The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs will kick off on Friday night with all four first round matchups getting underway.
On Tuesday, President Kyle McIntyre joined Michael Ball on the SportsCage to preview the SJHL postseason.
The remaining eight teams in the SJHL will now compete for the Canterra Seeds Cup that will be handed out to the league’s champion.
Battlefords (1) vs Weyburn (8)
The North Stars will enter the playoffs as the heavily favoured number one seed after they finished the regular season with a 48-5-2-1 record and 99 points. They also dominated the league’s awards as Kian Bell was named the MVP & Player of the Year, Josh Kotai picked up the Goalie of the Year Award, Tynan Ewart collected the Defenceman of the Year award and Brayden Klimosko was named the league’s coach of the year for the third straight season.
Battlefords had four players finish on top of the league’s leaders in scoring. Bell finished with 102 points (54G-48A). Holden Doell was the only other player in the SJHL to finish with 100 points (33G-67A) this season. Jake Southgate (25G-57A) and Steven Kesserling (40G-29A) finished third and fourth respectively.
Weyburn emerged from the pack during the second half of the season to claim the final playoff spot in the SJHL. The Red Wings had four players (Ryley Morgan, Ty Mason, Jakob Kalin and Jackson Hassman) who scored 20+ this season.
Battlefords swept the season series against Weyburn this season with the majority of the contests taking place early in the season. Weyburn last visit to Battlefords was on October 8.
Humboldt (2) vs Nipawin (7)
The Broncos and the Hawks will renew acquaintances on Friday at the Elgar Petersen Arena. Humboldt along with Battlefords are the only two teams who enter the playoffs winners in eight of their last ten games. The Broncos are another team that had four 20+ goal scorers this season (Cage Newans, Alec Saretzky, Ethan Zielke and Ben Kotylak).
McIntyre pointed out the efforts of Hawks Head Coach Tad Kozun and the quick turnaround in Nipawin.
“Retooling that team on the fly, playing a different style of hockey than what Doug Johnson had played in the past, so they’re fairly competitive, they’re fast, they’re aggressive.”
He added the “Bird Cage” in Nipawin provides a true home-ice advantage.
“That’s a small arena with very little space, so time and space is taken away from the opposition, and again, when their fans are in that building and it’s at capacity, the Bird Cage is a rocking. ”
The two teams last met in a home and home set on February 24 & 25. The Hawks picked up their lone victory against the Broncos this season in the first encounter that weekend which was followed by a home ice win by Humboldt.
This will be the first time these two teams will meet in the playoffs since 2018.
Flin Flon (3) vs Estevan (6)
A rematch from last year’s league finals, the Bruins and Bombers will meet in the post-season once again. The Bruins claimed the SJHL title last year as both teams advanced to the Centennial Cup as a result of Estevan being the host.
McInytre says this will be an exhausting series for everybody involved.
“That’s going to be a heck of a war of attrition for the kids and for the teams, the travel is absolutely amass.”
Flin Flon is led by Cole Dupurreault (37G-27A) and defenceman Reece Richmond (3G-45A) this season. The Bombers finished on top of the competitive Sherwood Division as all four teams in the division made the playoffs.
Kade Runke leads the Bruins into the postseason as they try and claim their second straight league championship.
Flin Flon took the last three matchups between the two teams with Estevan picking up an early season win against the Bombers.
Melfort (4) vs La Ronge (5)
The lone divisional matchup in the opening round. McIntyre believes the battle between the Mustangs and Ice Wolves should produce the best matchup. The two teams have been battling for home ice advantage in the opening series over the final stretch of the regular season with the Mustangs ending the year two points ahead of the Ice Wolves.
Melfort and La Ronge met three times over the final month of the season with the Ice Wolves prevailing on a pair of occasions.
The Mustangs are led by a pair of 20+ goal scorers in Dawson Leroux and Zac Somers along with the leading point scorer, Ben Tkachuk.
La Ronge had one player top the 20 goal mark, Ethan Strik and were led in points by Jerome Walker.
The 2023 Centennial Cup will take place in Portage La Prairie from May 11-21.
