2014-15 NA3HL Season

This is the 2014-15 North American 3 Hockey League season. The league as of May 10, 2014 will consist of 31 teams in five divisions.

Franchise changes

 * In March 2014, the league announced that it would absorb the teams from the American West Hockey League in a merger and those teams would form the Frontier Division for the 2014-15 season. The teams joining the league in the merger were Billings Bulls, Bozeman Icedogs, Gillette Wild, Glacier Nationals (based out of Whitefish, MT) Great Falls Americans, Helena Bighorns, and the Yellowstone Quake (based out out Cody, Wyoming), giving the Frontier Division seven teams.


 * The league had already announced plans for expansion to California and Arizona, which would comprise the Western Division  with four franchises one in the Phoenix area, one in the San Jose area and two teams in Southern California.
 * On May 1, 2014 the league announced the addition of three teams that will play in the Southern Division.  A team based out of the Nashville suburb of Franklin (which had originally been awarded to Austin, Texas) and later named the Nashville Jr. Predators. The second team (which was originally awarded to Wichita Falls, Texas) will be the Point Mallard Ducks based out of the Huntsville suburb of Decatur, Alabama.  The third team wil be the Texas Brahmas based out of North Richland Hills, TX and to be run by the Lone Star Brahmas of the NAHL.  This will give the Southern Division six teams.
 * On May 6, 2014 the league approved the relocation of the Flint Jr. Generals  to La Crosse, Wisconsin and the team was renamed the La Crosse Freeze.  With this move the team will be moved from the East to the Central Division.
 * The Battle Creek Revolution were rebranded the West Michigan Wolves.
 * The Burton based Michigan Mountain Cats were sold and relocated to Jamestown, New York where they were renamed the Southern Tier Xpress.
 * The league announced expansion teams to be based out of Evansville, Indiana and Sandy Point, Georgia scheduled to start play with the 2015-16 season

Central Division
Team                GP  W  L OTL  GF  GA  PIM  P  West Michigan Wolves 47 31 15  1  152 128  751 63 Wisconsin Whalers   47 29 13  5  186 128  683 63 La Crosse Freeze    47 28 14  5  160 155  913 61 Peoria Mustangs     47 23 19  5  180 154 1012 51 Chicago Jr. Bulldogs 47 19 24 4  158 195 1399 42 St. Louis Jr. Blues 47 13 30  4  131 228  805 30

East Division
Team                     GP  W  L OTL  GF  GA  PIM  P  Metro Jets                47 32 13  2  204 127  930 66 Pittsburgh Vengeance     47 30 11  6  169 117  505 66 Toledo Cherokee          47 28 14  5  152 113  951 61 Southern Tier Xpress     47 26 20  1  178 156 1329 53 Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks 47 17 24 6  113 163  636 40 Cincinnati Swords        47  6 38  3   95 248  785 15

Frontier Division
Team                 GP  W  L OTL  GF  GA  PIM  P  Great Falls Americans 47 34 10  3  168  87  644 71 Helena Bighorns      47 34 11  2  194  98 1073 70 Gillette Wild        47 33 13  1  172 102  960 67 Billings Bulls       47 25 16  6  161 140  610 56 Bozeman Icedogs      47 15 31  1  119 193  990 31 Glacier Nationals    47 10 31  6   95 212 1028 26 Yellowstone Quake    47  9 34  4  100 222  772 22

South Division
Team                   GP  W  L OTL  GF  GA  PIM  P  Nashville Jr. Predators 47 42  4  1  227  79  750 85 Topeka Capitals        47 30 13  4  199 134  903 64 Texas Jr. Brahmas      47 26 15  6  179 138  516 58 Point Mallard Ducks    47 26 19  2  181 140  932 54 Dallas Jr. Stars       47 10 33  4  109 221 1091 24 Sugar Land Imperials   47 11 35  1  135 272 1105 23

West Division
Team                    GP  W  L OTL  GF  GA  PIM  P  North Iowa Bulls         47 37  9  1  245 109  906 75 Granite City Lumberjacks 47 33 9  5  197 113  934 71 Alexandria Blizzard     47 28 16  3  188 160 1027 59 Twin City Steel         47 23 22  2  161 170 1364 48 Breezy Point North Stars 47 14 30 3  133 167 1272 31 Minnesota Flying Aces   47  7 37  3  109 273 1364 17

Format
The top 4 teams in each division qualify. The division semifinal and final rounds are best of three. Semifinal winners advance to the division final. The five division winners and the highest seeded (based on regular season record) division final loser (who will be seeded 6th) advance to a six team two pool modified round robin with the top team in each pool advancing to the  Silver championship game. Seedings will be based upon regular season records and ties will be broken using league tie breakers.

Central Division Semifinals

 * West Michigan defeated Peoria 2 games to 1 (4-5 (ot), 3-2, 3-1)
 * Wisconsin defeated La Crosse 2 games to 1 (9-1, 4-2)

East Division Semifinals

 * Metro defeated Southern Tier 2 games to none (4-3, 2-1 (ot))
 * Pittsburgh defeated Toledo 2 games to none ( 3-2 (ot), 3-2)

Frontier Division Semifinals

 * Great Falls defeated Billings 2 games to none (5-4, 5-2)
 * Helena defeated Gillette 2 games to 1 (4-1, 2-5, 4-2)

South Division Semifinals

 * Nashville defeated Point Mallard  2 games to 1(4-1, 1-2, 3-1)
 * Topeka vs Texas defeated Topea 2 games to none (6-5, 3-2)

West Division Semifinals

 * North Iowa defeated Twin City 2 games to none (4-1, 5-3)
 * Granite City defeated Alexandria 2 games to 1 (2-1 (ot), 2-4, 3-1)

Central Division Final

 * West Michigan defeated Wisconsin 2 games to 1 (2-3, 4-3, 5-1)

East Division Final

 * Metro defeated Pittsburgh 2 games to 1 (6-5 (ot), 3-4, 2-1)

Frontier Division Final

 * Great Falls defeated Helena 2 games to none (5-2, 6-2)

South Division Final

 * Nashville defeated Topeka 2 games to none (2-1, 4-3)

West Division Final
Granite City advances as the wild card qualifier (the highest seeded division final round loser)
 * North Iowa defeated Granite City 2 games to 1 (6-3, 2-3, 4-2)

Silver Cup Championship Tournament
Event held at Fox Valley Arena in Geneva, Illinois March 19-22, 2015

Silver Cup Round Robin

 * Seeds 1, 4, & 6 make up Pool A. Seeds 2, 3, & 5 make up Pool B.


 * Each team plays the teams in the other pool once.

Round Robin Scores
Pool A Team                  GP W L GF GA  North Iowa Bulls        3 3 0 15  5 Nashville Jr. Predators 3 2 1 6  5 Metro Jets             3 1 2  6 10
 * Nashville defeated Metro 3-2 in double overtime
 * West Michigan defeated Great Falls 3-1
 * North Iowa defeated Granite City 7-4
 * Metro defeated Great Falls 3-1
 * Granite City defeated Nashville 2-0
 * North Iowa defeated West Michigan 2-0
 * Granite City defeated Metro 6-1
 * Nashville defeated West Michigan 3-1
 * North Iowa defeated Great Falls 6-1

Pool B Team                   GP W L GF GA  Granite City Lumberjacks 3 2 1 12  8 West Michigan Wolves    3 1 2  4  6 Great Falls Americans   3 0 3  3 12

Championship Game
Both the winner, (Granite City Lumberjacks) and the runner-up (North Iowa Bulls) of the tournament advance to the 2015 USA Hockey Tier III Junior National Championship in  Simsbury, Connecticut.
 * Granite City defeated North Iowa 3-2