Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League

The Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League is a former Junior "C" ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. The Champion of the Niagara competed for the All-Ontario Championship and the Clarence Schmalz Cup.

In the summer of 2016, the NDJCHL merged into the Provincial Junior Hockey League.

The Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League was formed in 1974. Although corresponding with the founding of the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League, the Niagara District league was actually founded by removing the Niagara-area teams from the Central Junior C Hockey League and placing them in the new Niagara District league. The Central league is now known as the Western Ontario Junior C Hockey League.

In 1984, the entire Western Division of the league broke away and formed the Southwestern Junior C Hockey League. The league only last one year before it was reabsorbed by the Niagara & District League. The Southwestern league comprised teams from Norwich, Woodstock, Tillsonburg, Simcoe, and New Hamburg. Local publications, like the Simcoe Reformer, did not recognize the Southwestern League as anything but the Western Division of the Niagara District league.

In the Spring of 2013, Junior C hockey in Ontario had its first major realignment since the creation of the Georgian Mid-Ontario Junior C Hockey League in 1994. The 27 teams between the Niagara & District League and the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League were reshuffled. The Niagara & District League jumped from 12 to 18 teams, losing the Aylmer Spitfires, but gaining the Ayr Centennials, Burford Bulldogs, Delhi Travellers, Hagersville Hawks, Norfolk Rebels (Port Dover), , and Wellesley Applejacks. Not long after, the OHA split off the Western Division of the Niagara League to form the new Midwestern Junior C Hockey League, taking long time Niagara League members the , New Hamburg Firebirds, Norwich Merchants, and Paris Mounties with them.

...
Wikipedia