Northeast Jr. Eagles

''This article is about the team that was formerly based in St. John's and became the Northeast Celtics in 2013. For the previous edition of the team which played from 1998 to 2002 please see Northeast Jr. Eagles (1998-2002)''

The Northeast Jr. Eagles are a team in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and play in the Junior B level St. John's Junior Hockey League. The team played out of St. John's as the Brother Rice Celtics from 1980 to 1983 and then as the St. John's Jr. Celtics from 1984 to 2014. The team relocated to Torbay and were renamed the Northeast Jr. Celtics playing out of the Jack Byrne Arena. The team was renamed the Northeast Jr. Eagles prior to the 2016-17 season

History
Prior to 1980, junior hockey in St. John's was for the most part a juvenile-level recreation league. Every year, an all-star team was drafted from the city and named the St. John's Jr. Capitals, after their senior team the St. John's Capitals, to compete against teams from across the province for the Veitch Memorial Trophy at either the Junior A or B level.

In 1980, the St. John's Junior Hockey League was organized and a legitimate Junior B league was formed. The winner of this league, not an all-star team, would represent the city in provincial and inter-provincial events. One of the founding members of this league was the St. John's "Brothers Rice" Jr. Celtics. In 1982, the Celtics would win their first league championship. They would win the Veitch Memorial Trophy and move on to the first ever Don Johnson Cup—an inter-provincial Junior Championship featuring the best Junior B clubs from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In the final game, the Jr. Celtics defeated PEI's Kensington Bombers, 4–3, to win the first ever championship. Newfoundland's own Don Johnson had the honour of awarding the trophy bearing his name to his own son, Celtics' Michael Johnson, at the first event.

Nine games into the 1982–83 season, the Celtics had to pull out of the league. They were mothballed in 1983–84, but returned after that year off.

In 1989, the league retracted by half and was promoted to Junior A to compete for the Manitoba Centennial Cup at a National level. The Celtics were a part of this Junior A experiment for its two seasons, but the winners of the two seasons (St. John's Jr. 50's and Avalon Jr. Capitals) did not fare well in national playdowns, and the entire league returned to Junior B in 1991.



The Jr. Celtics won the St. John's League championship in 1982, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2008, and 2011. They won the Provincial Veitch Memorial Trophy in 1982, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2008, and 2011. 1982 remains the Celtics' only Don Johnson Cup.

On May 4, 2016 the three levels of team that play in the Jack Byrne Arena announced that they combining their efforts to promote the game at all levels locally. The Northeast Minor Hockey Association has joined with the junior and senior teams to form one group designed to help promote the game at all levels. As part of this agreement, the junior team – which plays in the St. John’s Junior Hockey League and has had a player affiliation agreement with Northeast since 2011 – will change its name to Eagles moving forward. The minor association as well as the senior and junior teams will continue to have their own executives and associations, but will come together to help each other through a separate body designed to help with promotion, fundraising and sponsorship. The agreement was reached at a recent meeting of all three organizations.