The Ottawa Junior Canadiens were a minor ice hockey team affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens. The team was based in Ottawa, ON, and Hull, QC. The team was coached by Scotty Bowman, managed by Sam Pollock and captained by Ralph Backstrom.
The team did not belong to any major junior league. Instead its games were exhibition matches against National Hockey League teams, amateur senior teams, minor professional teams, and Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) junior teams. The team also played some of their games in the "Quebec Hockey League", a minor professional league that incorporated Ottawa's games into their schedule in the 1956-57 season only.
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In the 1957 season with the monor pro Quebec Hockey League, Ottawa put together a record of 7 wins, 12 losses, and a tie, with 57 goals for and 74 goals against. The Canadiens, on average, were about 5–8 years younger than their opponents and held up well.
Ottawa won the right to play for the Cup by defeating the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters to win the George Richardson Memorial Trophy as Eastern Canadian representatives.
The Junior Canadiens were runners-up to the Memorial Cup in 1957. They were defeated by the Flin Flon Bombers 4 games to 3 in a best-of-seven series.
Game 1 Flin Flon 3 vs. Ottawa 1 Game 2 Flin Flon 3 vs. Ottawa 4 Game 3 Flin Flon 2 vs. Ottawa 5 Game 4 Flin Flon 3 vs. Ottawa 1 Game 5 Flin Flon 3 vs. Ottawa 2 Game 6 Flin Flon 2 vs. Ottawa 4 Game 7 Flin Flon 3 vs. Ottawa 2
In 1958 the team was known from that year on as the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, not to be confused with the senior team of a similar name. The Junior Canadiens defeated the Toronto Marlboros to win their second consecutive Richardson Trophy.
Hull-Ottawa's opponent for the Memorial Cup would be another farm team of NHL Montreal team, the Regina Pats.
Game 1 Ottawa 3 vs. Regina 4 Game 2 Ottawa 4 vs. Regina 2 Game 3 Ottawa 6 vs. Regina 2 Game 4 Ottawa 3 vs. Regina 4 OT Game 5 Ottawa 6 vs. Regina 3 Game 6 Ottawa 6 vs. Regina 1
The Junior Canadiens made their third consecutive trip to the Eastern Canadian finals in the 1958-59 season. They were defeated by another Montreal Canadiens farm team, the Peterborough TPT Petes. In the summer of 1959, the Junior Canadiens team was absorbed by the senior team, the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens. The youngest players who did not make the jump to the senior level transferred to the Brockville Canadiens junior team, which also appeared in the eastern Canadian finals for the Richardson Trophy, but were defeated by the St. Catharines Teepees.
Fifteen alumni from the Junior Canadiens went on the play in the National Hockey League. Jacques Laperrière would later be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.