2015 - 16 OHL Season This is the 2015 - 16 Ontario Hockey League season . This is the league ' s 46th season dating back to its ' founding as the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League . There are currently 20 teams in the OHL ; 16 are based in the Canadian province of Ontario , three teams in the American state of Michigan and one team in the American state of Pennsylvania . Out of the 18 teams based in Ontario , 15 teams are in Southern Ontario , and 3 teams are in Northern Ontario . The 20 OHL clubs play a 68 game unbalanced schedule , which starts in the third full week of September , running until the third week of March . Ninety per cent ( 90 % ) of OHL games are scheduled between Thursday and Sunday to minimize the number of school days missed for its players . Ninety - five per cent ( 95 % ) of the players in the league are attending high school or college . The Flint Firebirds were forced to move a March 16th game against the London Knights to the Dow Event Center in Saginaw , Michigan due to a burst pipe at the Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center . The Flint Firebird Fiasco . On November 8th , the owner of the Flint Firebirds fired the head coach , John Gruden after the team pulled out a come from behind overtime victory over the defending Memorial Cup champions earlier . According to published reports the issue was the amount of ice time that owner , Rolf Nilson ' s 17 year old son was receiving . Upon hearing of the removal of the coach the whole 24 members of the team quit , not wanting to play for anyone else but Coach Gruden . Among those quitting the team were the owner ' s son , Håkon Nilsen . The whole team went into the team ' s front office and threw their jerseys on the ground , quit the team and then walked out . OHL commissioner David Branch was scheduled to meet with the ownership of the franchise on Monday November 9th to try to salvage anything out of what is a very bad situation for all involved . After the meeting the owner issued a release through the OHL ' s website stating that he made " an irresponsible mistake " and the coaches were reinstated and meetings were held between the league commissioner , ownership , coaches and players . The Firebirds organization made news headlines again on February 17th when the owner fired Coach ( and now GM since January ) Gruden and assistant coach Dave Karpa and named director of operations Sergei Kharin interim head coach . The way the handling of the terminations was handled ( mainly involving communication to the players and the league ) has lead to the league looking into the terminations . Commissioner Branch was in contact with the team ' s captain , Alex Peters and was planning on meeting with the rest of the players and parents within a few days . At the time of the firings the team was in 9th place in the conference with a 11 - 31 - 6 record and lost 8 of their last ten games . The team was actually on a pace for a better record than in 2014 - 15 . The league made the following announcements after the initial phase of their investigation : The owner and his appointees on the management and coaching staff ( including interim coach Sergei Kharin ) . The team is to provide counseling services for the players and that the management team is to co - operate with the commissioner and the league for the rest of the investigation . The league and the commissioner have said they will take any appropriate actions to remedy the situation . On April 6 , 2016 the league annouced that owner Rolf Nilsen was suspended as for five years and fined $ 250 , 000 as a result of an investigation conducted by the league . The report stated that Nilsen had violated an agreement he signed with the league on November 11 , 2015 . The team was also penalized with the forfeiture of the team ' s first round pick in the OHL Priority Selection ( the third pick overall in the draft ) . The release stated if Nilsen violates any of the terms of the order from the league he will be required to sell 100 % of his ownership interest in the Firebirds . Nilsen may file for re - instatement to participate in hockey operations after 3 years . The league further announced that Joe Birch who took over the hockey operations in February will continue in the position and additional staff ( head coach , GM , and other hockey operational staff ) would be named shortly . The team will continue to be under the stewardship , supervision and direction of the league commissioner . 2016 J . Ross Robertson Cup Playoffs . Format . The OHL playoffs consist of 16 teams , the top 8 from each conference . The teams play a best - of - seven game series , and the winner of each series advances to the next round . The final two teams eventually compete for the J . Ross Robertson Cup . The J . Ross Robertson Cup champion advances to the 2016 Memorial Cup which is scheduled to be held in Red Deer , Alberta and be hosted by the Red Deer Rebels . All of the games will be held at the ENMAX Centrium . This will be the 98th Memorial Cup championship and will determine the champion of the Canadian Hockey League . The tournament wlll match up the champions of the three member leagues of the Canadian Hockey League ( the Western Hockey League , the Ontario Hockey League , and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the host Red Deer Rebels . The Niagara IceDogs win the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference Champions The London Knights win the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference Champions The J . Ross Robertson Cup champion London Knights advance to the 2016 Memorial Cup which is scheduled to be held in Red Deer , Alberta and be hosted by the Red Deer Rebels .