2016-17 NWJHL Season

This is the 2016-17 North West Junior Hockey League season.  This is the league's 23nd season.

Membership Changes

• The Beaverlodge Blades annouced they were ceasing operations in early December.  The team played their last game on December 4th and forfeited games on December 9th and 10th prior to folding.  The team ended their season with a 1-21-0 record along with 41 goals for and 215 goals allowed including the two forfeits.

Teams

Team	Centre	Arena
Beaverlodge Blades	Beaverlodge	Beaverlodge Arena
Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks	Dawson Creek	Dawson Creek Memorial Arena
Fairview Flyers	Fairview, Alberta	Fairview Fairplex
Fort St. John Huskies	Fort St. John	North Peace Arena
Grande Prairie Kings	Clairmont	Crosslink County Sportsplex
North Peace Navigators	Peace River	Baytex Energy Centre
Sexsmith Vipers	Sexsmith	Sexsmith Arena

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
Fairview Flyers	30	21	9	0	120	83	42
North Peace Navigators	30	18	11	1	106	104	37
Fort St. John Huskies	30	17	10	3	103	88	37
Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks	30	16	13	1	133	127	33
Grande Prairie Kings	30	13	13	4	104	105	30
Sexsmith Vipers	30	5	23	2	87	146	12
Beaverlodge Blades	22	1	21	0	41	215	2

note: Beaverlodge folded in December the record above is their record as of folding.  Their games were removed from the final standings.

Playoffs

Format

All six remaining teams qualify with the first and second place teams earning a bye into the semifinal round. The quarterfinal round is best-of-five.  The semifinal and final rounds are best-of-seven.  The playoff champion and finalist will advance to the 2017 Russ Barnes Trophy which will be hosted by the St. Paul Canadiens in St. Paul, Alberta.  The winner of that tournament will advance to the 2017 Keystone Cup which is being held in Arborg, Manitoba

Quarterfinals

• Fort St. John Huskies vs Sexsmith Vipers 3 games to none
• Grande Prairie Kings defeated Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks 3 games to 1

Semifinals

• Fairview Flyers defeated Grande Prairie Kings 4 games to 3
• North Peace Navigators defeated Fort St. John Huskies 4 games to 3

Final

• Fairview Flyers defeated North Peace Navigators 4 games to 2

2017 NWJHL champs Fairview Flyers (from Fairview Flyers twitter page)

Both finalist advance to the 2017 Russ Barnes Trophy tournament being held in St. Paul, Alberta.