SIJHL schedule chopped to 48 games

Absence not only makes the heart grow fonder, but the Superior International Junior Hockey League schedule grow shorter at the same time.
Thanks to the Northwest Wisconsin Knights and the Iron Range Yellow Jackets each bowing out of the league for this coming season, the SIJHL’s third campaign will be shorter than the previous season, with its five teams playing a 48-game regular season schedule as opposed to 52 last year.
The Knights, who played a partial 20-game SIJHL schedule last year while being full-time members of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, decided to withdraw from the SIJHL for this season.
They were joined by the Iron Range Yellow Jackets, who looked prepared to be the league’s sixth full-time member after playing a partial schedule two seasons ago, but decided to hold off on competing north of the border this year.
The defending SIJHL champion Borderland Thunder, who finished in top spot last year with a 33-12-5-2 mark, will begin the regular campaign with five consecutive home dates at the Ice for Kids Arena. They kick off the year Sept. 19-20 when they face the visiting Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs, their opponents in last year’s SIJHL final.
The Thunder will also have a five-game homestand in late January and early February. In the midst of that run will be the league’s all-star game Jan. 28 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
Borderland will fire up the bus for their first road trip of the year on Oct. 17-18, as they head east to face the K&A Golden Hawks for a two-game weekend set.
The Thunder will have to be road warriors in February, when they embark on a six-game line-up of games which will see them away from the Ice for Kids for three straight weeks after their Feb. 3 game against the Dryden Ice Dogs.
Borderland completes its regular schedule at home Mar. 5-6 against the Bulldogs. Dates for the team’s pre-season games as well as the start of the SIJHL playoffs were not available at press time.
The Dudley Hewitt Cup Central Canadian Junior “A” championship, which was hosted by the Thunder this past spring and won by the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League, will be held in North Bay Apr. 27-May 1.
The winner moves on to the Royal Bank Cup in Grande Prairie, Alta. May 8-16, with the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League presently holding the title after their victory in Charlottetown, P.E.I. this past May.