The Empire Junior Hockey League (EmJHL) was a

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

-sanctioned Tier III junior

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. The league was classified as Tier III Junior B until the 2011–12 season when USA Hockey combined the Tier III Junior A and Junior B classifications.

History

On February 25, 2010, the Empire Junior Hockey League Board of Governors voted to eliminate 20-year-old players from the League by changing the restriction of no more than four 20-year-olds per team to a maximum of two per team in the 2010–11 season. Starting with the 2011–12 season there would be no 20-year-olds in the league. In 2013, the Empire League and the Eastern Elite Hockey League both agreed to affiliate with the newly formed

United States Premier 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), ...

becoming the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

and

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

Divisions, respectively. Starting with the 2015–16 season the USPHL's Empire Division was renamed to the USP3 Division.

Participating teams

, the following teams made up the league in its final season:

Champions

* 2012–13 Florida Junior Blades * 2011–12 New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs * 2010–11

New York Apple Core The New York Apple Core are a Tier III Junior A ice hockey team from Brewster, New York, playing in the Eastern Hockey League. The team plays home games at the Brewster Ice Arena. The Apple Core organization is based out of Long Beach, New York, ...

* 2009–10 New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs * 2008–09

Boston Jr. Bruins The Boston Junior Bruins are an American junior ice hockey organization playing in Marlborough, Massachusetts. They currently field three junior and a number of youth teams in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL). Mission Junior hock ...

* 2007–08

* 2006–07

2007 EmJHL Playoff Bracket
/ref>

References

External links

Official EJHL Web site
Junior ice hockey leagues in the United States {{icehockey-league-stub