The Superior International Junior Hockey League is down one team.
The 2022-2023 season won’t include the Thief River Falls Norskies.
The team says it is no longer affiliated with the SIJHL and will not be playing this season.
The ownership group says it’s currently exploring prospects for a new team and league in the community for 2023-2024.
The Norskies competed in only 21 games in the shortened season this past year before being disbanded in January on account of them failing to meet minimum roster requirements.
They finished with a 5-16 record.
League Commissioner Darrin Nicholas, “We didn’t foresee ourselves in this position, even back in January when there was no choice but to shut them down. We said at the time we would work tirelessly towards the return of SIJHL hockey in Thief River Falls in September. I believe we have done that but obviously we were hoping for different results.”
Nicholas adds, “It’s no secret that our operations in Thief River Falls last season struggled to meet minimum expectations of the league in almost all areas. Substantial change was required, which we set out to bring. Ultimately though there are lots of moving parts, we were getting few, if any, encouraging signs that the situation was progressing in the direction we needed it to, within the timeframe we had established. With every day that passed, the runway got shorter, and we just felt it was no longer feasible, reasonable or responsible to continue to pursue the plan of playing in Thief River Falls this September.”
He notes their door will always be open for discussion to resume operations.
It will be a seven-team league this season with the addition of the Sioux Lookout Bombers.
