1996-97 North Central Hockey League (Alberta) Season

The 96-97 season saw a minor restructuring of teams as Fox Creek was moved to the South Division and Mayerthorpe moved over to the North Division. Another item of note was the Hinton Heat being suspended from league play late in the season.
When the playoffs arrived, the 3 remaining teams in the South Division played off in a double round robin to determine which two would meet in the division final. Edson and Whitecourt played off with Edson winning. In the North Division, Slave Lake and Swan Hills met in the final with the Winterhawks prevailing. Slave Lake defeated Edson in 5 games to win the league championship.
The all-star game was played in Athabasca.
SOUTH DIVISION
TEAM 	GP	W 	L 	T	GF 	GA 	PTS
Edson Ice 	26	19	6 	1	140	88 	39
Fox Creek Bandits	26	12	14	0	105	123	24
Whitecourt Cats 	26	11	14	1	120	121	23
Hinton Heat 	21	6 	15	0	85 	73 	12
NORTH DIVISION
TEAM 	GP	W 	L 	T	GF 	GA 	PTS
Slave Lake Winterhawks	26	21	5 	0	158	97 	52
Swan Hills Knights 	26	11	15	0	124	136	22
Athabasca Aces 	26	10	16	0	141	157	20
Mayerthorpe Hitmen 	26	8 	18	0	82 	170	16
Archived information courtesy of the Fox Creek Bandits webpage.
Category:1997 in hockey
Category:North Central Hockey League (Alberta) Seasons