| United States Premier Hockey League (Premier Division) | |
| |
| Sport | Ice Hockey |
| Founded | 2012 |
| CEO | Richard Gallant |
| No. of teams | 46 |
| Country(ies) |  United States
|
| Most recent champion(s) | New Jersey Hitmen |
| Most championship(s) | New Jersey Hitmen (2) |
| Official website | USPHL.com |
The United States Premier Hockey League-Premier Division (USPHL-Premier) is an American Junior ice hockey league.
USA Hockey had classified the Premier Division as a Tier III junior hockey league. U18, U16 and U16 Development divisions are Tier I youth hockey divisions. The division was sanctioned by USA Hockey until the end of the 2016-17 season.[1] The USPHL as a whole would withdraw from USA Hockey sanctioning after the 2016-17 season.
History[]
The formation of the United States Premier Hockey League was caused by a lack of stability of the existing leagues in the northeastern section of the United States and the Tier level system of USA Hockey in general. All but one of the nine teams came from the Eastern Junior Hockey League. The one addition franchise was the Stamford, Connecticut based CT Yankees.
The nine teams that would make up the membership for the 2013-14 season was composed of the Boston Junior Bruins (Marlboro MA) (from EJHL), Islanders Hockey Club (North Andover MA) (from EJHL), Jersey Hitmen (Wayne NJ) (from EJHL), South Shore Kings (Foxboro MA) (from EJHL), Philadelphia Flyers Elite (new team from Philadelphia Flyers junior program), Bay State Breakers (Kingston MA) (from EJHL), Portland Junior Pirates (Saco ME) (from EJHL), CT Yankees (Stamford CT) (new franchise), PAL Junior Islanders (Suffolk NY) (from EJHL)
The Boston Jr. Bruins would represent the league at the 2014 USA Hockey Tier III Junior National Championship and would win the National championship while going undefeated in 5 games outscoring opponents by margin of 33 to 5. The Premier Division champion New Jersey Hitmen would not participate in the 2015 USA Hockey Tier III Junior National Championship.
The CT Yankees announced on April 1, 2014 that the organization will be renamed the Connecticut Junior Rangers as part of a new relationship with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
The Premier division will add the Rochester Jr. Americans and the Springfield Jr. Pics for the 2014-15 season.
In early March 2015 the Syracuse Stars organization acquired the rights to a Premier Division team from the Bay State Breakers.
The league announced May 7, 2015 that Okanagan Hockey Stars from Austria would join the league for the 2015-16 season playing a full schedule and participating in all league events. The team will be based out of Foxboro Sports Center in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
The USPHL announced on December 18, 2014 the formation of a Mid-West Division to begin in the 2015-16 season by adding several teams from the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.[2] By the end of the season, the Mid-West Division would add all but one active MnJHL team causing the MnJHL to disband for the following season. On March 10, 2014, the USPHL also added the entire Midwest Junior Hockey League to its new Mid-West Division for the 2015-16 season.[3] USPHL Mid-West will mark the fourth Tier III division under the USPHL umbrella.
In March of 2016 the league announced that the Rochester Jr. Americans and the Portland Junior Pirates will not be a part of the Premier League for the 2016-17 season.
The league would undergo a massive restructuring for the 2017-18 season as the USPHL announced the formation of a Tier-II league that would be called the National Collegiate Development Conference. Seven of the teams from the Premier Division would be joined by the Rochester Monarchs and three organizations that joined from the Eastern Hockey League (Boston Bandits, New Jersey Rockets, and the Northern Cyclones). The Okanagan European Eagles and the Springfield Pics would remain in the Premier Division and not jump to the NCDC
Teams[]
Champions[]
| Year | Team |
|---|---|
| 2013–14 | Boston Jr. Bruins |
| 2014–15 | New Jersey Hitmen |
| 2015–16 | New Jersey Hitmen |
| 2016-17 | Islanders Hockey Club |
Standings[]
- 2013-14 USPHL Premier Season
- 2014-15 USPHL-Premier Season
- 2015-16 USPHL-Premier Season
- 2016-17 USPHL-Premier Season
References[]
- ↑ USA Hockey agrees to sanction USPHL, major eastern mergers (6 May 2013).
- ↑ Minnesota Junior Hockey League gets a shakeup (18 December 2014).
- ↑ Midwest Junior Hockey League Joins USPHL Mid-West Junior Hockey Division. USPHL (March 10, 2015).