| Centennial Cup | |
| Last Season: | 2024 Centennial Cup |
| Country: | Canada |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Inaugural: | 1971 |
| Champion: | Collingwood Blues (1st) |
| Champ Season: | 2024 |
| Most Champs: | Vernon Vipers (6) |
| Website: | Centennial Cup Website |
| Tv: | TSN |
| Related Comps: | CJHL member league championships |
The Centennial Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament organized by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), which determines the national champion of junior A ice hockey. It consists of a ten-team round robin featuring the winners of all nine CJHL member leagues as well as a pre-selected host city.
The championship has also been known as the National Junior A Championship in 2019, it was formerly known as the Royal Bank Cup from 1996 to 2018 and the Manitoba Centennial Cup from 1971 to 1995. It is currently branded as the Centennial Cup after Tim Hortons, the title sponsor of the 2022 tournament, withdrew future sponsorship in response to the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal.[1] [2]
The Manitoba Centennial Trophy was presented to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) by the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association (MAHA) to commemorate their centennial year of 1970. At that time, the CAHA reconfigured their junior tiers, creating two separate classifications - Major junior and Junior A. The major junior teams were grouped into the three regional leagues that made up the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL), while the Junior A tier included the remaining junior teams in the provincial/regional leagues that later formed the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It was determined that the Memorial Cup, which had served as the CAHA's national championship tournament, would become the new championship trophy for the CMJHL while the Manitoba Centennial Trophy served as the trophy for the champions of the new Junior A division. Earl Dawson and Bill Addison were the named initial trustees of the trophy, both of whom were past presidents of the MAHA.[3] The tournament subsequently became known as the Centennial Cup.
From 1971 to 1978 and from 1982 to 1984, the Centennial Cup pitted the Abbott Cup champion (Western Canada) versus the Dudley Hewitt Cup champion (Eastern Canada). A three-team tournament format, splitting Eastern Canada into two regions, was introduced in 1979 and used until 1981. The Centennial Cup permanently moved back to the tournament format in 1986, with the addition of a predetermined host team to the field. It later expanded to a five-team tournament in 1990 when the Abbott Cup series was discontinued in favour of allowing both the ANAVET and Doyle Cup winners to advance to the national championship. For the 1996 tournament, the trophy gained a sponsor and became the Royal Bank Cup. The ANAVET and Doyle Cups were temporarily replaced by the Western Canada Cup, which determined the two Western seeds for the Royal Bank Cup, from 2013 to 2017. During this time, the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League won the 2013 Royal Bank Cup, where they had gained entry into the tournament as the Western Canada Cup runner-up making them the first team in Centennial Cup/Royal Bank Cup history to win the national championship without being the host or a regional champion.
Overtime is common as the Junior A championships with the longest game in the tournament's history started on May 12, 2007, at 2007 Royal Bank Cup between the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the host Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League. The Spruce Kings won the game 3–2 6:01 into the fifth overtime period.[4] The game lasted 146:01, just short of the CJAHL record set by the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and the Pickering Panthers in the 2007 Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League playoffs (154:32).[5]
After the 2018 Royal Bank Cup, Royal Bank of Canada ended their sponsorship agreement with the Canadian Junior Hockey League. After going by the name National Junior A Championship in 2019, the CJHL and Hockey Canada reverted the title back to its original name — the Centennial Cup — for its 50th anniversary in 2020.[6] In December 2019, Tim Hortons was unveiled by Hockey Canada as the presenting sponsor for the Centennial Cup.[7] The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only times the championship has not been played since 1970.[8]
Starting in 1990, the tournament used a five-team round-robin followed by a playoff. The format for qualification of the participating teams was based on four regional champions and the host team.
Eastern Champion
Central Champion
Western Champion
Pacific Champion
Host team: Predetermined by CJHLAhead of the 2022 Centennial Cup, the tournament's format was changed to include the winners of the nine member leagues of the CJHL: the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL), Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Quebec Junior Hockey League (QJHL) and Maritime Junior A Hockey League (MHL) plus a host city as chosen by the CJHL.[9]
The Red Deer Rustlers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League defeated the Charlottetown Islanders of the Island Junior Hockey League in 1971 to claim the inaugural Canadian Junior A championship and Manitoba Centennial Trophy.
The 1972 Centennial Cup gained national attention when the Guelph CMC's of the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League were in the final game of a four-game sweep of the Red Deer Rustlers and their leading scorer Paul Fendley lost his helmet during a body check and struck his head on the ice, knocking him into a coma. The National Hockey League prospect regained consciousness and died two days later from head trauma.[10]
The 1990 Centennial Cup marked the only year that the national championship was decided between two teams from the same province or league. The host Vernon Lakers defeated the New Westminster Royals 6–5 in overtime to win the national championship. Both teams were members of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.
The final Centennial Cup from this era was awarded to the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League in 1995.
Note: Champions are in bold.
Every tournament in the Royal Bank Cup era was played as a round-robin tournament between five teams. In May 1996, the inaugural Royal Bank Cup was held in Melfort, Saskatchewan. The first winner of the Royal Bank Cup was the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League.
In 2018, the championship was renamed the National Junior A Championship after the Royal Bank of Canada dropped their sponsorship of the event.
With the national championship scheduled to return to Manitoba for its 50th anniversary in 2020, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League announced that the championship return to its original name, the Centennial Cup.
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Portage la Prairie, Manitoba | ||||
| Penticton, British Columbia | |||||
| Brooks Bandits | Pickering Panthers | 4–1 | Estevan, Saskatchewan | ||
| Brooks Bandits | 4–0 | Portage la Prairie, Manitoba | |||
| Collingwood Blues | 1–0 | Oakville, Ontario | |||
| Calgary, Alberta[11] |
The Pembroke Lumber Kings won the 2011 Royal Bank Cup, and became the first Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) team to win the National Junior A Championship since the 1976 champion Rockland Nationals. In 2015, the Portage Terriers broke a 41-year drought for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), being the first team to win the Junior A championship since the 1974 Selkirk Steelers. Collectively, the Maritime provinces have only won two championships whereas no teams from the Quebec Junior Hockey League (QJHL), Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL), or the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) have won the Junior A championship to date.
| Rank | Province | Champions | Hosts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 12 | 14 | ||
| 3 | 11 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 10 | 11 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 6 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 1 | 4 |
There has been a consecutive national champion on four occasions: the Prince Albert Raiders won in 1981 and 1982, while Vernon won in 1990 and 1991 (as the Lakers), and again in 2009 and 2010 (as the Vipers), and the Brooks Bandits in 2022 and 2023.
The Prince Albert Raiders also hold a record for appearing in the championship final three consecutive times, in 1977, 1978 and 1979. The Raiders also reached the national finals five times in six years (1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982), while winning a total of four championships (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982) during that span. The Raiders joined the Western Hockey League (WHL) as a major junior team following their 1982 Junior A championship, and won the Memorial Cup soon after in 1985.
| Team | Province | League | Champions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 6 (1990, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010) | |||
| Alberta | 4 (2013, 2019, 2022, 2023) | |||
| Saskatchewan | 4 (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982) | |||
| Ontario | 2 (2004, 2007) | |||
| Ontario | 2 (1972, 1978) | |||
| Saskatchewan | 2 (2003, 2008) | |||
| British Columbia | 2 (1986, 2012) | |||
| Manitoba | 2 (1973, 2015) | |||
| Alberta | 2 (1971, 1980) | |||
| Ontario | 2 (1989, 1992) | |||
| Saskatchewan | 2 (1984, 2005) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (2006) | |||
| Alberta | 1 (1995) | |||
| Alberta | 1 (2001) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (2018) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (2017) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (2024) | |||
| Alberta | 1 (2000) | |||
| Nova Scotia | 1 (2002) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (1993) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (1983) | |||
| Saskatchewan | 1 (1988) | |||
| Alberta | 1 (1994) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (1985) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (2011) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (1987) | |||
| Ontario | 1 (1976) | |||
| Manitoba | 1 (1974) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (1998) | |||
| Alberta | 1 (1975) | |||
| Prince Edward Island | 1 (1997) | |||
| British Columbia | 1 (2016) | |||
| Saskatchewan | 1 (2014) |
The Roland Mercier Trophy is awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the Centennial Cup tournament.