NAPHL regular season comes to an end

January 10, 2017

The 2016-17 NAPHL regular season came to a close on Monday and the weekend featured some very competitive games with the gold and silver divisions positions not being finalized until the 22nd and final game on Monday.

 

As a reminder, the top 10 teams in the standings in both the 18U and 16U divisions at the end of the regular season qualified for the NAPHL Gold Division Championship in February.  The remainder of the teams will play in the Silver (Consolation) Division Championship. Here were the tie-breaking policies as detailed in the NAPHL rules and regulations:

 

 

“It was thrilling for all of us to see that once again it came down to the last day before playoff positioning was decided,” said NAPHL Director Lucas Trombetta. “Top to bottom, this was the most competitive regular season we've had in the NAPHL and it was awesome to watch it unfold from September through last weekend.”

 

In the 18U Division, the St. Louis Selects finished at the top as regular season champions with an 18-3-1 record, which was one win and two points better than the 2nd place Madison Capitols, who are the defending NAPHL Dixon Cup Champions.  The Rocky Mountain RoughRiders were 3rd, followed by a 4th place tie between Omaha and Shattuck-St. Mary’s, with Omaha earning the tie-breaker thanks to a head-to-head win. They were followed by Meijer AAA in 6th place, the New Jersey Jr. Titans in 7th place, the Northern Cyclones in 8th place, the Thunder Bay Kings in 9th place and the final spot going to the Valley Forge Minutemen in 10th place. Valley Forge had the same number of points as Pursuit of Excellence, but had one more win to secure the final spot.

 

1. St. Louis Selects

2. Madison Capitols

3. Rocky Mountain RoughRiders

4. Omaha AAA

5. Shattuck-St. Mary's

6. Meijer AAA

7. New Jersey Jr. Titans

8. Northern Cyclones

9. Thunder Bay Kings

10. Valley Forge

 

In the 16U Division, the defending champion Omaha AAA hockey club ran the table with a remarkable 22-0 record. They outscored their opponents 132-20 during the regular season and it is the first time in the history that an NAPHL team went through an entire regular season undefeated. The turnaround of the year has to go to the Everett Jr. Silvertips, who finished in 2nd place. Everett finished with a 17-4-1 record and a season ago they did not record a win. In 3rd place, the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders won a tie-breaker with the Esmark Stars, winning a head-to-head match-up earlier in the season. The St. Louis Selects won out on the 5th spot in a tie-breaker with the Meijer AAA hockey club thanks to a head-to-head win. Rounding out the top 10 was New Jersey, Madison, Thunder Bay and Colorado Springs. The Tigers took the 10th and final spot thanks to a head-to-head win against Arizona, who finished with the same number of points and wins.

 

1. Omaha AAA

2. Everett Jr. Silvertips

3. Rocky Mountain RoughRiders

4. Esmark Stars

5. St. Louis Selects

6. Meijer AAA

7. New Jersey Jr. Titans

8. Madison Capitols

9. Thunder Bay Kings

10. Colorado Springs Tigers

 

The 2017 NAPHL Dixon Cup Championship will take place from February 17-20, 2017 at the Troy Sports Center in Troy, MI (18U and 16U) and Fraser Hockeyland in Fraser, MI (15U). A schedule and a format for both the Gold and Silver Divisions at all levels will be announced in the near future on naphl.com