Dudley Hewitt Cup
The Dudley Hewitt Cup was awarded annually from 1971–2019 to the championship Junior 'A' ice hockey team for the Central/East region of Canada. That region initially extended east from Ontario to The Maritimes. Later, the scope was limited to teams from the Ontario Junior [Hockey League], Northern [Ontario Junior Hockey League] and Superior International Junior Hockey League. The winners of the Dudley Hewitt Cup went on to compete for the national championship Centennial Cup.
It was named after George Dudley and W. A. Hewitt, who served as administrators for the Ontario Hockey Association and are inductees of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
History
The Dudley Hewitt Memorial Trophy was first awarded in 1971 to the Charlottetown Islanders of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League (1968–1971) after they defeated the Detroit Jr. Red Wings (SOJHL) 4 games to 2. The Pembroke Lumber Kings of the CJHL and the Thunder Bay Flyers of the United States Hockey League tied for the most wins with four each.The 2002 Dudley-Hewitt Cup marked a new chapter in Ontario hockey history. Since the mid-1990s, the OPJHL and NOJHL had squared off in a head-to-head series to determine the Central Canadian seed in the Royal Bank Cup. In 2001, a new Thunder Bay-area league, called the Superior International Junior Hockey League, was founded. Late in the 2001–02 season the CJAHL informed all three leagues that instead of a series, the Dudley would be contested through a round-robin format. Initially, both the OPJHL and NOJHL threatened to boycott the DHC. The CJAHL announced that if the OPJHL and NOJHL did not send a champion, the SIJHL champion would move on by default to the national championship. The OPJHL did not budge, but the NOJHL gave in and in January announced that their champion would play the SIJHL champion for the DHC in a best-of-three series.
In 2013 the Minnesota Wilderness of the SIJHL became the first US-based champions after defeating the St. Michael's Buzzers of the OJHL 4:3 in overtime.
The 2014 Dudley Hewitt Cup saw its fourth all-OJHL Dudley-Hewitt Cup final between the Wellington Dukes and the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots. Toronto won 2–1 advancing to the 2014 [Royal Bank Cup] in Vernon, British Columbia.
The 2015 Dudley Hewitt Cup was won by the Soo Thunderbirds of the NOJHL.
The Trenton Golden Hawks of the OJHL won their first Dudley Hewitt championship in 2016 and their second in 2017 while hosting.
Dryden, Ontario, and the Dryden Ice Dogs of the Superior International Junior Hockey League were hosts of the 2018 Dudley Hewitt Cup.
The 2019 Dudley Hewitt Cup was hosted in Cochrane, Ontario, of the NOJHL, after the Cochrane Crunch and the Timmins Rock were the only teams to submit bids.
In early January 2019, the Wellington Dukes were awarded the 2020 Dudley-Hewitt Cup tournament, but shortly afterwards, Hockey Canada levied sanctions against the OJHL for trades made after the January 10 deadline. The OJHL was fined $50,000 and were banned from hosting the Dudley-Hewitt Cup and Royal Bank Cup tournaments for a period of five years. The 2020 tournament was then awarded to Fort Frances, Ontario, before it was cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.