Empire Junior C Hockey League

The Empire B Junior C Hockey League is a former Junior "C" ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. The league was merged into the Provincial Junior Hockey League as the Tod Division in the summer of 2016.

Formed in 1989 as the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League, the league had to change its name in 1995 to avoid ongoing confusion with the neighbouring Ottawa District Hockey Association's long running Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League. The forerunner of the EBJCHL was the Quinte-St. Lawrence Junior C Hockey League, which merged into the Central Junior C Hockey League in 1986.

The league features six franchises, which are located through Central-eastern Ontario in Amherstview, Campbellford, Gananoque, Napanee, Port Hope, and Picton. The Port Hope Panthers is the new name of the transferred Colborne Cobras franchise.

The teams play a 40-game regular season, with four home and away dates against each of the other Empire B teams. The top four teams make the playoffs — two rounds of best-of-seven play. The Empire playoff champions advance to the OHA quarterfinals against the Central champions and compete for an All-Ontario Championship and the Clarence Schmalz Cup. In its 20-year history, two Empire B teams have won the Schmalz Cup. Napanee Raiders were the first in 1993. On May 1, 2013, the Picton Pirates became the second team in Empire league history to win the Clarence Schmalz Cup as OHA Junior C champions, defeating the Essex 73's of the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League 4-games-to-1.

The Empire league has had a number of winners of the OHA Junior C Player of the Year award. Most recently, Napanee's Pete Sergeant took the honours in 2008-2009. Among the previous winners are Jason Sutton (Napanee), Adam Walsh (Picton), Joe Curry (Campbellford), and Ryan Zufelt (Amherstview).

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