2017-18 NPHL Season

This is the 2017-18 North Peace Hockey League season.
Due to the late withdrawal of teams the schedule will be unbalanced with the East Division playing 20 games and the West Division playing 18.
The league's two British Columbia based teams met in a best-of-three series in January to determine the area representative at the 2018 Coy Cup.  The Dawson Creek Sr. Canucks defeated the Fort St. John Flyers 2 games to none (8-1, 4-3 (ot)) to claim the Coy Cup berth.
The league has not sent a representative to the Alberta Senior AA Playoffs for at least several seasons.  No word if the Alberta teams will compete for a spot in the 2018 Alberta Senior AA playoffs.  Apparently, the Spirit River Rangers, who have won the past five years playoffs, declined to to participate in the Alberta Senior AA playoffs.
==Membership Changes==
*The Manning Comets and the High Prairie Regals both return from one year leave of absences.
*On October 14, 2017 the Spirit River Rangers announced that due to a lack of players they are requesting a one year leave of absence.http://www.bigcountryxx.com/syn/857/18051/spirit-river-to-take-year-off-from-nphl/
*On October 25, 2017 the Valleyview Jets were announced as folding due to a lack of players.
==Teams==
===East Division===
Team 	Centre 	Arena
Falher Pirates 	Falher, Alberta 	Falher Arena
Grimshaw Huskies 	Grimshaw, Alberta 	Grimshaw Memorial Arena
High Prairie Regals	High Prairie, Alberta	High Prairie Sports Palace
Manning Comets 	Manning, Alberta 	Manning Sports Centre Arena
===West Division===
Team 	Centre 	Arena
Dawson Creek Sr. Canucks	Dawson Creek, British Columbia 	Dawson Creek Memorial Arena
Fort St. John Flyers 	Fort St. John, British Columbia	North Peace Arena
Grande Prairie Athletics	Grande Prairie, Alberta 	Coca-Cola Centre
===Withdrew after schedule written===
Team 	Centre 	Arena
Valleyview Jets 	Valleyview, Alberta 	Polar Palace
Spirit River Rangers	Spirit River, Alberta	Spirit River Ag-rena
==Standings==
The Dawson Creek Sr. Canucks were forced to forfeit 4 games due to the use of more than the limit of six import players.  The statistics from the games will be counted.  The team had also lost two other games while playing over the limit and these games were unaffected. There may have been some misunderstanding on the part of the team as the league president, Jack McAvoy stated in his explanation of the matter "Dawson Creek is a team based in British Columbia, but they play in the NPHL which is under the jurisdiction of Hockey Alberta. According to the NPHL Constitution, any matter not dealt with in the Constitution, Hockey Alberta rules will apply." "Hockey Alberta bylaws state any player playing hockey outside the province is considered an import. Therefore, any play who played in Alberta last year (2016-17) is considered an import." "If the player goes to another province to play hockey, it also means if any of those players return back to Alberta in 2018-19, they will be considered an import."
Based on the playoff format for the West Division for this season; the punishment is one in name only as the teams all make the playoffs and participate in a double home and home series to determine the West Division winner and league finalist.https://discoverthepeacecountry.com/htmlpages/north_peace_hockey-extra/2017-2018/awards-press/canucks-forfeit-4games.html
===East Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
Falher Pirates 	20	12	8 	0 	0 	118	103	24
High Prairie Regals	20	8 	11	0 	1 	101	129	17
Grimshaw Huskies 	20	8 	12	0 	0 	101	119	16
Manning Comets 	20	6 	12	2 	0 	70 	116	14
===West Division===
Team 	GP	W 	L	OL	SL	GF	GA	Pts
Fort St. John Flyers 	18	13	5	0 	0 	95	64	26
Grande Prairie Athletics	18	12	5	0 	1 	92	69	25
Dawson Creek Sr. Canucks	18	8 	9	0 	1 	93	70	17
==Campbell Cup Playoffs==
===Format===
The East Division will play two rounds of best-of-seven series with the one seed playing the four seed and the two seed playing the three seed in the division semifinals.  The winners will meet for the division final with that winner advancing to the league final
The West Division will play a double round robin with the top team advancing to the league final. If teams are tied for the top spot a one or two stage sudden death playoff will be held based on regular season standings to determine home ice and seeding.  If a team has clinched the division's berth in the final, the balance of the round robin will be cancelled.
The league final will be a best-of-seven series.
===East Division===
====Semifinals====
best-of-seven
*Falher Pirates defeated Manning Comets 4 games to 1
*High Prairie Regals defeated Grimshaw Huskies 4 games to 1
====Final====
best-of-seven
*Falher Pirates defeated High Prairie Regals 4 games to 2
===West Division===
====Double home and home round robin====
Winner advances to league final.
* Jan 30: Grande Prairie 6 at Dawson Creek 2
* Feb 01: Fort St. John 4 at Grande Prairie 3 (ot)
* Feb 03: Dawson Creek 3 at Fort St. John 5
* Feb 06: Grande Prairie 4 at Fort St. John 7
* Feb 08: Fort St. John 3 at Dawson Creek 4 (ot)
* Feb 10: Dawson Creek 5 at Grande Prairie 3
* Feb 13: Dawson Creek 2 at Fort St. John 3 (ot)
* Feb 15: Fort St. John 6 at Grande Prairie 4
* Feb 17: Grande Prairie 7 at Dawson Creek 6
Balance of schedule (3 games plus tiebreakers) cancelled as Fort St. John clinches final berth
====Round Robin Standings====
Team 	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
Fort St. John Flyers 	6 	5	0	1 	28	20	11
Dawson Creek Sr. Canucks	6 	2	3	1 	22	27	5
Grande Prairie Athletics	6 	2	3	1 	27	30	5
===League Final===
*Fort St. John Flyers defeated Falher Pirates 4 games to 1
==References==
Discoverthepeacecountry.com NPHL webpage
Category:2018 in hockey
Category:North Peace Hockey League seasons