2025–26 SIJHL season
25th season of the SIJHL
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The 2025–26 SIJHL season is the 25th season of the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
| 2025–26 SIJHL season | |
|---|---|
| |
| League | SIJHL |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | Regular season September–March Playoffs March–April |
| Games | 168 |
| Teams | 7 |
| Streaming partner | sijhl |
The field of competition was reduced to seven teams as the Kenora Islanders, which debuted as an expansion franchise in 2023, remained indefinitely suspended.[1] The Islanders suspended operations midseason in January 2025 and announced they were seeking a new owner to take over the franchise, citing a conflict with the SIJHL board of governors.[2][3]
The league announced that it was installing a multi-angle, offline video review system in all seven arenas, which would be used by officials and coaches during live gameplay.[4] The system provided three camera angles, overhead and both goal lines, frame-by-frame navigation, video annotation tools and a bench-side iPad flagging system.[4][5]
Dean Thibodeau was appointed as the new league commissioner following the departure of Darrin Nicholas, who held the role since 2020.[6][7]
Bill Salonen, general manager of the 2001–02 Dryden Ice Dogs, and namesake of the SIJHL championship trophy, died on 18 October 2025 at the age of 90.[8]
Regular season
Teams played 48 regular season games, including 8 games against each other team.[9]
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Frances Lakers | 48 | 37 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 78 |
| Dryden Ice Dogs | 48 | 34 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 72 |
| Thunder Bay North Stars | 48 | 30 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 64 |
| Kam River Fighting Walleye | 48 | 29 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 64 |
| Sioux Lookout Bombers | 48 | 24 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 52 |
| Ironwood Lumberjacks | 48 | 9 | 37 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| Red Lake Miners | 48 | 5 | 42 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
Source: "2025–26 Superior International Junior Hockey League standings". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
Post-season
| Bill Salonen Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | March–April |
| Teams | 7 |
| Defending champions | Kam River Fighting Walleye |
| Official website | |
| 2026 SIJHL playoffs | |
Each round of the playoffs is a single-elimination best-of-seven series.[10] The first-place Fort Frances Lakers had a bye in the first round.[11]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
| Fort Frances | 3 | ||||||||||
| Kam River | 2 | ||||||||||
| Kam River | 4 | ||||||||||
| Sioux Lookout | 1 | ||||||||||
| TBD | |||||||||||
| Thunder Bay | |||||||||||
| Dryden | 4 | ||||||||||
| Red Lake | 0 | ||||||||||
| Dryden | 1 | ||||||||||
| Thunder Bay | 4 | ||||||||||
| Thunder Bay | 4 | ||||||||||
| Ironwood | 0 | ||||||||||
Source: "2026 SIJHL playoff results". sijhlhockey.com. Superior International Junior Hockey League. Retrieved 11 April 2026.