Alberta Junior Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition: 2016-17 AJHL season
|
|
 |
|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1964 |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Country | Canada |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Brooks Bandits |
| Official website | www.ajhl.ca/ |
The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The regular season league champions receive the Dave Duchak Trophy. The playoff champions receive the Gas Drive Cup (the Carling O'Keefe trophy before 1998). The winner of the AJHL playoffs continues on to play in the Western Canada Cup in a round robin tournament with the MJHL, SJHL, AJHL and BCHL. The winner of the Western Canada Cup competes in the Junior "A" National Championship for the Royal Bank Cup.
The early 1960s saw a much different junior hockey scenario in Alberta than what currently exists. The Edmonton Oil Kings were the only true Junior-A-calibre team in the province and drew most of the top talent Alberta had to offer. The Oil Kings were the Western Canadian champions from 1962 until 1966, Abbott Cup champions in 1954 and from 1960 to 1966, and Memorial Cup national champions in 1963 and 1966. In 1966, the Oil Kings helped create the Western Hockey League. The issue in 1964 was that there were hundreds of junior-calibre players in the province, but really only one team to play for. A group of business and hockey people got together in 1964 and decided to form a Junior "A" league in an attempt to truly develop Alberta hockey. The original league consisted of the Edmonton Safeway Canadians, the Edmonton Maple Leafs, the Lethbridge Sugar Kings, Calgary Cowboys, and the Calgary Buffaloes.
...
Wikipedia