THUNDER BAY – Sports  – The Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) have announced that the 2013-14 season will feature six clubs taking to the ice that will compete for the Bill Salonen Cup championship.

The Dryden Ice Dogs, an original SIJHL member organization, are back for their 13th campaign in the league, which also marks its 13th year of providing Jr. A hockey in the region.

North Stars Ready for SIJHL Action

Returning with the Ice Dogs will be the Fort Frances Lakers, Minnesota Iron Rangers, and Thunder Bay North Stars as clubs, who all participated in the league in 2012-13.

Joining them sees the SIJHL welcome an expansion franchise in the English River Miners, who will be based in Ear Falls, Ont., while the Wisconsin Wilderness will be heading back to Spooner, Wis., where they won two league championships playing out of the Ice House in the northwestern Wisconsin community.

The 2013-14 regular season schedule will be announced in the coming weeks with game action expected to get underway in mid-September.

Details on the number of games each squad in will play in 2013-14 along with dates and location of the annual SIJHL Showcase weekend is expected to be finalized in the coming days.

“We’re looking forward to our 13th year of operation and we expect a highly competitive league,” offered SIJHL President/Commissioner Ron Whitehead.

“Coming off a season where the SIJHL won its second Dudley-Hewitt Cup, advanced all the way to the semifinal of the Royal Bank Cup, before falling in overtime to the eventual national champions, as well as seeing some of our alumni achieve impressive accomplishments at both the collegiate and professional levels, we look to build off those positives,” added Whitehead.