2015-16 NA3HL Season

This is the 2015-16 North American 3 Hockey League season. This is the league's 6th season under the NA3HL moniker and 18th season overall dating back to its' founding as the Central States Hockey League in 1998. The regular season will begin September 4th and end March 13th.

The league will have a league-wide Showcase December 16-19, 2015 at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota.

The league will also hold the NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament February 15-16 as part of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament.

The league playoffs will end up with the Silver Cup Championship Tourament March 30-April 3, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois.

Rule changes
For the 2015-16 season the league adopted the 3-on-3 format for overtime as well as 3-man shootouts.

Membership changes

 * The league added the Evansville Thunderbolts, and the Lafayette, Louisiana based Louisiana Drillers as expansion teams
 * The Topeka Capitals  announced they were relocating from Topeka to Atlanta, Georgia on June 15, 2015. The team is based out of the Center Ice Arena in Atlanta. The team was renamed the Atlanta Capitals
 * The league also added the Rochester Ice Hawks from the defunct Minnesota Junior Hockey League
 * The Wooster Oilers relocated from Strongsville, Ohio where they were known as the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks
 * The Metro Jets relocated from Waterford, Michigan to Fraser, Michigan with no name change (when the team was sold) as both are in the Metro Detroit area.
 * The league had announced the addition of a franchise out of Sandy Point, Georgia about 12 miles (20km) west of Macon, Georgia to start play with the 2015-16 season; but the team did not come to fruition.
 * The Dallas Jr. Stars were renamed the Euless Jr. Stars when the team was sold in early August 2015 to the same ownership group that owns the La Crosse Freeze also of the NA3HL and the Coulee Region Chill of the North American Hockey League.

Teams
The league was realigned to 6 divisions (up from 5) for the 2015-16 season

Standings


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 six division winners and the two highest seeded (based on regular season record) division final losers (who will be seeded 7th and 8th) advance to the 2016 Silver Cup Championship Tournament being held in Chicago from March 30 to April 3, 2016, a 8 team two pool round robin with the top two teams in each pool single game semifinals and the semifinal winners advancing to the  Silver championship game. Seedings will be based upon regular season records and ties will be broken using league tie breakers.

East Division Semifinals

 * Metro Jets defeated Wooster Oilers 2 games to none (10-5, 12-1)
 * West Michigan Wolves defeated Toledo Cherokee 2 games to none (4-1, 5-2)

Central Division Semifinals

 * North Iowa Bulls defeated Rochester Ice Hawks 2 games to none (10-1, 12-3)
 * La Crosse Freeze defeated Wisconsin Whalers 2 games to none (3-2, 5-1)

Midwest Division Semifinals

 * St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Cincinnati Thunder 2 games to none (4-0, 6-5 (ot))
 * Nashville Jr. Predators defeated Peoria Mustangs 2 games to none (4-1, 1-0)

South Division Semifinals

 * Point Mallard Ducks defeated Sugar Land Imperials 2 games to 1 (2-3, 4-2, 10-1)
 * Texas Jr. Brahmas defeated Atlanta Capitals 2 games to 1 (1-5, 3-2, 8-4)

West Division Semifinals

 * Granite City Lumberjacks defeated Alexandria Blizzard 2 games to 1 (3-1, 1-3, 7-4)
 * Twin City Steel vs Breezy Point North Stars 2 games to 1 (4-3, 3-4 (ot), 6-2)

Frontier Division Semifinals

 * Yellowstone Quake defeated Gillette Wild 2 games to 1 ( 5-6 (ot), 6-4, 3-2 (ot))
 * Great Falls Americans defeated Bozeman Icedogs 2 games to none (2-1 (2ot), 2-1)

East Division Final

 * Metro Jets defeated West Michigan Wolves 2 games to none (3-1, 11-2)

Central Division Final

 * North Iowa Bulls defeated La Crosse Freeze 2 games to none (9-2, 5-3)

Midwest Division Final

 * St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Nashville Jr. Predators 2 games to 1 (5-4, 0-3, 3-1)

South Division Final

 * Point Mallard Ducks defeated Texas Jr. Brahmas 2 games to none (3-1, 4-1)

West Division Final

 * Twin City Steel defeated Granite City Lumberjacks 2 games to none (4-2, 3-2)

Frontier Division Final

 * Great Falls Americans defeated Yellowstone Quake 2 games to none (4-1, 5-4)

Group A

 * North Iowa Bulls defeated Yellowstone Quake 6-2
 * Great Falls Americans defeated Point Mallard Ducks 2-1
 * North Iowa defeated Great Falls Americans 4-1
 * Point Mallard Ducks defeated Yellowstone Quake 3-0
 * Point Mallard Ducks defeated North Iowa Bulls  4-3
 * Great Falls Americans defeated Yellowstone Quake 8-1

Group B

 * Metro Jets defeated Texas Jr. Brahmas 7-0
 * St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Twin City Steel  4-3
 * Texas Jr. Brahmas defeated St. Louis Jr. Blues 4-2
 * Metro Jets defeated Twin City Steel 2-1
 * Metro Jets defeated St. Louis Jr. Blues 7-3
 * Twin City Steel defeatd Texas Jr. Brahmas 5-2

Semifinals

 * North Iowa Bulls defeated Twin City Steel 4-3 (ot)
 * Metro Jets defeated Great Falls Americans 5-4

Final

 * North Iowa Bulls defeated Metro Jets 4-1