The Keystone Cup is the Junior B

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

championship and trophy for Western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. From 1983 to 2017, the championship was the culmination of the champions of 12 hockey leagues in

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

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

, and

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is th ...

. In 2018, citing costs for travel and accommodations, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan withdrew from competition for the Keystone Cup, making it a championship between Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. There is no national championship for Junior B hockey in Canada, but similar championships are held in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is dis ...

(

Sutherland Cup The Sutherland Cup is the ice hockey Ontario Junior "B" Provincial Championship trophy. The trophy was first awarded in 1934, and named in honour of former OHA and CAHA president, James T. Sutherland. The Sutherland Cup is now the championship t ...

), Ottawa District ( Barkley Cup),

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

( Coupe Dodge), and Atlantic Canada (

Don Johnson Memorial Cup The Don Johnson Memorial Cup, formerly Don Johnson Cup, is the Junior B ice hockey championship for Atlantic Canada, including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island as of 2014. From 1982 until 1990 and 1997 until 201 ...

)—leaving five teams at the end of each year with a shared claim to being the best Junior B team in Canada.

History

The Keystone Cup was donated to the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; french: Association canadienne de hockey amateur) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included ...

by Keystone Sports from

Selkirk, Manitoba Selkirk is a city in the western Canadian province of Manitoba, located on the Red River about northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg. It has a population of 10,504 as of the 2021 census. The mainstays of the local economy are tourism, ...

. The inaugural tournament took place in 1983 in

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Hi ...

, and was won by the

Selkirk Fishermen The Selkirk Fishermen are a junior "B" ice hockey team based in Selkirk, Manitoba. They are members of the Capital Region Junior Hockey League (CRJHL). The franchise was founded in 1917. They are the longest running junior hockey team in Cana ...

of the Manitoba Junior B Hockey League. The championship is determined through a round-robin of the winner of the Cyclone Taylor Cup in

, the winner of the Russ Barnes Trophy in

, the winner of the

Athol Murray Trophy The Athol Murray Trophy is a Canadian ice hockey series to determine the Saskatchewan Junior B championship and seed of the Keystone Cup - the Western Canada Junior "B" Hockey Crown. History Since the 1960s the tournament has been an importan ...

, the

Keystone Junior Hockey League The Keystone Junior Hockey League (KJHL) is a Junior 'B' ice hockey league in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The league, sanctioned by Hockey Manitoba, was formerly known as the Manitoba Junior 'B' Hockey League. History The KJHL champion ...

, and the

William Ryan Trophy The William Ryan Trophy is a Canadian ice hockey series to determine the Northwestern Ontario seed of the Keystone Cup - the Western Canada Junior "B" Hockey championship. Hockey Northwestern Ontario sanctioned league winners play-off for the trophy ...

. In previous years, the winner of the Keystone Junior B League would have had to go through the

Manitoba Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship The Baldy Northcott Trophy or ''Manitoba Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship'' is a Canadian ice hockey series to determine the Manitoba representative at the Keystone Cup - the Western Canada Junior "B" hockey championship. History First awar ...

, but in 2004 their only competition, the Northwest Junior Hockey League, folded. The same thing happened in the

Championship for the Thunder Bay Junior B League, as their only competition, the North of Superior Junior B Hockey League, folded in 2004. For the 2018 edition of the tournament in Thunder Bay, Ontario, teams from British Columbia and Alberta pulled out of the event. NEAJBHL President Ned Graling cited economic concerns while Kamloops Storm general manager Barry Dewar made claims about playing conditions and accommodations in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. The Prairie Junior Hockey League followed British Columbia and Alberta and also withdrew from the 2018 Keystone Cup bringing it to a cross-border clash between the Keystone Junior Hockey League and the Lakehead Junior Hockey League, won by the host Northern Hawks. In mid-November 2019 the teams of the Prairie Junior Hockey League of Saskatchewan decided to send their provincial champion as their representative to the 2020 Keystone Cup. However, the 2020 competition was cancelled as part of the effort to minimize 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 identified ...

Keystone Cup 2019

In Peguis First Nation, Manitoba

Round Robin

Championship Round

2019 Roll of Champions

KJHL KJIL is a Christian radio station broadcasting on 99.1 FM, licensed to Copeland, Kansas and serving the areas of Dodge City, Kansas, Garden City, Kansas, and Liberal, Kansas. The station is owned by Great Plains Christian Radio. The station's f ...

(Man) — Host

Peguis Juniors The Peguis Juniors are a junior "B" ice hockey team based in Peguis, Manitoba. They are members of the Keystone Junior Hockey League (KJHL). The franchise was founded in 1994. History In 2006, Fisher River Cree Nation partnered with Peguis for ...

(Man) — KJHL regular season champion Cross Lake Islanders * LJHL (Ont) — LJHL champion Thunder Bay Northern Hawks * LJHL (Ont) — LJHL runner up Thunder Bay Fighting Walleye

Champions

Most Top 3 Finishes by Province (since 1999)

References

External links

Keystone Cup
{{Hockey Canada Ice hockey tournaments in Canada Canadian ice hockey trophies and awards Ice hockey in Western Canada