The 2017–18 NOJHL season was the 40th season of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL).
Matthew Neault of the Rayside Balfour Canadians set a league record for the most regular season games played with 268 over the course of his NOJHL career, which spanned from 2013–2018. The previous record of 243 was set by Chris Pontes of the Sudbury Jr. Wolves in 2009–10.
Giordano Finoro of the Rayside Balfour Canadians became the 3rd player in league history to score 3 shorthanded goals in a single game. The other players to do so were Rob Demers of the Elliot Lake Vikings and Denis Castonguay of the Rayside Balfour Canadians in the 1983–84 season.
The franchise formerly known as the Iroquois Falls Eskis relocated to the Town of Hearst, Ontario and were rebranded as the Hearst Lumberjacks.
Regular season
Each team played 56 season games, including 4 or 5 games against the teams in their division, and 2 games against teams in the other division. The top 5 teams in each division advanced to the playoffs.
|+ style="background:#CDCCCB; border-top:#182E57 5px solid; border-bottom:#182E57 5px solid"| ! style=width:15em | Team ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Games Played">GP</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Wins">W</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Losses">L</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Wins">OTW</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Losses">OTL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Goals For">GF</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Goals Against">GA</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Points">Pts</abbr title> |- align=right | align=left|Powassan Voodoos || 56 || 45 || 7 || 4 || 1 || 299 || 171 || 94 |- align=right | align=left|Cochrane Crunch || 56 || 36 || 17 || 3 || 2 || 233 || 165 || 75 |- align=right | align=left|Kirkland Lake Gold Miners || 56 || 24 || 21 || 2 || 7 || 163 || 180 || 59 |- align=right | align=left|Hearst Lumberjacks || 56 || 23 || 30 || 1 || 2 || 215 || 226 || 49 |- align=right | align=left|Timmins Rock || 56 || 19 || 31 || 4 || 3 || 142 || 184 || 44 |- align=right | align=left|French River Rapids || 56 || 13 || 38 || 2 || 5 || 164 || 287 || 31
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|+ style="background:#CDCCCB; border-top:#182E57 5px solid; border-bottom:#182E57 5px solid"| ! style=width:15em | Team ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Games Played">GP</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Wins">W</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Losses">L</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Wins">OTW</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Losses">OTL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Goals For">GF</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Goals Against">GA</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Points">Pts</abbr title> |- align=right | align=left|Rayside Balfour Canadians || 56 || 37 || 14 || 2 || 4 || 222 || 139 || 79 |-align=right | align=left|Soo Thunderbirds || 56 || 36 || 16 || 0 || 3 || 195 || 134 || 76 |-align=right | align=left|Soo Eagles || 56 || 35 || 20 || 8 || 0 || 222 || 147 || 71 |-align=right | align=left|Blind River Beavers || 56 || 33 || 19 || 4 || 4 || 195 || 155 || 70 |-align=right | align=left|Elliot Lake Wildcats || 56 || 25 || 27 || 6 || 4 || 172 || 204 || 54 |-align=right | align=left|Espanola Express || 56 || 2 || 52 || 0 || 1 || 114 || 344 || 6
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Post-season
The first, second and third place teams from each division after the regular season advanced to the quarterfinals, while the fourth and fifth place teams from each division played against each other in a best-of-three series. The winners from each best-of-three series advanced to the quarterfinals to play the first place team from their division.
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Regional championship
The 2018 Dudley Hewitt Cup regional championship tournament took place in Dryden, Ontario. The field of competition included the OJHL championship Wellington Dukes; the NOJHL championship Cochrane Crunch; the SIJHL runners-up, the Thunder Bay North Stars; and the hosts and SIJHL championship Dryden Ice Dogs. The format consisted of a preliminary round-robin, followed by the single-elimination semifinal and final rounds. The Cochrane Crunch were the first team to be eliminated from competition after losing three straight games in the preliminary round. In the final round, the Wellington Dukes defeated the Dryden Ice Dogs by a score of 7-4 to win the tournament. The Dukes advanced to the 2018 Royal Bank Cup national championship tournament in Chilliwack, where they lost to the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League by a score of 4-2 in the final round.
Individual awards
Most valuable player Connor Lovie, Cochrane Crunch Top defenceman Connor Lovie, Cochrane Crunch Rookie of the year Harrison Israels, Powassan Voodoos Most improved player Jacob Kelly, Powassan Voodoos Top defensive forward Matthew Neault, Rayside Balfour Canadians Best goals against average Carter McPhail, Soo Eagles Team goaltending Brandon Gordon & Eric Schuch, Soo Thunderbirds League scoring champion Kyle Herbster, Cochrane Crunch Most gentlemanly player Shane Beaulieu, Powassan Voodoos Best overall team player Nick Techel, Soo Eagles Scholastic player of the year Evan Krassey, Rayside Balfour Canadians Coach of the year John Parco, Soo Thunderbirds Executive of the year Darren Smyl, Soo Thunderbirds
References
Sources