Clarence Schmalz Cup
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| Award details | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Given for | Junior C champion of the Ontario Hockey Association |
| History | |
| First award | 1938 |
| Most recent | Ayr Centennials (2017) |
The Clarence Schmalz Cup is the Ontario Hockey Association's Junior "C" ice hockey championship and championship trophy. The champions of the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) are awarded the Cup. The PJHL was formed in 2016 from the former 8 provincial leagues that previously competed in a tournament, commonly called the All-Ontario Championships, to determine the winner of the Cup.
The trophy was named in honour of Clarence (Tubby) Schmalz (1915-1981), a longtime hockey administrator who first got involved with organized sports in his adopted hometown of Walkerton, Ontario. He and his brother, his partner in a Walkerton hotel called the Hartley House, sponsored an intermediate softball team that won four consecutive provincial championships in the 1950s. Tubby Schmalz also operated a hockey team called the Capitols, who competed in the OHA Intermediate B ranks. He became an OHA director in 1956 and remained an active member of the organization for the next 22 years.
Schmalz served as OHA president from 1969 to 1972. In 1974 the Major Junior A program began operating independently of the association as the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League; Schmalz became the league's first commissioner, a post he held until 1978.
The OHA presented Schmalz with a Gold Stick award in 1977 in recognition of his contributions to the association. A year later it made him a life member. In 1979 he received a meritorious service award from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (now known as Hockey Canada). That same year, he was elected vice-chairman of the CAHA's board of directors. He was elected chairman in May 1981.
Less than seven months later, on the morning of Dec. 7, 1981, he died suddenly of a heart attack. It was 12 days before his 65th birthday.
OHA directors formed an honour guard at his funeral two days later at Sacred Heart Church in Walkerton. The association renamed the OHA Junior C Cup in his memory a year or two later, then collaborated with Schmalz's family in the creation of a commemorative trophy case in the lobby of the Walkerton Community Centre.
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This trophy was awarded during the 1970s to a new class of junior hockey known as Super "C". The teams that competed were deemed to be from centres too small for Junior "B" but yet too big for Junior "C". The cities that competed for it: Barrie, Woodstock, Kitchener, Owen Sound, and Brantford; struggled throughout that decade to find Junior "B" leagues that suited their needs. While waiting, these teams generally played "down" in the Junior "C" or "D" level and awaited the Super "C" playoffs. The class was disbanded by 1976 as the only teams eligible for the championship had found homes in Junior "B".
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