western States Hockey League (WSHL) was a junior ice hockey league established in 1993. It was sanctioned by the United Hockey Union, the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union. Previously, it was sanctioned by USA Hockey from 1994 to 2011. Teams played approximately 50 games in the regular season schedule, mimicking what players would experience at the collegiate level. As of January 2022, there are no active teams in the league following the creation of the Can-Am Junior Hockey League by former WSHL teams.

North American 3 Hockey League Tier III junior ice hockey league

The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league that consists of teams from Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Sanctioned by USA Hockey, for most of the league's existence, the winner of the NA3HL playoffs would advance to play for the Tier III National Championship, however, this has not been held since 2015.

Northern Junior Hockey League

The Northern Junior Hockey League (NJHL) was an independent regional junior ice hockey league based in Jamestown, New York. The league operated from 2008 to 2010.

The Cape Cod Islanders were a Tier III junior ice hockey team from Massachusetts. They were most recently a member of the North American 3 Hockey League and played at the Falmouth Ice Arena in Falmouth, Massachusetts. In 2019, they announced they were relocating to Canton, Massachusetts, as the Canton Cubs, but were removed from the league schedule at the beginning of the season.

Great Lakes Junior Hockey League

The Great Lakes Junior Hockey League (GLJHL) was an American inline hockey league. Sanctioned by the AAU, the league is based in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States.

Dubuque Fighting Saints Ice hockey team in Dubuque, Iowa

The Dubuque Fighting Saints are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and are based in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River at the border intersects of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Home games are played at the Mystique Community Ice Center. Home and away games are broadcast live on Mixlr, with Jordan Kuhns handling play-by-play duties.

Alpena Thunder Ice hockey team in Alpena, Michigan

The Alpena Thunder were an independent junior ice hockey team. The team played out of Northern Lights Arena in Alpena, Michigan.

The New England Knights were a Tier III junior ice hockey team in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL). The team played out of Raynham IcePlex in Raynham, Massachusetts. The Knights' organization are owned by Lovell Hockey, which also operates boys' and girls' Knights youth teams as well as the Boston Advantage organization in the United States Premier Hockey League. The junior Knights team was not listed as a member of the NA3HL for the 2020–21 season, but the organization continued to host its youth teams.

Erie Blizzard Ice hockey team in Erie, Pennsylvania

The Erie Blizzard were a proposed independent junior ice hockey team in both the Continental Junior Hockey League (CJHL) and Midwest Junior Hockey League (MWJHL). The team was announced to play out of Ice Center of Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania, but never played a game.

The Niagara Fury were an independent junior ice hockey team in the Continental Junior Hockey League. The team played out of Chippawa Willoughby Memorial Arena in Chippawa, Ontario.

Midwest Junior Hockey League

The Midwest Junior Hockey League (MWJHL) was an American junior ice hockey league. The MWJHL were members of the United Hockey Union and sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). On March 10, 2015, the league announced it would be joining the United States Premier Hockey League as part of a new Midwest Division beginning in the 2015–16 season.

North American 3 Eastern Hockey League American hockey league

North American 3 Eastern Hockey League (NA3EHL) was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior ice hockey league. The league had teams in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. In 2016, the league merged with the North American 3 Hockey League.

United States Premier Hockey League American ice hockey league

The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States fielding teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), Premier, Elite, EHF, 18U, 16U, 15U, and High Performance youth divisions.

The Lewiston/Auburn Nordiques were a Tier III Junior "A" ice hockey team from Lewiston, Maine. The team was a member of the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) since 2016 and played home games at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée since 2015. The franchise relocated several times under the operation of the Fighting Spirit organization before it was sold to the Colisée owner, Jim Cain, in 2017.

Rick Morocco is a Canadian-Italian ice hockey executive, and former professional player. A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, he played junior ice hockey in Ontario, before winning a national university championship with the York Lions. During six seasons of professional hockey in Italy, he also played for the Italy men's national team at the World Championships and Winter Olympics. After his playing career, he served as an executive for Ontario University Athletics, the Professional Hockey Players' Association, the Canadian Junior Hockey League, and the Ontario Junior Hockey League. He was inducted into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame in 2005.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.indianagazette.com/articles/2010/08/06/a_sports/10049648.txt [ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Fury unleashed: New junior team calls city home | Sports | Niagara Falls Review". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  3. ↑ http://dailyme.com/story/2010060300001502/erie-hockey-team.html [ permanent dead link ]
  4. ↑ http://www.indianagazette.com/articles/2010/07/27/a_sports/10048329.txt [ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2010-09-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2010-09-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ Dan Kreiger (October 10, 2010). "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". OurSportsCentral.com. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  8. ↑ http://www.goerieblogs.com/sports/shootout/2011/11/hockey-update-blizzard-leave-cjhl-will-play-as-independent/
  9. ↑ http://www.americanjuniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=73469
  10. ↑ http://-www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4122276 [ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OurSports Central". 25 July 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.