Ontario Hockey League


The Ontario Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–20. There are currently 20 teams in the OHL: seventeen in Ontario, two in Michigan, and one in Pennsylvania.
The league was founded in 1980 when its predecessor, the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League, formally split away from the Ontario Hockey Association, joining the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and its direct affiliation with Hockey Canada. The OHL traces its history of Junior A hockey back to 1933 with the partition of Junior A and B. In 1970, the OHA Junior A League was one of five Junior A leagues operating in Ontario. The OHA was promoted to Tier I Junior A for the 1970–71 season and took up the name Ontario Major Junior Hockey League. Since 1980 the league has grown rapidly into a high-profile marketable product, with many games broadcast on television and radio.

History

Leagues for ice hockey in Ontario were first organized in 1890 by the newly created Ontario Hockey Association. In 1892 the OHA recognized junior hockey - referring to skill rather than age. In 1896 the OHA moved to the modern age-limited junior hockey concept, distinct from senior and intermediate divisions. Since then the evolution to the Ontario Hockey League has developed through four distinct eras of junior-aged non-professional hockey in Ontario. In 1933, the junior division was divided into two levels, Junior A and Junior B. In 1970 the Junior A level was divided into two levels, Tier I and Tier II. In 1974 the Tier I/Major Junior A group separated from the OHA and became the independent Ontario Major Junior Hockey League. In 1980, the OMJHL became the Ontario Hockey League.
The OHL split from the OHA in July 1982. The OHA and OHL disagreed on financial terms of affiliation, then the OHL decided to handle its own administration. The OHA and the OHL later reached an interim affiliation agreement, which allowed the OHL to compete at the Memorial Cup.
In March 2005, the league announced the launch of OHL Live Stream, resulting in OHL games being broadcast live on a pay-per-view broadband basis.

Commissioners

OMJHL and OHL Commissioners

Former teams

Note: The 12 original OHL franchises were all previously members of the OMJHL. Some other franchises played in different junior leagues prior to joining the OHL.

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text:Formation of OHL

Current teams are listed in blue. Gold stars denote J. Ross Robertson Cup winners

Schedule

The 20 OHL clubs play a 68-game unbalanced schedule, which starts in the third full week of September, running until the third week of March. Ninety percent of OHL games are scheduled between Thursday and Sunday to minimize the number of school days missed for its players.
Approximately 20% of players on active rosters in the National Hockey League have come from the OHL, and about 54% of NHL players are alumni of the Canadian Hockey League.