The 97-98 NCHL season saw more changes as the Grande Cache Rockies and Drayton Valley Wildcats were welcomed, while the Mayerthorpe Hitmen became the first team to take a leave of absence. The Hinton Heat were also re-instated to the league. Drayton Valley had moved over from "AAA" status in the Chinook League and were a very strong club, losing only 1 regular season game. Grande Cache also proved to be a very good club, coming in second behind DV in the South Division. Slave Lake defeated Fox Creek in the North final, while Drayton Valley defeated Grande Cache in the South final. Drayton Valley defeated Slave Lake in straight games to win the NCHL championship.
The all-star game was played in Edson.
SOUTH DIVISION
| TEAMS | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayton Valley | 23 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 184 | 85 | 42 |
| Grande Cache | 23 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 144 | 91 | 36 |
| Edson | 24 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 113 | 126 | 20 |
| Hinton | 23 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 113 | 116 | 20 |
NORTH DIVISION
| TEAMS | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slave Lake | 23 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 158 | 116 | 31 |
| Whitecourt | 24 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 112 | 133 | 21 |
| Fox Creek | 24 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 103 | 127 | 19 |
| Athabasca | 24 | 7 | 16 | 1 | 110 | 161 | 15 |
| Swan Hills | 23 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 95 | 198 | 6 |
Archived information courtesy of the Fox Creek Bandits webpage.
