The United Hockey Union (UHU), founded in 2012, is a group of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

leagues in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. The UHU is overseen and insured by the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

. Neither body is recognized by

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United ...

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

, or the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

History

In 2011, the AAU expressed interest in sanctioning

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

leagues. Until this time,

was the only governing body of ice hockey in the United States and is still the only organization recognized by the

. In the summer of 2011, the

Western States Hockey League The Western States Hockey League (WSHL) was a junior ice hockey league established in 1993. It was sanctioned by the United Hockey Union, the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union. Previously, it was sanctioned by USA Hockey from 1 ...

(WSHL) defected from USA Hockey to join the AAU. As a test case, their 2011–12 season went without a hitch. In 2012, they were joined by the

Northern States Junior Hockey League North American 3 Eastern Hockey League (NA3EHL) was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior ice hockey league. The league had teams in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. In 2016, the league merged with the North Amer ...

(NSHL) and the

Midwest Junior Hockey League The Midwest Junior Hockey League (MWJHL) was an American junior ice hockey league. The MWJHL were members of the United Hockey Union and sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). On March 10, 2015, the league announced it would be joining ...

(MWJHL). At this point, their partnership, under AAU supervision, was named the United Hockey Union. The UHU finished off the 2012–13 hockey season with the first-ever UHU National Junior Hockey Championship. The UHU Championship went to the WSHL's

Idaho Jr. Steelheads The Idaho Jr. Steelheads, also called the Idaho IceCats, were a junior ice hockey team based in McCall, Idaho. The team played in the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) and home games were held at Manchester Ice & Event Centre in McCall. The t ...

in its inaugural run, with the Steelheads going undefeated in a six-team tournament held in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in April 2013. In May 2014, the UHU added a fourth league, the Canadian International Hockey League (CIHL). In July 2014, the Canadian Independent Junior Hockey League (CIJHL) of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

applied for AAU sanctioning as well, but despite the sanctioning, the league shuttered its doors in September without playing a single game. On September 10, 2014, the NSHL left the AAU umbrella. On November 10, the CIHL also left the AAU umbrella over insurance and expansion disagreements. In turn, half the CIHL broke away and formed the

World United Hockey League The World United Hockey League (WUHL) was a junior ice hockey league. The WUHL were members of the United Hockey Union (UHU), an affiliate of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). History Formed in November 2014, the WUHL was formed by four teams w ...

as UHU members. In March 2015, the MWJHL announced it was joining the

United States Premier Hockey League The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States fielding teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), ...

(a USA Hockey-sanctioned league) as part of its new Midwest Division starting in the 2015–16 season. In 2015, the AAU announced that WSHL had been promoted to "Tier II" and that it was adding a "Tier III" prospect league for WSHL development teams called the Western Prospects League. Despite using the USA Hockey sanctioning terms of Tier II and III, the UHU-sanctioned leagues continued to operate under pay-to-play terms (called tuition) similar to USA Hockey Tier III or Hockey Canada

Junior A Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each ...

guidelines. In 2016, the UHU added two new junior hockey leagues; the Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League and the National College Prospects Hockey League, The CPJHL planned to have no more than 12 teams centered around

Barrie, Ontario Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

, for the 2016–17 season and would start the season with eight teams. The NCPHL began its season with six teams. With the launch of these two leagues and several WSHL teams' affiliating with the NCPHL, it appeared the Western Prospects League had been dissolved. On September 5, 2016, the UHU announced they would be launching a free-to-play Tier I league for the 2017–18 season. The new league was to consist of six founding teams affiliated with the current Tier II and Tier III leagues. On September 12, the new league was announced as the Central One Hockey League (C1HL) and composed of six WSHL organizations: the Colorado Jr. Eagles, Casper Coyotes,

El Paso Rhinos The El Paso Rhinos are a junior ice hockey organization based in El Paso, Texas. Their home games are played at the County Events Center located within the El Paso County Coliseum complex. The Rhinos are members of the South Division of the Ti ...

Ogden Mustangs The Ogden Mustangs are a junior ice hockey team based in Ogden, Utah. The Mustangs are members of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) and play their home games at The Ice Sheet at Ogden. Before joining the USPHL in 2020, the Mustang ...

, Oklahoma City Blazers, and the

Springfield Express The Springfield Express was an AAU-sanctioned junior ice hockey team based in Springfield, Missouri and plays home games at the Mediacom Ice Park. The team is a member of the Western States Hockey League (WSHL). History The franchise was found ...

, although Ogden was later removed. However, sometime in early 2017, the C1HL website was taken down, replaced near the end of the year, and removed again in March 2018. Some teams have since mentioned that the launch of the C1HL had been postponed to the 2018–19 season. The UHU has also announced plans to launch a western Canada-based Tier II league in 2018, called the Western Provinces Hockey Association (WPHA), that began play as the Provinces Division of the WSHL in 2018–19. After one season, the WPHA's relationship with the WSHL dissolved and the WPHA teams left for the Ontatio-based Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. In the 2019–20 season, both the UHU's junior leagues had to cancel their postseasons due to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

limiting travel and arena availability. The WSHL subsequently lost 11 teams to the

(which had left USA Hockey sanctioning in 2017) and the North American 3 Hockey League. In May 2020, the WSHL also announced they had cancelled their 2020–21 season due to the pandemic.

Leagues

Former members

* Canadian Independent Junior Hockey League (2014; announced, but never played) * Canadian International Hockey League (2014; became an independent league in November 2014 and ceased operations after one season) *Central One Hockey League (2016; announced for 2017–18, but never launched) *

(2013–15; joined the USPHL as part of the new USPHL-Midwest Division) * National College Prospects Hockey League (2016–17; were removed from the UHU as a junior program and then described itself as a "junior-aged academic" league) *

National Collegiate Hockey Association The National Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) is a defunct national organization of men's college- and university-level ice hockey programs in the United States. The NCHA used to be known as the Collegiate Ice Hockey Association (CIHA) ...

(2014–17; a college league that was sanctioned by the UHU for some time but was removed from their list of leagues in 2017) *

(2012–14; became NA3EHL in October 2014) *Tropical Elite Hockey League (2012; announced, but never played) * Western Prospects League (2015–16; Tier III level prospect league for the newly promoted Tier II Western States Hockey League; replaced by the National College Prospects League as the WSHL's developmental league in 2016) *

(2014–15; split from the CIHL in 2014 when it dropped UHU-sanctioning in November 2014; announced new teams for 2015–16 season but never played a game)

Junior National Championships

References

External links

United Hockey Union

AAU Ice Hockey

CPJHL

WSHL
{{Junior Hockey Junior ice hockey governing bodies in Canada Junior ice hockey governing bodies in the United States Junior ice hockey in Canada Junior ice hockey in the United States Ice hockey in Canada Ice hockey in the United States Sports organizations established in 2012 2012 establishments in the United States