2021-22 SIJHL season

This is the 2021-22 Superior International Junior Hockey League season. This is the league's 21st season.
As part of the release of its schedule the league announced that each team will play a 48 game schedule with 8 games against each opponent beginning on September 17 and ending March 26th. The league playoffs begin April 1st. The league showcase is planned for the Spooner Civic Center in Spooner, Wisconsin February 8-10, 2022.https://sijhlhockey.com/sijhl-announces-2021-22-20th-anniversary-season-schedule/
==Membership Changes==
*On November 2, 2020 the Superior International Junior Hockey League announced that the two US-based teams, the Thief River Falls Norskies and the Wisconsin Lumberjacks will not participate in the 2020-21 season due to the border closure.https://thejuniorhockeynews.com/sijhl-american-teams-wont-play-season-start-delayed/ The teams rejoin the league for the 2021-22 season. However, travel restrictions getting in to the United States has made it difficult for the teams to play any of the Canadian teams as land traffic is still unable to cross the US border going south but is allowed going north. As of early October the league has already had to shuffle its schedule due to this restriction and made any team going into the US play two games against the US based teams to cut down on expenses. The two US teams also were scheduled heavily against one another early in the season with the hope restrictions will be lifted early to make the border crossing issue be less of a factor. The US government announced an date of November 8th. Shortly after the announcement the league revised its schedule to account for the reopening.
*On April 22, 2021 the SIJHL announced the addition of a new franchise in Sioux Lookout, Ontario for the 2022-23 season. The application is conditional as the ownership group obtains membership in Hockey Northwestern Ontario, which should be taken care of within a few weeks of the league's announcement of the team.https://sijhlhockey.com/sijhl-to-expand-to-sioux-lookout-in-2022-23/ The team will be named the Sioux Lookout Bombers and be based out of the Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena.https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/sioux-lookout-returning-to-sijhl-3655583
On January 31, 2022, the Thief River Falls Norskies announce that they will be sitting out the remainder of the 2021-22 season citing a lack of players and other issues caused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic but exasperated by the closure of much of the province of Ontario for the month of January.https://sijhlhockey.com/norskies-pausing-for-the-remainder-of-the-21-22-season/?fbclid=IwAR0YNSDm_MApYrEmV9v9btui6Ytgfc3hQwnybsGn30wDmsmE7p6USxusZdQ The team would announce on July 12, 2022 that the team was no longer affiliated with the Superior International Junior Hockey League and would be sitting out the 2022-23 playing season with the hopes of returning to play in 2023-24 in a new league.https://www.facebook.com/TRFNorskiesJrA/posts/pfbid02YFKcGs22Cyw2a1Fns2yTUXvcCfoz7ZMmmeqq3SZgdB6BALWU9VbNkutNTz4SfXVSl On July 13th the league indicating that the league had removed the team from the league due to roster issues and that the team had other deficiencies that the team had not improved upon.https://sijhlhockey.com/sijhl-to-proceed-without-norskies/
==The Teams==
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Team 	Joined	Centre 	Arena
Dryden Ice Dogs 	2001 	Dryden, Ontario 	Dryden Memorial Arena
Fort Frances Lakers 	2007 	Fort Frances, Ontario 	Fort Frances Memorial Sports Centre
Kam River Fighting Walleye	2020 	Oliver Paipoonge, Ontario 	NorWest Recreation Centre
Red Lake Miners 	2013 	Red Lake, Ontario 	Cochenour Arena
Sioux Lookout Bombers 	2021 	Sioux Lookout, Ontario 	Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena
Thief River Falls Norskies	2016 	Thief River Falls, Minnesota	Ralph Engelstad Arena
Thunder Bay North Stars 	2001 	Thunder Bay, Ontario 	Fort William Gardens
Wisconsin Lumberjacks 	2019 	Spooner, Wisconsin 	Spooner Civic Center
==Standings==
Due to numerous cancellations point percentage is being used to calculate league standings.
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts	%
Kam River Fighting Walleye	44	35	7 	2 	0 	193	114	72 	.818
Red Lake Miners 	37	28	6 	2 	1 	210	112	59 	.797
Dryden Ice Dogs 	45	26	15	3 	1 	213	137	56 	.622
Thunder Bay North Stars 	41	21	16	3 	1 	153	147	46 	.561
Wisconsin Lumberjacks 	43	16	25	1 	1 	126	221	34 	.395
Thief River Falls Norskies	21	5 	15	0 	1 	46 	98 	11 	.262
Fort Frances Lakers 	41	5 	35	1 	0 	83 	195	11 	.134
Note:The Thief River Falls Norskies withdrew on January 31st.
==Playoffs==
===Quarterfinals===
*Dryden Ice Dogs defeeated Fort Frances Lakers 3 games to none
*Thunder Bay North Stars defeated Wisconsin Lumberjacks 3 games to none
===Semifinals===
*Kam River Fighting Walleye defeated Thunder Bay North Stars 4 games to none
*Red Lake Miners defeated Dryden Ice Dogs 4 games to 2
===Final===
*Red Lake Miners defeated Kam River Fighting Walleye 4 games to 2
The playoff champion Red Lake Miners advance directly to the 2022 Centennial Cup as Hockey Canada expanded the field to include all league champions for the 2022 event.
==References==
Category:2022 in hockey
Category:Superior International Junior Hockey League