The Norwich Merchants are a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team based in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. They are members of the

Provincial Junior Hockey League The Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) is a Canadian junior ice hockey, junior ice hockey league spanning parts of Southern Ontario. The PJHL is the third tier of the Ontario Hockey Association and is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federa ...

of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

History

Founded in 1968, the Merchants won the Southern Counties Junior D Hockey League championship the next season, then went on to win the OHA Cup as provincial champions by defeating the Haliburton Huskies of the Central League. In 1980, the Merchants were promoted to Junior C and joined the

Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League The Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League is a former Junior "C" ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. The Champion of the Niagara competed for the All-Ontario Championship and the Clarence Schm ...

. In 1986, the Merchants were Niagara League champions. They went on to defeat the Bradford Blues of the Mid-Ontario Junior Hockey League to win the Clarence Schmalz Cup as OHA Junior C champions. In 1987, they were again Niagara League champions. They again made it to the provincial final, but this time lost to the

Lakefield Chiefs The Lakefield Chiefs are a Canadians, Canadian junior hockey, Junior ice hockey team based in Lakefield, Ontario, Lakefield, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association until the 20 ...

of the Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League. In November 2011, the Merchants were sanctioned by the

for the overpayment of a former player during his time with the team. Although the team claimed the money was for education purposes, the OHA fined the team $25,000, suspended three board members for the rest of the season and three additional seasons, their 2011-12 roster was frozen for the rest of the season, and they were barred from signing imports for three following seasons. The Merchants appealed the decision to the

Ontario Hockey Federation The Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) is the governing body of all sanctioned ice hockey in the province of Ontario in Canada, except for those portions governed by Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Hockey Eastern Ontario. The federation is one ...

. The OHF overturned the roster freeze and import restrictions saying that it was not within the OHA's constitution to wield those powers. Both sides then appealed to

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 ...

who sided with neither party, which left the fine and suspensions in place. After thirty-three years as members of the

, the

realigned and the Merchants ended up in the new

Midwestern Junior C Hockey League The Midwestern Junior C Hockey League (MWJCHL) was a Canadian Junior ice hockey, Junior ice hockey league in Southwestern Ontario. The MWJCHL was a member of the Ontario Hockey Association and Hockey Canada. Its champion competed for the Clarenc ...

. Three years later the eight Southern Ontario junior "C" hockey leagues amalgamated into one league, the

. This means that they are now competing in the Pat Doherty Division of the Central Conference. The playoffs for the 2019-20 season were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, leading to the team not being able to play a single game.

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''

Clarence Schmalz Cup Final appearances

:''1986'': Norwich Merchants defeated Bradford Blues ''4-games-to-3'' :''1987'':

defeated Norwich Merchants ''4-games-to-2''

References

External links

Norwich Merchants
{{OHA-C Niagara Junior C Hockey League teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1968 1968 establishments in Ontario Oxford County, Ontario Ice hockey teams in Ontario