The Eastern Junior A Hockey League (EJHL, EJAHL) was a Junior "A"

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

league from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. The Eastern Junior A Hockey League was in competition for the

Manitoba Centennial Cup 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 ...

, the National Junior A Championship from 1975 until 1978.

History

In the mid-1970s, the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association allowed the Eastern Junior B Hockey League of Cape Breton Island to play at the Junior A level. The 1975 Champion Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates and

Antigonish Bulldogs The Valley Wildcats are a Canadian junior ice hockey franchise from the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia. The team is a member of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League and plays in the EastLink Division. They play their home games in the Kings ...

refused to jump to Junior A and elected to play in the Northumberland Junior B Hockey League. The EJAHL expanded with a new team in New Waterford and continued on with four teams. Over the next two seasons, the Sydney Millionaires were the cream of the crop in the EJAHL. Winning both the 1976 and 1977 Regular Season and Playoff Championships, the Millionaires twice made it into the

Centennial Cup 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 ...

playdowns. In 1976, the Millionaires were dropped in five games by the Charlottetown Colonels of the

Island Junior Hockey League The Island Junior Hockey League is a Junior "B" ice hockey league in Prince Edward Island, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada. History Since being founded in 1996, the IJHL has been strictly a Junior "B" League—one tier below the Maritime Jun ...

. A year later, the Millionaires first played the

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of the Newfoundland Junior A Hockey League sweeping them in the process. In the second round of the playoffs, the Millionaires met Charlottetown again and were swept again. In the 1977–78 season, the New Waterford Jets found their legs and took both the regular season and playoff crowns. In an anticlimactic ending to the league, the Jets took on the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League's first ever Junior A champion in 1978, the Cole Harbour Colts from

's mainland and were defeated by them. In 1979, New Waterford repeated as champions. They lost to the MVJHL's Halifax Lions ''4-games-to-none'' in the provincial final. In 1980, the Northside Trojans won the league. They lost to the MVJHL's Cole Harbour Colts in four straight games. In the early 1980s, the league was demoted to Jr. B and merged with the Northumberland Junior B Hockey League. In 1992, that league merged with the Mainland Junior B Hockey League to form the

Nova Scotia Junior B Hockey League The 'Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League'' (formerly the Nova Scotia Junior B Hockey League) is a Junior "B" ice hockey league in Nova Scotia, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The winner of the Nova Scotia playoffs competes for the Don Johnson ...

that exists to this day. Even now, the

Strait Pirates The Strait Pirates are a Junior B ice hockey team from Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Pirates play at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre and are a member of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League. The Pirates are the longest countiously r ...

of Port Hawkesbury still exist and the Cape Breton Canadians who were formed as the Sydney Millionaires in the 1970s are still playing in the NSJHL.

Teams

* County Centennials * Glace Bay Miners * New Waterford Jets *

North Sydney Victorias North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

/Northside Trojans * Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates * Sydney Millionaires

Regular Season Champions

*1975 Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates *1976 Sydney Millionaires *1977 Sydney Millionaires *1978 New Waterford Jets *1979 New Waterford Jets *1980 Glace Bay Miners

Playoff Champions

*1975 Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates *1976 Sydney Millionaires *1977 Sydney Millionaires *1978 New Waterford Jets *1979 New Waterford Jets *1980 Northside Trojans

National Playdowns

*''1976'' - Lost Eastern

Semi-final :: Charlottetown Colonels ( IJHL) defeated Sydney Millionaires ''4-games-to-1'' in East MCC semi-final *''1977'' - Lost Eastern

Semi-final :: Sydney Millionaires defeated

( NJAHL) ''4-games-to-none'' in East MCC quarter-final :: Charlottetown Generals ( IJHL) defeated Sydney Millionaires ''4-games-to-none'' in East MCC semi-final *''1978'' - Lost Eastern

Quarter-final :: Cole Harbour Colts ( MVJHL) defeated New Waterford Jets ''4-games-to-none'' in East MCC quarter-final *''1979'' - Lost Eastern

Semi-final :: Halifax Lions ( MVJHL) defeated New Waterford Jets ''4-games-to-none'' in East MCC semi-final *''1980'' - Lost Eastern

Semi-final :: Cole Harbour Colts ( MVJHL) defeated Northside Trojans ''4-games-to-none'' in East MCC semi-final

External links