USPHL Premier Division

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. 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. 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. 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==
North Division 	North Division 	North Division
Team 	Location 	Arena
Boston Bandits 	Bridgewater, Massachusetts 	Bridgewater Ice Arena
Boston Jr. Bruins 	Marlborough, Massachusetts 	New England Sports Center
Islanders Hockey Club 	Tyngsborough, Massachusetts 	Skate 3
New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs 	Hooksett, New Hampshire 	Tri-Town Ice Arena
Northern Cyclones 	Hudson, New Hampshire 	Cyclones Arena
Rochester Monarchs 	Rochester, New York 	Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex
South Shore Kings 	Foxboro, Massachusetts 	Foxboro Sports Center
Springfield Pics 	West Springfield, Massachusetts	Olympia Ice Center
Syracuse Stars 	Cicero, New York 	Cicero Twin Ice Arena
Mid-Atlantic Division 	Mid-Atlantic Division 	Mid-Atlantic Division
Connecticut Jr Rangers 	Stamford, Connecticut 	Chelsea Piers
Connecticut Nighthawks 	Simsbury, Connecticut 	International Skating Center of Connecticut
Delaware Lightning 	Harrington, Delaware 	Pond Ice Arena
Hartford Jr. Wolfpack 	Cromwell, Connecticut 	Champions Skating Center
Jersey Hitmen 	Wayne, New Jersey 	Capital One Bank Ice Vault Arena
Jersey Shore Whalers 	Brick Township, New Jersey 	Ocean Ice Palace
New Jersey Rockets 	Berkeley Heights, New Jersey 	Prudential Center
New York Jr. Aviators 	Brooklyn, New York 	Aviator Sports and Events Center
P.A.L. Jr. Islanders 	Hauppauge, New York 	The Rinx-Hidden Pond Park
Skipjacks Hockey Club 	York, Pennsylvania 	York City Ice Arena
Southeast Division 	Southeast Division 	Southeast Division
Atlanta Jr. Knights 	Marietta, Georgia 	Marrietta Ice Center
Carolina Eagles 	Wake Forest, North Carolina 	Polar Ice House
Charlotte Rush 	Indian Trail, North Carolina 	Extreme Ice Center
Hampton Roads Whalers 	Chesapeake, Virginia 	Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex
Potomac Patriots 	Woodbridge, Virginia 	Prince William Ice Center
Richmond Generals 	Richmond, Virginia 	SkateNation Plus & Richmond Ice Zone
Florida Division 	Florida Division 	Florida Division
Daytona Racers 	Daytona Beach, Florida 	Daytona International Skateway
Florida Eels 	Fort Myers, Florida 	Fort Myers Skatium
Florida Jr. Blades 	Estero, Florida 	Germain Arena
Palm Beach Hawks 	Lake Worth, Florida 	Palm Beach Skate Zone
Tampa Bay Juniors 	Ellenton, Florida 	Ellenton Ice
Midwest East Division 	Midwest East Division 	Midwest East Division
Chicago Cougars 	West Dundee, Illinois 	Leafs Ice Centre and Sears Centre
Decatur Blaze 	Decatur, Illinois 	Decatur Civic Center
Detroit Fighting Irish 	Brownstown Township, Michigan 	Ice Box Sports Center
Kalkaska Rhinos 	Kalkaska, Michigan 	The Kaliseum
Motor City Hawks 	Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan 	Fraser Hockeyland
Tri-City Ice Hawks 	Bay City, Michigan 	Bay County Civic Arena
Midwest West Division 	Midwest West Division 	Midwest West Division
Dells Ducks 	Lake Delton, Wisconsin 	Poppy Waterman Ice Arena
Hudson Havoc 	Hudson, Wisconsin 	Hudson Sports & Civic Center
Ironwood Fighting Yoopers 	Ironwood, Michigan 	Pat O'Donnell Center
Minnesota Blue Ox 	Coon Rapids, Minnesota 	Coon Rapids Ice Center
Minnesota Moose 	Blaine, Minnesota 	Fogerty Arena
Minnesota Mullets 	Forest Lake, Minnesota 	Forest Lake Sports Center (Lichtscheidl Arena)
Steele County Blades 	Owatonna, MN 	Four Seasons Arena
Wisconsin Muskies 	Spooner, Wisconsin 	Spooner Civic Center
Wisconsin Rapids RiverKings	Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin 	South Wood County Rec Center
==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==
==External links==
*Official USPHL website
*Official USA Hockey website
Category:Established in 2012
Category:United States Premier Hockey League