Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association is the governing body for the majority of Junior and Senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario . The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association . Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the OHF include the Ottawa District Hockey Association and Hockey Northwestern Ontario . The OHA is composed of 4 major tiers of Junior hockey controlled by the OHA : Junior " A " , Junior " B " , Junior " C " , and Junior Development . The OHA also controls one senior hockey league , Major League Hockey . In 1980 , the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League vacated what was known as Tier I Junior " A " hockey . The league is now known as the Ontario Hockey League . Although it is not a charter member of the OHA , the OHL is affiliated with the OHA and Ontario Hockey Federation . History . Founding . The OHA was founded in 1890 to govern amateur ice hockey play in Ontario . This was the idea of Arthur Stanley , son of Lord Stanley , the Governor - General . Arthur played for the Ottawa ' Rideau Rebels ' and in the course of exhibition play against other teams in Ontario , convinced team officials to hold a meeting in November 1890 to discuss the idea . So , on November 27 , 1890 at the Queen ' s Hotel in Toronto , delegates from hockey clubs around Ontario formed the Ontario Hockey Association . The first executive was : Early History . In the beginning , the OHA had one league of senior men ' s hockey teams . This group included teams from Ottawa , Kingston , Toronto , and London . In the first years , the schedule consisted of this group playing a series of elimination playoffs leading to a single - game final playoff . For the first three years the Ottawa Hockey Club was the champions , winners of the Cosby Cup . In 1894 , the Ottawa team and the Association came to a disagreement over the venue of the finals , and Ottawa left the league . This was a schism that would lead to the forming of the Ottawa District Hockey Association , governing most of eastern Ontario ice hockey play . Stanley Cup . From 1893 - 1908 , teams from the OHA could and did challenge for the Stanley Cup , including : As senior - level play became professional , Stanley Cup challenges would become impossible for amateur teams to win . After the introduction of the Allan Cup in 1908 , clubs from the OHA would compete for that instead . The Ontario Professional Hockey League started play in 1908 for senior - level men ' s pro hockey teams in Ontario . Champions of the OPHL would continue to challenge for the Stanley Cup . The senior - level men ' s league of the OHA is today composed of the 6 teams of Major League Hockey . Junior hockey . In 1892 , the junior - level was introduced for play at a lower level . It was not age - limited to young men under the age of 20 until 1896 , when the OHA introduced the ' intermediate ' - level play bracket . In 1919 , the Memorial Cup was introduced , first called the ' OHA Memorial Cup ' , and was first won by University of Toronto Schools ( UTS ) . It was to be the national championship trophy for junior - level play . The top - level of junior men ' s ice hockey would be under the governance of the OHA until 1980 , when the Ontario Hockey League ( OHL ) was formed as a separate organization under Hockey Canada . The OHL took over as the body eligible for Memorial Cup tournament play , and later became part of the Canadian Hockey League junior league . The OHA continues to be the governing body for several ice hockey leagues in senior and junior within its jurisdictional borders . Intermediate hockey . In 1897 , intermediate level was introduced . This was to organize teams of a lower standard than the seniors . The first champions were Berlin , defeating the Frontenacs 3 - 0 . The classification was abolished in 1983 by the OHA . The top league , Major Intermediate A Hockey League was divided between the OHA Senior A Hockey League and the various Senior B leagues . Nowadays , the OHA ' s Rule Handbook refers to what used to be the Intermediate A level as Senior AA , Intermediate B as Senior A , Intermediate C as Senior B , and the Intermediate D loop as Senior C . The champions for each classification is listed in the OHA Rule Handbook except for Senior C , although its trophy name is listed . The trophy emblematic of Canadian Intermediate Hockey supremacy was the Hardy Cup . Only three teams from Ontario ever won the Hardy Cup ( that ran from 1968 - 1990 ) , two from the OHA : Georgetown Raiders in 1982 and Dundas Real McCoys in 1986 . The third Ontario team was the Embrun Panthers of the Ottawa District Hockey Association . Jurisdiction . Empowered by Hockey Canada , the Ontario Hockey Association governs all Ontario senior and junior hockey not administered by Hockey Northwestern Ontario , Ottawa District Hockey Association , or Northern Ontario Hockey Association . This does not include the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League or Western Ontario Athletic Association ( at the Senior level ) , which are run outside of Hockey Canada ' s jurisdiction and are not affiliated . The Ottawa District represents the part of Ontario East of and including Lanark County , Renfrew County , and Leeds County , but not including the town of Gananoque . Hockey Northwestern Ontario has control of the section of Northwestern Ontario west of the 85th meridian . Tomorrow ' s Game . Since the 2005 - 06 season , the OHA has sought a manner inwhich to rebrand and repopularize junior hockey throughout Ontario . Prior to the 2009 - 10 season , the OHA attempted to implement stage one of this endeavour . Their first attempt was to integrate the teams of the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League in the Western Ontario Junior C Hockey League , Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League , and the Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League . The SOJHL , a group of teams in the London , Ontario - area are all former Junior D teams who have sought identification as Junior C teams as a whole in the past . The teams of the SOJHL , although classified still as Junior D in the OHA , dropped their Junior D title a long time ago . In 2009 , a vote was conducted by the General Managers of the SOJHL , WOJCHL , GLJHL , and NDJCHL on how the OHA would proceed with the amalgamation . In the end , no action was taken . A group of SOJHL teams and NDJCHL teams actively blocked the measure due to a cluster of teams from both leagues that would have heavily overlapping player drawing zones - which would result in a depletion in their talent pool . During the 2009 - 10 season , the OHA announced that the second stage of the Tomorrow ' s game initiative would take place at the start of the 2010 - 11 season - the re - amalgamation of Junior A and Junior B and the promotion of the best of these teams to the new " Premier League " . In 1993 , the Metro Junior B Hockey League and Central Junior B Hockey League , the OHA ' s two Toronto - area Junior B leagues , were officially recognized by the OHA as Junior A Leagues . The three remaining leagues , the Mid - Western Junior Hockey League , Western Ontario Hockey League , and Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League , who had been more dominant than their Toronto - area sister leagues in the Sutherland Cup department , were left to their own devices . In 2007 , the three Southwestern Ontario leagues opted to merge to form a 27 - team superleague , the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League in hopes of eventually being promoted to Junior A and to attempt to prevent player poaching from the 37 - team Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League . To this date , the debate still rages as to which league is ultimately better , the GOJHL or the OPJHL . In 2009 , the OHA asked members of both the OPJHL and the GOJHL to submit applications to the " Premier League " with deposits of $ 25 , 000 . A number of GOJHL teams applied for entry , but the entire core of Toronto - area Junior A leagues refused to apply for the Premier League . The Junior A teams eventually filed an appeal to the Ontario Hockey Federation in an attempt to stop the restructuring . The OHF upheld the appeal , but not resoundingly . The OHF found that the OHA was within its rights to rebrand Junior A , B , C , and D to Premier , Division I , and Division II , as long as they were clear that Premier is still Junior A under Hockey Canada ' s guidelines and that Division I and II are Junior B and C . The OHF also said that the OHA could recategorize its teams by authority of OHA By - law B46 . The part of the appeal that was upheld was that OHA By - law C7 adds to By - law B46 in that classification changes must be approved by the league before they can be implemented . The OHF Appeal Board also added that if the OHA wished to , the OHA could remove By - law C7 from its Regulations & Constitution and then probably proceed with restructuring plans . No major announcements about the future of this plan have been made since the early months of 2010 . Leagues . Senior . " Please note : the Ontario Hockey League is not a member of the Ontario Hockey Association , but does carry a working relationship with it . " Championship Trophies . Retired