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The CPJHL was announced in the spring of 2016. Originally, eleven teams were divided into two divisions[1] and scheduled to begin play in September. The league plans to feature a 48-game schedule concluding in March and include an all-star game, college showcase event, and a league playoff. The league gained sanctioning by the United Hockey Union (UHU), the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union, in June 2016.
Before the league's first season would start, several of the announced teams had some further organizational changes:
Burk's Falls was initially introduced as the Warriors, but an ownership change saw the team renamed the Bruins.
The Almonte Jr. Sharpshooters were initially announced as the Ottawa Sharpshooters before making Almonte Community Center the home for the junior club. The Sharpshooters also included a U-18 team that compete in the National College Prospects Hockey League, another UHU league.
On September 16, the day the first games were set to take place, the league announced that the Akwesasne Chiefs and Coldwater Falcons would not play in the first season due to lack of players on each team.[2][3]
Both the Burk's Falls Bruins and Norwood Nemesis were granted delayed starts to their seasons due to a coaching change for the Bruins and lack of players for both teams.[4][5] However, after the second week of the season, the Bruins still had trouble with recruiting enough players to fill their roster and the CPJHL decided to suspend the team for the season.[6]
All teams qualify for the playoffs and seeded one through eight, with the highest seed facing the lowest remaining seed in the first round. The first round is a two-game series with a total goal aggregate. After the first round, the four remaining teams play a round robin with the top two teams meeting in a championship game.
