Formerly known as the EOJHL, the CCHL2 has become one of the top developmental leagues in Ontario over the past decade. Although it has been regarded as solely a feeder league for the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), the league has also been an early stage for some pretty good players who have moved on to Major Junior, NCAA, CIS and even the NHL.
Founded in 1966 as the Rideau-St.Lawrence Junior "B" Hockey League after a merger with Upper Ottawa Valley Junior "B" League and the folding of the Lanark-Renfrew Junior C league, the league has gone through various markeovers. The league currently has 16-member clubs that offer hockey throughout the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario region.
Each club is entitled two (16 year old cards) and four (21 year old cards) making it a great league for young prospects to develop skills while also offering homegrown talent a chance to play in front of family and friends for up to 6 years. Many players who play out their Junior A eligibility and don't get NCAA scholarship offers return to their hometown organziations to finish their final season of hockey. It is a great league for players who are going to college or university and can't commit to the busy schedule of Tier 1 Junior A hockey.
The EOJHL is broken up into two traditional conferences that operate separately of each other. Each conference has two divisions. Each conference has its own president and each one operates under variable rules allowed by HEO. Each division plays off to declare its own champion, after which the four champion teams play-off for the Metro/Valley Championship and Rideau/St. Lawrence Championship. The winner of these two championships playoff in a best-of-7 series for the D. Arnold Carson Memorial Trophy, the EOJHL crown.
For the 2007-08 season, the Kemptville 73's moved from the EOJBHL to the Central Junior A Hockey League. A season later, the EOJBHL sold their franchise rights to the then-owners of the Casselman Stars of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League and then town of Casselman, Ontario. The new team, the Casselman Vikings, began play in the 2008-09 season.
In May 2009, the league dropped the Junior "B" designation from its name, becoming the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
For the 2009-10 season, the Carleton Place Kings moved from the EOJHL to the Central Junior A Hockey League. The Kings were replaced the same year by the new Almonte Thunder.
In April 2014, the EOJHL Champion Casselman Vikings travelled to Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia to compete in the Eastern Canadian Junior B Championship. Cassleman became the first team west of Atlantic Canada to compete in the Don Johnson Memorial Cup tournament since its inception in 1982. Casselman went 6-0-0 and won the championship.
The league was known until 2015 as the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League before to change name in CCHL Tier 2