Atlantic Canada

Atlantic Canada is the portion of Eastern Canada closest to the Atlantic Ocean. It is comprised of four provinces:
==Provinces==
*Newfoundland and Labrador
*New Brunswick
*Nova Scotia
*Prince Edward Island
The area is slightly different than the area known as the Maritimes. The Maritimes are New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  Due to Newfoundland (now known as Newfoundland and Labrador) having been a seperate dominion within the British Empire until joining Canada in 1949 as the tenth province, Newfoundland was traditionally excluded from this group.
==Regional Hockey Leagues and Events==
The area due to its small size and population is/has been often grouped together in many of the national play downs at the various levels of Canadian hockey.  Several region wide leagues have developed that include teams from all three Maritime provinces, such as the following:
*Maritime Junior A Hockey League (1968–1971)
*Maritime Junior A Hockey League
*Maritime Senior Hockey League
*Atlantic Cup
*Atlantic University Sport
*Maritime Major Female Hockey League (league has no teams from Newfoundland and Labrador as of yet)
==Major Junior==
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League started to expand into the region in the mid 1990's to offset the loss of the region's American Hockey League teams which had been part of the AHL since the early 1970's. This expansion would provide better opportunities for junior age players in the region as the QMJHL had usually not been as thorough scouting the area for junior aged players. Previously, better Francophone players would usually go to Quebec for opportunities, while many of the Anglophone players would go to Ontario to play.
==U18 AAA==
Starting in the late 2010's the U18 AAA level both male and female leagues have begun to form what is becoming a region wide league in order to produce better quality teams with there being fewer teams in each province drawing from a larger area and hopefully allowing for better development of players at both the U18 AAA and U18 AA levels. 
==Senior==
Senior level hockey in the region has mainly survived in the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have occasionally had teams play in New Brunswick based leagues but larger province wide leagues have not been around since the 1990's which is around the same time that the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League expanded into the region. Senior hockey across Canada has struggled since the 1950's with the introduction of television and Hockey Night in Canada bringing NHL hockey into people's homes and reducing attendance at local senior teams games. Sponsorships and gate receipts have always been the key to local teams surviving at the junior and senior levels. Senior hockey teams usually have its' best chance at success when it is based out of a medium sized city as it would be too small for a minor league team or a major junior team and large enough to draw enough fans to meet expenses in order to survive for an extended period of time.
==Population Size==
The region has traditionally had weaker teams as the region had a total population of 2.4 million as of the 2021 Census, where as the city of Toronto has a population of just under 2.8 million people in the same Census. The provinces that make up the region are ranked 7th to 10th out of 10 provinces in population. The region makes up about 6.5% of Canada's total population.
==Other Factors in Regionalization==
Another factor in the regional nature of the sport in Atlantic Canada was that the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association was the only sanctioning body for the three maritime provinces from 1928 until the formation of the New Brunswick Amateur Hockey Association in 1968. The MAHA was split into a Northern Section, which was made up of New Brunswick and PEI (and occasionally teams from Amherst, Nova Scotia), and the Southern Section which was usually made up of Nova Scotia. The MAHA was dissolved after both Nova Scotia and PEI had formed their own provincial sanctioning bodies in 1974 and received recognition from the CAHA.
The Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association, formed in 1935, was originally a national sanctioning body for the sport in the Dominion of Newfoundland. Due to various issues the NAHA was not a member of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association until being accepted by the CAHA in 1966. The 1966-67 Eastern Canada Allan Cup Playoffs would mark the first time a team from Newfoundland would compete for a Canadian national championship. The province would have its' own spot in the Allan Cup playoffs that year and would end up playing the Maritimes champions in the quarterfinals (first round) of the Eastern Canada Playoffs.
Category:Provinces
Category:Canadian regions