North American Hockey League (Junior League)
The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is a junior ice hockey league in the United States , which is organized by the US ice hockey association USA Hockey . The league merged with the former America West Hockey League in 2003 and initially consisted of 21 teams. The league has a Junior A Tier II classification and is on a par with the United States Hockey League (USHL).
The league consists of 23 teams, which are divided into four divisions . The regular season consists of 60 games, the first-placed players in each division then play a final round in the everyone-versus-everyone mode for the Robertson Cup , the league's championship title.
Teams in the 2017/18 season
Central Division
East Division
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Midwest Division
South Division
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League and team change
In the 2006/07 season, the Bozeman Icedogs, Billings Bulls and Helena left the NAHL and moved to the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NPHL). That same season, the Cleveland Junior Barons franchise was inactive, Wassila Spirit changed the team name to Alaska Avanlanche and Missouri has been playing under the name St. Louis Bandits ever since. The Marquette Rangers were newly admitted to the league.
In the 2007/08 season, the Santa Fe Roadrunners moved to Topeka in the state of Kansas and now play as Topeka Roadrunners in the Landon Arena . The River Brown Bears started as a new team in the NAHL.
For the 2008/09 season, the Southern Minnesota Express moved to Detroit , where they play as Motor City Machine from now on. In Owatonna , the former hometown of the Southern Minnesota Express, a new team named Owatonna Express began operations. Due to extensive renovation work on the Texas Tornado venue, the franchise paused in the 2008/09 season and did not continue to play until the 2009/10 season.
Robertson Cup winner
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