2003-04 NAHL Season

This is the North American Hockey League 2003-04 season.  The season was the league's first after a merger with the America West Hockey League following the 2002-03 season

Franchise changes

The league added the eight of the eleven teams from the America West Hockey League:

• Billings Bulls
• Bismarck Bobcats
• Bozeman IceDogs
• Central Texas Blackhawks (based in Belton, Texas)
• Fairbanks Ice Dogs
• Fernie Ghostriders
• Helena Bighorns
• Wichita Falls Wildcats
• The Capital Centre Pride folded.
• The Chicago Freeze folded due to "increased operation costs and low attendance".
• The Detroit Compuware Ambassadors disbanded
• The Danville Wings left the league and joined the United States Hockey League.
• The Alexandria, Minnesota based Minnesota Blizzard joined the league.
• The Pittsburgh Forge relocated to Toledo, Ohio and were renamed the Toledo IceDiggers.
• The North Richland Hills, Texas based Lone Star Cavalry joined the league.
• The Fargo-Moorhead Jets joined the league.
• The Texarkana Bandits joined the league.
• The Dayton Gems joined the league and then the team disolved after playing 21 games and forfeiting the next 3 games.
• The Youngstown Phantoms joined the league.

Standings

Team                        GP    W    L   OTL SOL   GF    GA     P
North
Soo Indians                 56    44   6    6   0    213   115    94
Springfield Jr. Blues       56    34   18   4   0    194   143    72
Cleveland Jr. Barons        56    31   20   5   0    192   179    67
US National Under-18 Team   56    28   21   7   0    199   174    63
Youngstown Phantoms         56    28   21   7   0    168   169    63
Toledo IceDiggers           56    13   38   5   0    146   243    31
Dayton Gems                 24    7    16   1   0    63    110    15
South
Texas Tornado               56    48   6    2   0    276   123    98
Fairbanks Ice Dogs          56    31   15   10  0    174   140    72
Wichita Falls Wildcats      56    29   20   7   0    200   172    65
Texarkana Bandits           56    30   24   2   0    167   181    62
Lone Star Cavalry           56    28   22   6   0    158   171    62
Central Texas Blackhawks    56    19   30   7   0    161   219    45
Springfield Spirit          56    13   39   4   0    153   259    30
West
Billings Bulls              56    40   14   2   0    224   143    82
Fargo-Moorhead Jets         56    33   21   2   0    187   160    68
Bismarck Bobcats            56    30   22   4   0    184   184    64
Bozeman IceDogs             56    28   22   6   0    174   163    62
Helena Bighorns             56    28   22   6   0    205   191    62
Minnesota Blizzard          56    20   28   8   0    148   209    48
Fernie Ghostriders          56    12   38   6   0    146   270    30

Robertson Cup Playoffs

First Round

• Texas defeated Texarakana 3 games to none (3-1, 3-2, 5-1)
• Fairbanks defeated Wichita Falls 3 games to 1 (1-2 (ot),  3-1, 2-1 (ot), 5-2)
• Bismarck defeated Fargo-Moorhead 3 games to none (7-2, 4-3, 3-1)
• Billings defeated Helena 3 games to 1 (3-0, 2-5, 3-2, 7-0)
• Team USA defeated Soo 3 games to 1 (1-3, 3-2 (ot), 4-3 (ot), 7-1)
• Springfield Jr. Blues defeated Cleveland 3 games to 2 (2-1, 9-4, 2-5, 4-7, 4-2)

Second Round

• Texas defeated Fairbanks 3 games to none (3-2, 4-1, 7-1)
• Bismarck defeated Billings 3 games to 1 (4-0, 0-4, 3-2, 5-0)
• Springfield Jr. Blues defeated Team USA 3 games to none (3-1, 5-1, 5-4 (ot))

Robertson Cup Round Robin

• Springfield defeated Fairbanks 5-2
• Texas defeated Bismarck 8-3
• Bismarck defeated Fairbanks 3-2
• Texas defeated Springfield 1-0
• Bismarck defeated Springfield 3-2
• Texas defeated Fairbanks 2-1

Third Place Game

• Springfield defeated Fairbanks 5-3

Championship Game

• Texas defeated Bismarck 4-1

The Texas Tornado won the Robertson Cup.