Season 31 is over and now work will slowly begin on season 32.

"I think we had a fairly stable and competitive season," said Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League president Ray Laing. "A couple of teams struggled competitively on the ice but they're strong organizations and they should be back next year for sure and probably stronger. We finished off the year with the Red River Mudbugs winning the championship. It took them 11 years and four trips to the finals and they finally got it."

The Mudbugs are the fifth different team to hoist the HTJHL championship trophy in the last five seasons joining the Springfield Xtreme, Lorette Comets, Grunthal Red Wings and Steinbach Huskies.

"I think it's something we should be proud of because it means that there's competition our there and it's not one team running away with it," Laing said. "That means even during the season, every game means something and every team has a chance."

Red River and Springfield finished the regular season with identical 19-5-1 records.

The St. Adolphe Hawks were only four points back of the Mudbugs and Xtreme.

Lorette finished just above the .500 mark.

The fifth place Mitchell Mohawks won three more games than the previous year while the last place Huskies had issues finding the back of the net and were the only team in the HTJHL who failed to win a road game this past season.

"We actually talked about that at our meeting, how much work it is to put a successful team together," said Laing. "If you got a good coaching staff and good management - the players do respond to that and it's fun going to the rink. You can tell, especially when you get to the playoffs, the arenas start filling up and the fans appreciate the competition. So far we're doing a good job. I guess the biggest problem we have and almost every team has - is finding enough players to put teams on the ice. We tweaked a few things to address that. It should be good going forward."

There were nine teams in the HTJHL five years ago.

President Laing believes the Mudbugs, Hawks, Xtreme, Comets, Mohawks and Huskies will be back for the 2018-2019 season and the league could add a team or two.

"There's been some noise out of a couple of communities. I'm going to be talking to those groups in the next little while but very likely we'll be at six next year - possibly seven. We'll see."