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. With teams in Powassan, Rayside-Balfour, Sault Ste. Marie, Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan), Blind River, Iroquois Falls, Cochrane, Kirkland Lake, Espanola, Noelville, Elliot Lake, and Timmins the league is spread across 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 sheared 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.