History

History of the NJHL

In the spring of 1992, a large number of boys who were done playing Midget hockey wanted to know where they could play. The only place was men's commercial leagues or the so called "Beer Leagues" where they would play with 19 - 50 year old's. In conversation with Sherwood Park, St Albert & Edmonton the same question was being asked. These players did not want to play Junior A or B hockey because of the time commitment, physical demands or they were not good enough. That is when the late John Anderson and others brought the junior C program back to life. He is also credited with helping to form the Edmonton Royals Junior B program in 1986.

The 1992 - 93 season had teams from St Albert & Sherwood Park play games in a mini league. In the 1993 - 94 season Edmonton entered the league with the condition that there would be no contact. By Christmas of the 1994 - 95 season only two teams remained because of the no contact rule. Body contact & strict fighting rules were brought in for the 1995 - 96 season which attracted teams back. There were teams from Thorhild, Edmonton, St Albert & Drayton Valley that formed. Provincial play for the Junior C's started in the 1995 - 96 season with St Albert hosting a four-team provincial.

The North Central Alberta Junior C League was formed in the 1996 - 97 season. Teams from Calahoo, Morinville, Ft Saskatchewan, Beaumont, Thorhild, Paul Band, Legal & Edmonton were playing or had played in the league. A few more teams had expressed interest in joining the league around that time as well.

On Jan 18 2001 the North Central Jr C Hockey league held its first annual All-Star Game in its 5^th year of existence.

The league operated successfully with teams coming and going until the 2002 when the league was re-organized and then formed as a society in 2003 under the leadership of new and past volunteers. Noralta (NJHL) was formed. The league expanded to 10 teams in 2002 from 8 in 2001 and then to 13 in 2003.

In 2015 Noralta Junior Hockey League partnered with Friends of Alberta Junior Hockey Scholarships to provide hockey players with funds to continue on to higher education after high school while staying in competitive ice hockey. Since its inception the Scholarships has been given out on a yearly basis to many recipients.

The league has come a long way since its reputation as the "Jungle". We have seen many skilled players come and go, mature into young men and go onto bigger and better things in their lives. We have also seen our alumni go into coaching and volunteer around the league and community. We thank the past and present volunteers as well as supporting organizations and associations who selflessly sacrifice their time for these young men.