2015-16 NOJHL Season

This is the 2015-16 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season.  This was the league's 46th season overall dating back to the founding of the NOHA Junior B Hockey League in 1970, and the league's 39th season under this name.
The league schedule will commence on September 11, 2015 and end of March 9, 2016.
The press release of the schedule made special mention of a Family Day match-up between the Soo Thunderbirds and the Soo Eagles being held at Pullar Stadium in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (the home of the Eagles) and the Thunderbirds will serve as the home team.
==Membership Changes==
*The Iroquois Falls based Abitibi Eskimos relocated to Timmins where they were renamed the Timmins Rock.
*The Sudbury Nickel Barons relocated to Rayside-Balfour where they were renamed the Rayside-Balfour Canadians.
*The Mattawa Blackhawks relocated to Iroquois Falls and became the Iroquois Falls Eskis
*The Espanola Express were added as an expansion team.
*The French River Rapids were added as an expansion team.
*The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan based Soo Eagles return to the league after having left the league to join the North American Hockey League in 2012.
==Division Alignment==
{| cellpadding="1" style="width:590px; font-size:90%; border:1px solid gray;"	 	 	
Eastern Division 	Eastern Division	Eastern Division 	Eastern Division
Team 	Joined 	Centre 	Arena
Cochrane Crunch 	2012 	Cochrane 	Tim Horton Event Center
French River Rapids 	2015 	Noelville 	Noelville Arena
Iroquois Falls Eskis 	1988 	Iroquois Falls 	Jus Jordan Arena
Kirkland Lake Gold Miners	2003 	Kirkland Lake 	Joe Mavrinac Community Complex
Powassan Voodoos 	2014 	Powassan 	Powassan Sportsplex
Timmins Rock 	1991 	Timmins 	McIntyre Arena
Western Division 	Western Division	Western Division 	Western Division
Blind River Beavers 	1999 	Blind River 	Blind River Community Centre
Elliot Lake Wildcats 	2014 	Elliot Lake 	Elliot Lake Centennial Arena
Espanola Express 	2015 	Espanola 	Espanola Regional Recreation Complex
Rayside-Balfour Canadians	2000 	Rayside-Balfour 	Chelmsford Community Centre
Soo Eagles 	2015 	Sault Ste. Marie, MI	Pullar Stadium
Soo Thunderbirds 	1999 	Sault Ste. Marie, ON	John Rhodes Community Centre
==Standings==
Eastern Division
Team 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OTL 	SOL 	GF 	GA 	PIM 	P
Cochrane Crunch 	54 	40 	10 	2 	2 	- 	298 	169 	799 	84
Powassan Voodoos 	54 	40 	10 	1 	3 	- 	278 	137 	718 	84
Kirkland Lake Gold Miners	54 	39 	19 	1 	2 	- 	247 	135 	728 	81
Timmins Rock 	54 	29 	24 	1 	0 	- 	257 	219 	759 	59
Iroquois Falls Eskis 	54 	15 	39 	0 	0 	- 	163 	310 	758 	30
French River Rapids 	54 	2 	49 	1 	2 	- 	124 	347 	602 	7
Western Division 	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division	Western Division
Team 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OTL 	SOL 	GF 	GA 	PIM 	P
Soo Thunderbirds 	54 	48 	5 	0 	1 	- 	247 	84 	672 	97
Elliot Lake Wildcats 	54 	34 	13 	2 	5 	- 	223 	144 	633 	75
Rayside-Balfour Canadians	54 	28 	28 	1 	0 	- 	229 	208 	818 	57
Soo Eagles 	54 	22 	30 	0 	2 	- 	182 	197 	725 	46
Espanola Express 	54 	12 	39 	0 	3 	- 	132 	243 	735 	27
Blind River Beavers 	54 	10 	40 	0 	4 	- 	139 	326 	745 	24
==Copeland Cup-McNamara Trophy Playoffs==
===Format===
The league announced the 2016 playoff format on February 4th. The top five teams in each division qualify for the playoffs.  The number 4 and five seeds in each division meet in a best-of-three series.  The winning teams meet the number 1 seed in the best-of-seven division semi-finals.  The division finals and league final are also best-of-seven series.
The playoff champion will advance to the 2016 Dudley Hewitt Cup (and the other finalist if the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners win the playoffs) which is being held in Kirkland Lake and being hosted by the Gold Miners who qualify as host.  The tournament was originally awarded to Sudbury, Ontario to be hosted by the Sudbury Nickel Barons  on October 7, 2014; but the team announced they were relocating to Rayside-Balfour prior to the 2015-16 season and there was deemed to be little support in the community of Sudbury.  The tournament was then re-awarded to Kirkland Lake on April 27, 2015.  The winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup advances to the 2016 Royal Bank Cup being held in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.
===Eastern Division Preliminary Round===
*Timmins Rock defeated Iroquois Falls Eskis 2 games to none (8-1, 3-1)
===Western Division Preliminary Round===
*Soo Eagles defeated Espanola Express 2 games to none (11-0, 10-2)
===Eastern Division Semifinals===
*Cochrane Crunch defeated Timmins Rock 4 games to none (4-1, 12-2, 6-4, 5-2)
*Kirkland Lake Gold Miners defeated Powassan Voodoos 4 games to 2 (2-1 (3ot), 3-4, 6-1, 2-1 (ot), 1-6, 4-1)
===Western Division Semifinals===
*Soo Thunderbirds defeated Soo Eagles 4 games to none (9-3, 6-0, 1-0, 2-0)
*Elliot Lake Wildcats defeated Rayside-Balfour Canadians 4 games to 1 (3-0, 5-4, 4-3, 4-10, 9-2)
===Eastern Division Final===
*Kirkland Lake Gold Miners defeated Cochrane Crunch 4 games to 1 (5-2, 6-5 (ot), 5-3, 2-1, 4-3)
===Western Division Final===
*Soo Thunderbirds defeated Elliot Lake Wildcats 4 games to 1 (3-2 (ot), 5-0, 5-0, 3-4 (ot), 7-2)
===League Final===
*Soo Thunderbirds defeated Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 4 games to none (3-0, 3-1, 5-1, 7-0)
The Soo Thunderbirds qualify for the 2016 Dudley Hewitt Cup as NOJHL champs and Kirkland Lake also qualifies as they are hosting the tournament.
Category:2016 in hockey
Category:Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League
Category:Northern Ontario Junior Hockey