In 2016 the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League joined the other seven Junior C leagues in the Ontario Hockey Association to create the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) and was renamed the Stobbs Division. The Stobbs Division is part of the West Conference along with the Yeck Division.
The Stobbs Division was named after Bill Stobbs who served in numerous roles with the OHA, the Hockey Development Centre of Ontario, the Ontario Hockey Federation, and was Chairman for the Great Lakes League for a number of years.
The Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League originated as the Bluewater Hockey League in 1967, a local league that sometimes operated at Junior D and Juvenile levels. The following season the league operated on both sides of the Canada-United States border and became known as the Border Cities Junior Hockey League, but the American teams did not participate in the OHA playoffs. In 1969-70, the league operated as two different, but interlocked, identities - the Border Cities League and the Michigan Junior Hockey League.
During the summer of 1970, the league opted to separate from its Michigan members, who went on to form their own league and the league renamed itself the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League. The 1970-71 season, the first as the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League, saw the league operating with six teams (four of the teams in the league opted for a Junior B designation for the playoffs). In 1974 the league opted to operate only at Junior C and become the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League.
Click here for information on the former Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League.
