| 2021–22 SIJHL season | |
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| League: | SIJHL |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | Regular season September–March Post-season March–April |
| No Of Games: | 48 |
| No Of Teams: | 7 |
| League Champs: | Red Lake Miners |
| Second Place: | Kam River Fighting Walleye |
| Prevseason Link: | 2020–21 SIJHL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2020–21 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2022–23 SIJHL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2022–23 |
The 2021–22 SIJHL season was the 20th season of the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
The Thief River Falls Norskies ceased operations mid-season.[1] [2]
Due to scheduling difficulties, Hockey Canada cancelled the 2022 Dudley Hewitt Cup regional championship between the SIJHL, Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and Ontario Junior Hockey League, and invited the winners from each league to the 2022 Centennial Cup national championship tournament in Estevan, Saskatchewan.
The league commemorated the 20th anniversary of its inception with a newly-designed logo.[3]
The regular season schedule called for each of the 7 teams to play 48 games, including 4 home games and 4 away games against each other team.[4] Due to the midseason departure of the Thief River Falls Norskies, the remaining teams played between 37 and 45 regular season games.[5]
|+ style="background:#001B4F; border-top:#BE1E2D 5px solid; border-bottom:#BE1E2D 5px solid"|! style=width:12em | Team ! style=width:2.2em | GP ! style=width:2.2em | W ! style=width:2.2em | L ! style=width:2.2em | OTL ! style=width:2.2em | SOL ! style=width:2.2em | Pts |- align="right"| align="left"|Kam River Fighting Walleye || 44 || 35 || 7 || 2 || 0 || 72|- align="right"| align="left"|Red Lake Miners || 37 || 28 || 6 || 2 || 1 || 59|- align="right"| align="left"|Dryden Ice Dogs || 45 || 26 || 15 || 3 || 1 || 56|- align="right"| align="left"|Thunder Bay North Stars || 41 || 21 || 16 || 3 || 1 || 46|- align="right"| align="left"|Wisconsin Lumberjacks || 43 || 16 || 25 || 1 || 1 || 34|- align="right"| align="left"|Thief River Falls Norskies || 21 || 5 || 15 || 0 || 1 || 11|- align="right"| align="left"|Fort Frances Lakers || 41 || 5 || 35 || 1 || 0 || 11
| SIJHL playoffs | |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Other Titles: | Bill Salonen Cup |
| Num Teams: | 7 |
| Dates: | 29 March – 30 April |
| Winners: | Red Lake Miners |
| Second: | Kam River Fighting Walleye |
| Semifinal1: | Thunder Bay North Stars |
| Semifinal2: | Dryden Ice Dogs |
| Games: | 22 |
| Goals: | 149 |
| Attendance: | 15,062 |
The second place Red Lake Miners won the league championship Bill Salonen Cup for the first time in its 9-year history, after defeating the Kam River Fighting Walleye in game 6 of the final, and went on to compete for the 2022 Centennial Cup national championship.[6]
In previous years, the SIJHL champions would go on to compete with the champions of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Junior Hockey League for the Dudley Hewitt Cup regional championship, with the winner advancing to the national championship tournament to play for the Centennial Cup.[7] [8] In 2022, due to scheduling difficulties, Hockey Canada decided not to hold regional championships, and instead expanded the national tournament to include teams from each of the 9 leagues.[6] [9]
At the nationals, the Red Lake Miners were eliminated from contention after losing to the Brooks Bandits of the AJHL (11-2), Pickering Panthers of the OJHL (9-2), Collège Français de Longueuil of the QJHL (6-1), and Estevan Bruins of the SJHL (6-2). The final playoff round was between the Brooks Bandits and the Pickering Panthers, with the Brooks Bandits winning by a score of 4-1.[10]