THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Bill Salonen Cup playoffs begin tonight in Ear Falls, Ont., as the English River Miners host the Minnesota Iron Rangers in Game 1 of their quarter-final play-in series.
The winner of that best-of-five set will meet the No. 1 seeded Fort Frances Lakers in semifinal action. The game schedule for that best-of-seven affair will be announced once it is finalized.
The other league semifinal features the No. 2 Dryden GM Ice Dogs tangling with the No. 3 Thunder Bay North Stars with that best-of-seven series beginning April 2 in Dryden.
OVERTIME: Unlike the regular season where a shootout was used, if required, after a five-minute 4-on-4 overtime session failed to produce a winner, the teams will keep playing in all playoff games until a goal is scored.
Should any postseason game be tied at the end of regulation time, the ice will be resurfaced and a 12-minute intermission will be held.
The two teams will then switch ends and play a 20-minute stop-time, sudden victory overtime period with both sides at full strength, 5-on-5 skaters aside, provided there are no penalties on the clock at the end of the third period.
If there is a man advantage penalty on the clock, the offending team will begin overtime shorthanded until the penalty time expires or a goal in scored.
The game will continue with the exact same period format listed above until a winner is decided.
THE TROPHY: The SIJHL championship trophy is named after Mr. Bill Salonen.
This long-time hockey man is a life member of Hockey Northwestern Ontario and is also an honoured member of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
He hails from Dryden and also served as the town’s mayor previously.
Salonen is a widely respected individual who has volunteered countless years in sport and otherwise in the region for the benefit of those in Northwestern Ontario.
BILL SALONEN CUP APPEARANCES: The Fort Frances Lakers enter the postseason as the two-time defending SIJHL champions.
They are one of three organizations (Lakers, Wilderness, North Stars) to have captured the trophy the past seven seasons.
The Fort William (Thunder Bay) North Stars have won a record five Bill Salonen Cup titles.
Dryden and the North Stars have played in the most SIJHL championship series at seven apiece.
Fort Frances has appeared in the past four league finals, winning the last two.
The following are the all-time SIJHL Bill Salonen Cup playoff champions:
2002: Dryden Ice Dogs
2003: Borderland Thunder
2004: Fort William North Stars
2005: Fort William North Stars
2006: Fort William North Stars
2007: Schreiber Diesels
2008: Dryden Ice Dogs
2009: Fort William North Stars
2010: Fort William North Stars
2011: Wisconsin Wilderness
2012: Wisconsin Wilderness
2013: Minnesota Wilderness
2014: Fort Frances Lakers
2015: Fort Frances Lakers
2016: T.B.A.
FASTHOCKEY: All SIJHL playoff games will be available online at FASTHockey.com.
Live online scoring of games will also be available via the league website at sijhlhockey.com.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bill Salonen Cup champion will then advance to represent the SIJHL at the 2016 Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Jr. A championship May 3-7 in Kirkland Lake, Ont.
That four-team event will feature the host Kirkland Lake Gold Miners (NOJHL) along with the title holders from the SIJHL, Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Should Kirkland Lake prevail as NOJHL champion, then that league’s finalist will also compete at the DHC.
