The Ontario Elite Hockey League (OEHL) announced its first-round playoff match-ups and the historic trophies that will be handed out to its first champions this spring.
All OEHL Cup playoff series are best-of-seven format.
The top eight teams in the regular season standings will compete for the OHA Sr. AA Championship and the newly-renamed OEHL Cup.
The OEHL Cup was first introduced in 1935 as the championship trophy for the Ontario Hockey Association’s Intermediate-B playoff champions. Other than a hiatus during World War II, the trophy was awarded annually until 1971, when a reorganization of Intermediate hockey ended Intermediate B play. A full history of the OEHL Cup, including past winners, is available on OEHLHockey.ca
“We are proud to restore this beautiful trophy and continue its history alongside our own history as the highest calibre of hockey in small-town Ontario,” said OEHL Commissioner Rick Richardson.
The OEHL Cup Quarterfinal match-ups begins as follows:
At the conclusion of the quarterfinals, the advancing teams will be reseeded, with the top advancing seed playing the lowest advancing seed in the semi-finals, and the other two remaining teams playing each other.
The OHA Sr. “A” Playoffs will feature the 9th – 11th placed teams, who will be competing for the Hugh McLean Trophy.
The trophy is named in honour of McLean, a former OHA and NHL referee who officiated for nearly three decades, including 10 seasons in the NHL, and was president of the OHA from 1976-78. The trophy was created for the champions of the Continental Sr. A Hockey League in the early 1970s, and then transferred to the OHA Sr. A Hockey League, the predecessor of present-day Allan Cup Hockey. The McLean Trophy was presented to its regular season champion annually from 1980-87.
