In this guide
The league belongs to a larger three-league structureThe Memorial Cup is a subsequent tournamentA draft programme is different from a gameThe Ontario Hockey League, or OHL, is one of the three major junior leagues within the Canadian Hockey League. Its twenty-club identity includes teams in Ontario and the United States; “Canadian” describes the wider hockey system rather than every club’s location.
An OHL championship and a Memorial Cup championship are different honours. The OHL’s playoff winner earns the J. Ross Robertson Cup, then enters the national major junior championship route.
The league belongs to a larger three-league structure
The OHL sits alongside the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League. Each runs a league competition and crowns its own champion. Their games should not be combined into one shared CHL regular-season table.
This Canadian CHL is also distinct from Europe’s Champions Hockey League. Both abbreviate to CHL, but an OHL club’s league programme and a European club’s aggregate playoff tie belong to different competitions.
The Memorial Cup is a subsequent tournament
For 2027, the three league champions qualify for the Memorial Cup alongside host Guelph Storm. Hosting and winning the OHL are therefore separate routes into that four-team field.
The published 2026/27 guidance also addresses the overlap: if Guelph wins the OHL title, the OHL Championship Series runner-up receives the additional place. The same club does not occupy two separate tournament berths.
A draft programme is different from a game
OHL material includes its own player-selection events as well as regular-season and playoff hockey. A Priority Selection or prospects programme is not a league game simply because the OHL mark appears on it.
For a match archive, retain OHL, the clubs and the season or playoff round. For a Memorial Cup programme, retain that tournament name. The sequence explains why a club can finish its OHL championship series and still have another championship competition ahead.