2016-17 NAHL Season

This is the 2016-17 North American Hockey League season.  This is the league's 33rd season under this name and its 42nd dating back to its founding as the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League in 1975 when the Michigan Junior Hockey League and the Wolverine Junior A Hockey League merged.  On June 30th the league released the regular season schedule. Each of the league's 24 teams will play a 60 game schedule.  The regular season will start on September 9, 2016 and will end on April 9, 2017.
==Special Events==
===Annual NAHL Showcase Tournament===
The league scheduled the 14th annual tournament for September 21-24, 2016.  The event will feature all 24 league members and be held at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota.
===Top Prospects Tournament===
This event will be held on February 27-28, 2017 at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.  The schedule and format will be announced.
===Robertson Cup Championship===
The league championship will be held May 11-14, 2017 at a neutral location to be announced later.
==Membership Changes==
On October 22, 2015  a press conference was held in Shreveport, Louisiana to announce the addition of the Shreveport Mudbugs.  The previous Mudbugs teams was founded in 1997 and played in the Central Hockey League until folding in 2011.  The Hirsch Coliseum is undergoing a $1.5 million upgrade and will once again have an ice surface.  The new team will commence play with the start of the 2016-17 season.
In April of 2016 the league announced the addition of the Northeast Generals who will be based out of the New England Sports Village in Attleboro, Massachusetts, a suburb between Boston and Providence.  The team will start the season at the organiztion's home for the 2015-16 season, the Canton Sportsplex in Canton, Massachusetts as the NESV is under construction in the summer of 2016.  The team had originally stated they would hoping to play a few games in Boston at Matthews Arena and Walter Brown Arena but when the schedule was released they were not listed a sites for any of their games.  The team was forced to move several of its games to Rodman Arena in Walpole, Massachusetts when the NESV was not ready for use.
Posted reports indicate that the Kenai River Brown Bears will be either folding or moving to Wausau, Wisconsin for the 2017-18 season, which had followed reports of the team possibly folding after this season being posted as the economy of the state of Alaska had put the state's 2 NCAA programs at the risk of being ended and the Alaska Aces of the ECHL lead to the announced folding at the end of the 2016-17 hockey season.  The team had filed the paperwork for dormancy after the 2016-17 season ended.  The team apparently put together a fund raising effort which raised $300,000 and netted 300 season ticket applications  out of their 500 ticket goal.  The team received approval for reactivation at a conference call meeting held on April 18, 2017.  Along with the renewal of the Kenai River franchise interest has been heating up on the Anchorage market as well since the announced folding of the ECHL team as it would make the other two Alaska teams more viable.
In May as part of the release of the divisional alignments and showcase events for the 2017-18 season it was announced that the Wichita Falls Wildcats had requested and received inactive status for the 2017-18 season.
==Current teams==
The 2016-17 season has 24 teams playing in 4 divisions:
Division	Team 	Arena 	Location
Central 	Aberdeen Wings 	Odde Ice Center 	Aberdeen, South Dakota
Central 	Austin Bruins 	Riverside Arena 	Austin, Minnesota
Central 	Bismarck Bobcats 	V.F.W. Sports Center 	Bismarck, North Dakota
Central 	Brookings Blizzard 	Larson Ice Center 	Brookings, South Dakota
Central 	Minnesota Wilderness 	Northwoods Credit Union Arena 	Cloquet, Minnesota
Central 	Minot Minotauros 	Maysa Arena 	Minot, North Dakota
Midwest 	Coulee Region Chill 	Green Island Ice Arena 	La Crosse, Wisconsin
Midwest 	Fairbanks Ice Dogs 	Big Dipper Ice Arena 	Fairbanks, Alaska
Midwest 	Janesville Jets 	Janesville Ice Arena 	Janesville, Wisconsin
Midwest 	Kenai River Brown Bears 	Soldotna Sports Center 	Soldotna, Alaska
Midwest 	Minnesota Magicians 	Richfield Ice Arena 	Richfield, Minnesota
Midwest 	Springfield Jr. Blues 	Nelson Center 	Springfield, Illinois
East 	 	 	
East 	Aston Rebels 	IceWorks Skating Complex 	Aston,PA
East 	Johnstown Tomahawks 	Cambria County War Memorial Arena	Johnstown, Pennsylvania
East 	New Jersey Junior Titans 	Middletown Ice World Arena 	Middletown, New Jersey
East 	Northeast Generals 	New England Sports Village 	Attleboro, Massachusetts
East 	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights	Revolution Ice Center 	Pittston, Pennsylvania
South 	 	 	
South 	Amarillo Bulls 	Amarillo Civic Center 	Amarillo, Texas
South 	Corpus Christi IceRays 	American Bank Center 	Corpus Christi, Texas
South 	Lone Star Brahmas 	NYTEX Sports Centre 	North Richland Hills, Texas
South 	Odessa Jackalopes 	Ector County Coliseum 	Odessa, Texas
South 	Shreveport Mudbugs 	Hirsch Coliseum 	Shreveport, Louisiana
South 	Topeka RoadRunners 	Landon Arena 	Topeka, Kansas
South 	Wichita Falls Wildcats 	Kay Yeager Coliseum 	Wichita Falls, Texas
==Standings==
===Central Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Minot Minotauros 	60	38	18	4 	0 	192	156	80
Minnesota Wilderness	60	32	22	4 	2 	188	179	70
Brookings Blizzard 	60	30	25	4 	1 	192	193	65
Aberdeen Wings 	60	29	24	3 	4 	184	185	65
Bismarck Bobcats 	60	28	30	1 	1 	187	209	58
Austin Bruins 	60	24	27	4 	5 	185	202	57
===Midwest Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Janesville Jets 	60	42	13	1 	4 	224	153	89
Fairbanks Ice Dogs 	60	33	24	2 	1 	185	165	69
Minnesota Magicians 	60	31	22	4 	3 	180	169	69
Coulee Region Chill 	60	31	27	2 	0 	220	220	64
Springfield Jr. Blues 	60	27	28	4 	1 	174	189	59
Kenai River Brown Bears	60	12	46	2 	0 	121	233	26
===East Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Aston Rebels 	60	46	11	2 	1 	214	106	95
Johnstown Tomahawks 	60	40	16	3 	1 	209	148	84
New Jersey Titans 	60	34	22	1 	3 	228	198	72
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights	60	30	25	1 	4 	201	193	65
Northeast Generals 	60	4 	53	3 	0 	116	305	11
===South Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Lone Star Brahmas 	60	44	14	2 	0 	190	135	90
Shreveport Mudbugs 	60	35	19	3 	3 	189	151	76
Corpus Christi IceRays	60	32	19	4 	5 	183	155	73
Wichita Falls Wildcats	60	29	24	6 	2 	187	203	65
Odessa Jackalopes 	60	26	25	4 	3 	183	200	61
Amarillo Bulls 	60	22	28	8 	2 	173	206	54
Topeka RoadRunners 	60	21	34	4 	1 	176	228	47
==Robertson Cup Playoffs==
The top four teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. Each of the four division champions will meet at the Essentia Health Duluth Heritage Center  in Duluth, Minnesota  from May 11th to 14th.  The teams will be seeded 1-4 based on regular season standings and paired off 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 in best of three semifinal series with the two series winners meeting in a single game championship.
===Central Division Semifinals===
*Aberdeen Wings defeated Minot Minotauros 3 games to 1
*Minnesota Wilderness defeated Brookings Blizzard 3 games to 2
===East Division Semifinals===
*Aston Rebels defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights 3 games to none
*New Jersey Titans defeated Johnstown Tomahawks 3 games to none
===Midwest Division Semifinals===
*Janesville Jets defeated Coulee Region Chill 3 games to none
*Fairbanks Ice Dogs defeated Minnesota Magicians 3 games to none
===South Division Semifinals===
*Lone Star Brahmas defeated Wichita Falls Wildcats 3 games to 1
*Corpus Christi IceRays defeated Shreveport Mudbugs 3 games to none
===Central Division Final===
*Aberdeen Wings defeated Minnesota Wilderness 3 games to 2
===East Division Final===
*Aston Rebels defeated New Jersey Titans 3 games to 2
===Midwest Division Final===
*Janesville Jets defeated Fairbanks Ice Dogs 3 games to 1
===South Division Final===
*Lone Star Brahmas defeated Corpus Christi IceRays 3 games to 2
===Robertson Cup Semifinals===
*Aston Rebels defeated Aberdeen Wings 2 games to 1
*Lone Star Brahmas defeated Janesville Jets 2 games to none
===Robertson Cup Final===
*Lone Star Brahmas defeated Aston Rebels 3-0
Category:2017 in hockey
Category:NAHL seasons
Category:North American Hockey League