Wisconsin at Thief River Falls
Ontario may be in a temporary junior A hockey pause relative to the Omicron virus. But having two teams that are based in the United States will allow the Superior International Jr. Hockey League to return to regular season game action tonight.
Minnesota-based Thief River Falls Norskies will play host to the Wisconsin Lumberjacks this evening in the first of four scheduled games this week between the SIJHL rivals.
Wisconsin is in fifth place in the seven-team SIJHL with 13 points from a record of 6-17-1. And Wisconsin, which is coached by Doug Lein Jr., lost eight straight games to end the 2021 segment of the SIJHL regular season schedule and was out-scored 63-19 in the process.
Meanwhile, Thief River Falls is in sixth spot with six points from a record of 3-14-0 and has seven games in hand on Wisconsin. And the Norskies made a coaching change two games before Christmas when Brenden Gust was appointed interim bench boss following the resignation of Elliot Bates.