Ontario Hockey Association

The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the OHF include the Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Northwestern Ontario. The OHA control 3 tiers of junior hockey; the "Tier 2 Junior "A", Junior "B" , Junior "C", and one senior hockey league, Allan Cup Hockey.

In 1980, the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League vacated what was known as Tier I Junior "A" hockey. The league is now known as the Ontario Hockey League. Although it is not a charter member of the OHA, the OHL is affiliated with the OHA and Ontario Hockey Federation.

History

Founding

The OHA was founded in 1890 to govern amateur ice hockey play in Ontario. This was the idea of Arthur Stanley, son of Lord Stanley, then Governor General of Canada. Arthur played for the Ottawa 'Rideau Hall Rebels' and in the course of exhibition play against other teams in Ontario, convinced team officials to hold a meeting in November 1890 to discuss the idea. On November 27, 1890, at the Queen's Hotel in Toronto, delegates from hockey clubs around Ontario formed the Ontario Hockey Association.

The first executive was:

* A. Morgan Cosby, Toronto Victoria Club, president,
* John Barron, vice-president,
* Henry Ward, vice-president,
* C. K. Temple, Toronto St. George's Club, treasurer,
* C. R. Hamilton, Toronto Victoria Club, secretary

Early history

In the beginning, the OHA had one league of senior men's hockey teams. This group included teams from Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, and London. In the first years, the schedule consisted of this group playing a series of elimination playoffs leading to a single-game final playoff. For the first three years the Ottawa Hockey Club was the champions, winners of the Cosby Cup. In 1894, the Ottawa team and the Association came to a disagreement over the venue of the finals, and Ottawa left the league. This was a schism that would lead to the forming of the Ottawa District Hockey Association, governing most of eastern Ontario ice hockey play.

In 1892, the junior-level was introduced for play at a lower level. It was not age-limited to young men under the age of 20 until 1896, when the OHA introduced the 'intermediate'-level play bracket. In 1919, the Memorial Cup was introduced, first called the 'OHA Memorial Cup', and was first won by University of Toronto Schools (UTS). It was to be the national championship trophy for junior-level play.

In 1897, intermediate level was introduced. This was to organize teams of a lower standard than the seniors. The first champions were Berlin, defeating the Frontenacs 3-0.

Stanley Cup

From 1893-1908, teams from the OHA could and did challenge for the Stanley Cup, including:

* Ottawa Hockey Club (was in both AHAC and OHA),
* Queen's University of Kingston,
* Toronto Marlboros,
* Toronto Wellingtons

As senior-level play became professional, Stanley Cup challenges would become impossible for amateur teams to win. After the introduction of the Allan Cup in 1908, clubs from the OHA would compete for that instead. The Ontario Professional Hockey League started to play in 1908 for senior-level men's pro hockey teams in Ontario. Champions of the OPHL would continue to challenge for the Stanley Cup. The senior-level men's league of the OHA is today composed of the six teams of Allan Cup Hockey.

1920s to 1970s

In 1924, the OHA voted to keep its ban on professional coaches in amateur hockey. When Queen's University at Kingston hired a full-time athletic director, OHA secretary W. A. Hewitt felt that the OHA should allow the director's involvement with the hockey team despite him being a paid professional. Hewitt proposed an amendment to the constitution which would allow the executive to scrutinize any coach and decide on the registration. The amendment was rejected by delegates who remained against any professionals in the OHA. Two years later, Hewitt brought up the issue again and argued that, "the original intention of this rule was to control the rofessionalcoach, not exterminate him".Young, Scott (1989), p. 161 His constitutional amendment was subsequently approved in the late-1920s.

When the OHA contract with Arena Gardens was up for renewal in the late-1920s, some executives preferred the Ravina Gardens where teams could get 50 per cent of the gate receipts, compared to only 35 per cent of the gate receipts at the Arena Gardens. Hewitt argued that 35 per cent of a larger arena in an established part of the city would be more profitable than 50 per cent of a smaller arena under construction in a newer part of the city. Hewitt promised to negotiate a better deal, in exchange for the contract with Arena Gardens to be renewed on a year-by-year basis. The OHA signed multiple five-year contracts with Maple Leaf Gardens, in which all Toronto-based teams in the OHA played home games at the arena, except for the University of Toronto teams.

1980s to present

The trophy emblematic of Canadian Intermediate Hockey supremacy was the Hardy Cup. Only three teams from Ontario ever won the Hardy Cup (that ran from 1968–1990), two from the OHA: Georgetown Raiders in 1982 and Dundas Real McCoys in 1986. The third Ontario team was the Embrun Panthers of the Ottawa District Hockey Association. The intermediate classification was abolished in 1983 by the OHA. The top league, Major Intermediate A Hockey League was divided between the OHA Senior A Hockey League and the various Senior B leagues.

In September 1985, the Supreme Court of Ontario ruled against an appeal for a girl to play in the OHA, stating that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was not violated since the OHA was a private organization. In June 1986, the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned the decision which was then upheled by the Supreme Court of Canada. The OHA's position had been that girls could not play on a boys' team when equal opportunity existed to play on a girls' team in her geographic area.

The OHA Senior A Hockey League ceased operations after the 1986–87 season, when it was reduced to three teams and the OHA was unable to find new teams. The league had become cost-prohibitive, and needed to cut costs and restructure senior ice hockey to compete for the Allan Cup.

During the summer in 1989, the Metro Toronto Hockey League (MTHL) and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA), broke away from the OHA and formed the Central Canada Hockey Association, due to disagreement with an OHA restructuring proposal which would have limited their voting powers. The dispute ended when the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) was established, with equal representation for the OHA, Northern Ontario Hockey Association, MTHL, and OMHA. The OHF was given the mandate to oversee hockey in Ontario, and be a review panel for three years to propose further restructuring if necessary.

The OHA established bursaries as of the 1995–96 season, to counter the loss of players to scholarships in the United States. The OHA awarded the bursaries to students chosen to attend the University of Windsor, University of Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier University.

On-ice violence

In 1986, the Ontario Hockey Association, concerned with growing violence in hockey, suspended the Streetsville Derbys and the Brantford Classics from playing in the 1986-87 season. The suspension of the Derbys had to do with a stick-swinging incident in the final game of the league quarter-final against the Nobleton Devils. A Nobleton player was struck in the back of the head with a two-hand slash, which also struck a linesman and cut his eyelid. Brantford's suspension was related to a violent playoff brawl against the St. Catharines Falcons.

In 1987, the Port Elgin Bears withdrew from a Western Ontario Junior C Hockey League playoffs series due to perceived on-ice violence by the Hanover Barons

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