2021-22 NOJHL season

This is the 2021-22 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season. This is the league's 52nd season overall dating back to the founding of the NOHA Junior B Hockey League in 1970, and the league's 44th season under this name.

Season overview

• Season starts September 16th and ends March 13th.
• Each team plays a 56 game schedule with 27 home and away games plus two games are played by each team at the NOJHL showcase.
• Due to restrictions that were in place as of the early summer all games will be inter-divisional until at least the Christmas break.
• Top five teams in each division qualify for the playoffs (for more detail see playoff section below)

Membership changes

• The Elliot Lake Wildcats (now known as the Red Wings), Soo Eagles, Powassan Voodoos, Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, Hearst Lumberjacks, Espanola Express, French River Rapids, and Rayside-Balfour Canadians all return to play after having to either sit out all or part of the 2020-21 season

• The Elliot Lake Wildcats organization announced on April 17, 2021 that they would be returning to the league for the 2021-22 season rebranded as the Elliot Lake Red Wings.

• On September 9, 2021 the ownership of the Rayside-Balfour Canadians announced they were renaming the team the Greater Sudbury Cubs as part of the move to the Countryside Arena in Sudbury.

• In early August 2022 the Espanola Express announced that the would be renamed the Espanola Paper Kings.

Division Alignment

Eastern Division Team Joined Centre Arena Cochrane Crunch 2012 Cochrane Tim Horton Events Centre French River Rapids 2015 Noelville Noelville Arena Hearst Lumberjacks 1988 Hearst Claude Larose Recreation Centre Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 2003 Kirkland Lake Joe Mavrinac Community Complex Powassan Voodoos 2014 Powassan Powassan Sportsplex Timmins Rock 1991 Timmins McIntyre Arena Western Division Blind River Beavers 1999 Blind River Blind River Memorial Community Centre Elliot Lake Red Wings 2014 Elliot Lake Elliot Lake Centennial Arena Espanola Express 2015 Espanola Espanola Regional Recreation Complex Greater Sudbury Cubs 2000 Sudbury Countryside Arena Soo Eagles 2015 Sault Ste. Marie, MI Pullar Stadium Soo Thunderbirds 1999 Sault Ste. Marie, ON John Rhodes Community Centre

Standings

Eastern Division

Team	GP	W	L	OL	SL	GF	GA	Pts
Timmins Rock	48	33	8	5	2	225	125	73
Hearst Lumberjacks	48	35	11	2	0	217	139	72
Powassan Voodoos	48	30	11	6	1	184	145	67
French River Rapids	48	23	24	1	0	197	196	47
Kirkland Lake Gold Miners	48	12	33	0	3	151	231	27
Cochrane Crunch	48	2	43	1	2	91	270	7

Western Division

Team	GP	W	L	OL	SL	GF	GA	Pts
Soo Thunderbirds	48	38	5	2	3	189	101	81
Soo Eagles	48	33	11	2	2	178	148	70
Greater Sudbury Cubs	48	27	17	3	1	171	131	58
Blind River Beavers	48	25	17	6	0	151	159	56
Elliot Lake Red Wings	48	17	29	1	1	149	192	36
Espanola Express	48	13	31	4	0	150	217	30

Playoffs

Format

The top five teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. The fourth seed plays the fifth seed in each division in a best-of-three series. The winners of those series assume the fourth seed in each division. the balance of the playoffs are best-of-seven. The playoff champion normally would advance to the 2022 Dudley Hewitt Cup but in late March 2022 Hockey Canada announced a change in format for 2022 only to have ten teams qualify for the 2022 Centennial Cup, so the league playoff champion advances directly to the 2022 Centennial Cup.

East Qualifier Round

• French River Rapids defeated Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 2 games to none

West Qualifier Round

• Blind River Beavers defeated Elliot Lake Red Wings 2 games to 1

East Semifinals

• Soo Thunderbirds defeated Blind River Beavers 4 games to none
• Soo Eagles defeated Greater Sudbury Cubs 4 games to 2

West Semifinals

• Timmins Rock defeated French River Rapids 4 games to none
• Hearst Lumberjacks defeated Powassan Voodoos 4 games to 2

East Final

• Soo Thunderbirds defeated Soo Eagles 4 games to none

West Final

• Hearst Lumberjacks defeated Timmins Rock 4 games to 3

Final

• Soo Thunderbirds defeated Hearst Lumberjacks 4 games to 3