The 2003–04 NAHL season was the 20th season of the North American Hockey League. The season ran from September 2003 to April 2004 with a 56-game schedule for each team. The Texas Tornado won the regular season championship and went on to defeat the Bismarck Bobcats 4 to 1 for the Robertson Cup.
Member changes
After the previous season, several of the NAHL's active teams folded. These included the Capital Centre Pride, Chicago Freeze and Detroit Compuware Ambassadors.
The league was further reduced by the loss of the Danville Wings to the United States Hockey League.
The Pittsburgh Forge also relocated and became the Toledo IceDiggers.
Over the course of 2003, the NAHL and America West Hockey League negotiated a merger between the two leagues. The new combined league would remain the 'North American Hockey League' and include eight of the eleven AWHL franchises that were active in its final season. These teams were the Billings Bulls, Bismarck Bobcats, Bozeman IceDogs, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Fernie Ghostriders, Helena Bighorns, Central Texas Blackhawks and Wichita Falls Rustlers.
The league also added six expansion franchises for this season. The new squads were the Dayton Gems, Fargo-Moorhead Jets, Lone Star Cavalry, Minnesota Blizzard, Texarkana Bandits and Youngstown Phantoms.
After playing just 21 games during the season, the Dayton Gems suspended operations. The club forfeited their next 3 matches before withdrawing from the league and folding.
Regular season
The standings at the end of the regular season were as follows:
Note: x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched division title; z = clinched regular season title Standings
North Division
Team xy – Soo Indians 56446694213115 x – Springfield Jr. Blues 563418472194143 x – Cleveland Jr. Barons 563120567192179 x – USNTDP 562821763199174 Youngstown Phantoms 562821763168169 Toledo IceDiggers 561338531146243 Dayton Gems 2471611563110
South Division
Team xyz – Texas Tornado 56486298276123 x – Fairbanks Ice Dogs 5631151072174140 x – Wichita Falls Rustlers 562920765200172 x – Texarkana Bandits 563024262167181 Lone Star Cavalry 562822662158171 Central Texas Blackhawks 561930745161219 Springfield Spirit 561339430153259
West Division
Team xy – Billings Bulls 564014282224143 x – Fargo-Moorhead Jets 563321268187160 x – Bismarck Bobcats 563022464184184 x – Helena Bighorns 562822662205191 Bozeman IceDogs 562822662174163 Minnesota Blizzard 562028848148209 Fernie Ghostriders 561238630146270
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of all regular season games.
Player Team Mike Ruberto Cleveland Jr. Barons 56 39 33 72 66 Logan Bittle Soo Indians 53 34 37 71 70 Brian Bicek Cleveland Jr. Barons 56 26 45 71 91 Stavros Paskaris Soo Indians 55 30 38 68 35 Luke Flicek Texas Tornado 55 23 42 65 41 Brad Cooper Texas Tornado 56 26 37 63 34 Vince Goulet Texas Tornado 54 28 33 61 197 Mark Agnew Fargo-Moorhead Jets 55 17 44 61 51 Jake Bluhm Fairbanks Ice Dogs 52 28 31 59 91 Tim Hartung Lone Star Cavalry 52 17 41 58 40
Robertson Cup playoffs Four teams qualified for the Round Robin semifinal, the host (Texas) and the four division champions. If Texas won the South division final, the runner-up would receive the final qualifying spot. For the round robin semifinal, ties were broken first by head-to-head matchup and then by goal differential.
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
References
NAHL reference
External links Official website of the North American Hockey League