2018-19 SIJHL Season

This is the 2018-19 Superior International Junior Hockey League season. This is the league's 18th season.

Each team is scheduled to play 56 games 27 at home and 27 on the road with two additional games scheduled for the league showcase. The regular season will start the third week of September and scheduled to end Mid-March

Membership Changes

• The English River Miners were renamed the Red Lake Miners
• According to a report a team to be based out of the Spooner Civic Center in Spooner, Wisconsin were approved by USA Hockey's Junior Council to join the league for 2019-20. The team will likely be named either the Wisconsin Lumberjacks. The arena was previously home to the Wisconsin Wilderness.
• On June 12, 2019 it was announced the Minnesota Iron Rangers would take a one year leave of absence for the 2019-20 season with the intention of relocating somewhere within the Iron Range of Minnesota. Other sources indicate that the team may have in fact folded.

The Teams

Team Joined Centre Arena Dryden Ice Dogs 2001 Dryden, Ontario Dryden Memorial Arena Red Lake Miners 2013 Red Lake, Ontario Cochenour Arena Fort Frances Lakers 2007 Fort Frances, Ontario Fort Frances Memorial Sports Centre Minnesota Iron Rangers 2011 Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota Hoyt Lakes Arena Thief River Falls Norskies 2016 Thief River Falls, Minnesota Ralph Engelstad Arena Thunder Bay North Stars 2001 Thunder Bay, Ontario Fort William Gardens

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	OL	SL	GF	GA	Pts
Thunder Bay North Stars	56	49	5	1	1	363	122	100
Red Lake Miners	56	38	15	3	0	278	193	79
Thief River Falls Norskies	56	31	20	4	1	224	173	67
Dryden Ice Dogs	56	29	20	4	3	265	195	65
Fort Frances Lakers	56	18	35	2	1	177	237	39
Minnesota Iron Rangers	56	3	53	0	0	91	478	6

Bill Salonen Cup Playoffs

The first round has the third place team playing the sixth place team and the fourth place team playing the fifth place team in best-of-five series. The teams are re-seeded with the lower seeded first round winner playing the 1st place team and the higher seeded first round winner playing the 2nd place team in the best-of-seven semifinals. The semifinal winners meet in the best-of seven final. The winner of the playoffs will advance to the 2019 Dudley Hewitt Cup being held in Cochrane, Ontario, hosted by the Cochrane Crunch of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The winner of that tournament advances to the 2019 National Junior A Championship being held in Brooks, Alberta.

First Round

• Thief River Falls Norskies defeated Minnesota Iron Rangers 3 games to none
• Dryden Ice Dogs defeated Fort Frances Lakers 3 games to none

Semifinals

• Thunder Bay North Stars defeated Dryden Ice Dogs 4 games to 1
• Red Lake Miners defeated Thief River Falls Norskies 4 games to 1

Final

• Thunder Bay North Stars defeated Red Lake Miners 4 games to 1

2019 SIJHL champions Thunder Bay North Stars