THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Superior International Junior Hockey League announced Saturday a number of the key topics discussed and finalized during their Annual General Meeting held last week in Fort Frances.
Among the items that were on the agenda were as follows:
The SIJHL Board of Governors received updates and discussed protentional upcoming league expansion in both Canada and the United States for the 2019-20 season and beyond.
Talks were also held in regard to ongoing negotiations with corporate partnerships with the SIJHL as well as new marketing strategies.
There were updates on two new programs being adopted for the 2018-19 season with Stack Sports and their game video editing system along with HeadCheck Health, a new program being instituted for player concussion protocol throughout the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
Further discussions were held on the SIJHL All-Star Game and League Showcase with the locations of both events set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Among the changes passed through by the SIJHL’s member clubs was an alteration to the league’s regular season tie-breaker system.
The final regular season standings and subsequent seeding for the Bill Salonen Cup playoffs will now be as follows:
1. Total wins
2. Regulation wins
3. Head-to-head match up
4. Goals for and against differential
5. Fewest penalty minutes.
It was also confirmed that the league’s playoff format will remain the same as the 2017-18 season.
This will see the top two teams in the standings receiving first-round playoff byes while the third-place side will meet the sixth-place team and the No. 4 seed will take on the No. 5 ranked club in a pair of best-of-five quarter-final match-ups.
Those are scheduled to be held between from March 19-26 in 2019.
From there all remaining series will be best-of-seven affairs.
Semifinal action will then see the first place squad taking on the lowest-ranked surviving club in one series while the other will have the No. 2 seed meeting the other quarter-final winner.
SIJHL semifinal play is expected to run between March 27 and April 8.
The two semifinal winners will then square off in the Bill Salonen Cup league championship series between April 10-23.
Awaiting the SIJHL champion will be a berth to the 2019 Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canadian Jr. A Championship April 30 through May 4 in Cochrane, Ont.
Taking part in that four-team event with the SIJHL winner will be the titleists of both the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and Ontario Junior Hockey League as well as the host Cochrane Crunch of the NOJHL.
Should Cochrane go on to win the NOJHL title then that league finalist will also compete in the Dudley-Hewitt Cup.
The DHC champion will then advance to represent the region at Canadian Jr. A Championship May 11-19 in Brooks, Alta.
The SIJHL’s regular season begins September 20.
