The 2003–04 NAHL season was the 20th season of the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 50th season of operation in 2024–25. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

. 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 The Bismarck Bobcats are a junior ice hockey#Tier II, Tier II junior ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's (NAHL) Central Division, and play out of Bismarck, North Dakota, in the V.F.W. Sports Center. Originally a part of the Amer ...

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 The Chicago Freeze was a Tier II junior A ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's West Division. The team was originally the Detroit Freeze until it relocated to a Chicago suburb of Geneva. The Chicago Freeze played out of the Fox ...

and Detroit Compuware Ambassadors. * The league was further reduced by the loss of the Danville Wings to the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

. * The Pittsburgh Forge also relocated and became the Toledo IceDiggers. * Over the course of 2003, the NAHL and

America West Hockey League The America West Hockey League (AWHL) was a Tier II Junior A ice hockey league. The AWHL was formed in 1992 to offer junior ice hockey to the Rocky Mountain region of USA Hockey. It originally was called the American Frontier Hockey League (AFHL), ...

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,

, 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 The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, and members of the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, and 1979–1980. The Gems were an expansion team assembled from various cast-offs and young players loo ...

, Fargo-Moorhead Jets, Lone Star Cavalry, Minnesota Blizzard,

Texarkana Bandits The Texarkana metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas (population 37,333) and Texarkana, Arkansas (population ...

and

Youngstown Phantoms The Youngstown Phantoms are a Tier I junior ice hockey team that plays in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the 5,200-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. The team was co-owned ...

. * After playing just 21 games during the season, the

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

South Division

West Division

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of all regular season games.

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:NAHL season, 2003–04 North American Hockey League seasons NAHL