Northern Pacific Hockey League
SportIce Hockey
Founded2000
Ceased2016
No. of teams4
Country United States
Last
champion(s)		Wenatchee Wolves (2015–16)
Most titlesHelena Bighorns/Queen City Cutthroats (6)
Official websiteNPHLonline.com

The Northern Pacific Hockey League (NPHL) was an American Tier III junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. Its championship trophy was the Cascade Cup.

History

Established in 2000 as the NorPac Junior Hockey League, the league was sanctioned as Junior B by USA Hockey. Six teams from Alaska, Oregon, Washington and the Yukon Territory competed in the inaugural season of 2000–01.

In 2007, the NorPac was promoted to Tier III Junior A by USA Hockey. In 2011, USA Hockey dropped the letter designation in Tier III and had all Tier III compete in the same national tournament.

In 2013, NorPac changed its abbreviated moniker to NPHL.[1]

The league announced three new members to start the 2014–15 season: Cheney Ice Hawks, Tacoma Knights and Wenatchee Wolves.[2] Organizational problems resulted in the Tacoma Knights being unable to field a team for 2014–15.[3]

May 25, 2015, the league announced that the Seattle Ravens would be a 2015–16 expansion franchise.[4]

On April 25, 2016, the NPHL announced that at the annual governor's meeting the league had decided to look into merging with a larger junior league for more stability. Also in the press release, it was announced that the Bellingham Blazers had left the league.[5] While it was not clarified in the official NPHL press release, the most recent league champions, Wenatchee Wolves, had also removed references to the NPHL from their website and appeared to focus their efforts on their youth programs instead.[6] On May 20, 2016, it was announced that the four remaining teams would join the United States Premier Hockey League's USP3 platform as a new Pacific Division.[7] Three of the four teams folded after one season in the USPHL and the Eugene Generals went independent after two seasons.

Final teams

Team Location Arena Joined Championships
Bellingham Blazers Bellingham, WA Bellingham Sportsplex 2012–13 2
Eugene Generals Eugene, OR Lane Events Center 2005–06 0
Seattle Ravens Kent, WA Kent Valley Ice Centre 2015–16 0
Tri-City Outlaws Kennewick, WA Toyota Center 2012–13 0
Wenatchee Wolves Wenatchee, WA Town Toyota Center 2014–15 1
West Sound Warriors Bremerton, WA Bremerton Ice Arena 2000–01 1

Former teams

Cascade Cup champions

Season Winner Runner-up Result
2000–01 Fairbanks Ice Dogs
2001–02 Kootenai Colts
2002–03 Eugene Thunder
2003–04 Portland Pioneers
2004–05 Queen City Cutthroats
2005–06 Queen City Cutthroats Eugene Generals 3-2 (best-of 5)
2006–07 Fort Vancouver Pioneers Helena Bighorns 3-0 (best-of 5)
2007–08 Helena Bighorns Seattle Totems 3-0 (best-of 5)
2008–09 Helena Bighorns Seattle Totems 3-1 (best-of 5)
2009–10 Helena Bighorns Seattle Totems 3-0 (best-of 5)
2010–11 Helena Bighorns[17] Seattle Totems 3-0 (best-of 5)
2011–12 Southern Oregon Spartans[18] Seattle Totems 3-0 (best-of 5)
2012–13 Bellingham Blazers[19] West Sound Warriors 3-2 (best-of 5)
2013–14 Bellingham Blazers[20] West Sound Warriors 3-2 (best-of 5)
2014–15 West Sound Warriors Bellingham Blazers 3-0 (best-of 5)
2015–16 Wenatchee Wolves Bellingham Blazers 3-0 (best-of 5)

National champions

External links

References

  1. ^ "Northern Pacific Hockey League - scoreboard | Pointstreak Sports Technologies".
  2. ^ "NPHL expands with three new teams". Eugene Generals. 30 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Cedar Rapids, Dubuque Streak to the top of the USHL East". USA Hockey. 6 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Seattle Ravens NPHL Expansion Announced for 2015-2016".
  5. ^ "PRESS RELEASE: April 25, 2016". NPHL. April 25, 2016.
  6. ^ "DAILY DISH: NPHL Done?". Junior Hockey News. April 25, 2016.
  7. ^ "West Coast Teams Join Nation's Top College Development League (USPHL)". USPHL. May 20, 2016.
  8. ^ "Bellingham's new junior hockey team joins Northern Pacific Hockey League". The Bellingham Business Journal. 13 August 2012.
  9. ^ a b "American West Hockey League Accepted As Newest Addition To USA Hockey Juniors". NBC Montana. 4 June 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Down, but Not Out: Cheney Icehawks Unable to Gather Enough Players for its Roster". NPHL. August 25, 2015.
  11. ^ "THE DEATH POOL – SPECIAL REPORT – NPHL'S CHENEY ICEHAWKS APPEAR TO NOW BE EXTINCT". The Junior Hockey News. August 26, 2015.
  12. ^ "Nationals to join AWHL for 2013-14 season". JuniorHockey.com. February 18, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  13. ^ "WSHL Totems press release" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Vipers hockey team ends operations". The Columbian. 15 October 2014.
  15. ^ "WSHL Spartans press release" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". OurSportsCentral. September 29, 2014.
  17. ^ "Bighorns win NorPac Championship". Independent Record. 19 March 2011.
  18. ^ "Sparts capture the crown". Mail Tribune. 12 March 2012.
  19. ^ "Bellingham Blazers 2012-2013 NORPAC Cascade Cup Champions". Junior Hockey News. 18 March 2013.
  20. ^ "Blazers with something to prove at National Championships". The Bellingham Herald. 30 March 2014.
  21. ^ "Helena Bighorns capture hockey national championship". Independent Record. 5 April 2011.
  22. ^ "Helena lifts trophy for the first time at Tier III Jr. A Nationals". USA Junior Hockey Magazine. April 2011.
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