In the mid-1970s, the
Maritime Amateur Hockey Association allowed the Eastern Junior B Hockey League of Cape Breton Island to play at the Junior A level. The 1975 Champion
Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates and
Antigonish Bulldogs refused to jump to Junior A and elected to play in the
Northumberland Junior B Hockey League. The EJAHL expanded with a new team in New Waterford and continued on with four teams. Over the next two seasons, the
Sydney Millionaires were the cream of the crop in the EJAHL. Winning both the 1976 and 1977 Regular Season and Playoff Championships, the Millionaires twice made it into the
Centennial Cup playdowns. In 1976, the Millionaires were dropped in five games by the
Charlottetown Colonels of the
Island Junior Hockey League. A year later, the Millionaires first played the
Corner Brook Jr. Royals of the
Newfoundland Junior A Hockey League sweeping them in the process. In the second round of the playoffs, the Millionaires met Charlottetown again and were swept again. In the 1977–78 season, the
New Waterford Jets found their legs and took both the regular season and playoff crowns. In an anticlimactic ending to the league, the Jets took on the
Metro Valley Junior Hockey League's first ever Junior A champion in 1978, the
Cole Harbour Colts from
Nova Scotia's mainland and were defeated by them. In 1979, New Waterford repeated as champions. They lost to the MVJHL's Halifax Lions
4-games-to-none in the provincial final. In 1980, the
Northside Trojans won the league. They lost to the MVJHL's
Cole Harbour Colts in four straight games. In the early 1980s, the league was demoted to Jr. B and merged with the
Northumberland Junior B Hockey League. In 1992, that league merged with the
Mainland Junior B Hockey League to form the
Nova Scotia Junior B Hockey League that exists to this day. Even now, the
Strait Pirates of Port Hawkesbury still exist and the
Cape Breton Canadians who were formed as the
Sydney Millionaires in the 1970s are still playing in the NSJHL. ==Teams==