Sports · Sault Ste. Marie
The Soo Indians, the U.P.’s last AAA under-18 hockey team, shut down for the season after running out of players
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — The Soo Indians, a AAA under-18 hockey program that has represented the Sault since 1990, have stopped playing for the rest of the 2026-27 season.
The team started the year with a full roster but had been playing short-handed and was in last place when management decided this week to take a leave of absence for the balance of the season, EUP News reported. Remaining players have been released and are free to join other teams.
“We just couldn’t fuel with our numbers,” head coach Ken Belanger told Hockey News North, as quoted by EUP News. “I am proud of the work ethic and team dynamics. Perhaps taking over at the time I did I was hopeful but with injuries and other reasons, players returning to high school, we just didn’t have enough.”
Belanger, a former OHL and NHL left winger from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, was in his second season as coach. He returned late in recruiting after Doug Laprade, who had been slated to coach, stepped away. Sault resident Jason Blain was his assistant. Belanger said the decision came after talks with team operator Bruno Bragagnolo and staff.
The Indians were the only remaining team at their level in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, EUP News reported.
What it means. For the U.P.’s top under-18 players, the nearest AAA options now mean long drives or billeting downstate or across the border. Whether the program returns in 2027-28 will depend on whether it can recruit enough players to field a full team.
Sources:
EUP News, “Soo Indians call it quits,” Oct. 16, 2026 (decision, record, Belanger quotes via Hockey News North, staff, history, last U.P. team at level), https://www.eupnews.com/2026/10/soo-indians-call-it-quits/
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, “Oskar Sundqvist, Bonus Experimental 3x3 Overtime Period, Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan (21713235641).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oskar_Sundqvist,_Bonus_Experimental_3x3_Overtime_Period,_Detroit_Red_Wings_vs._Pittsburgh_Penguins,_Joe_Louis_Arena,_Detroit,_Michigan_(21713235641).jpg
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