Who will face who in the Canalta Cup playoffs is still very much up in the air, but the 10 teams that will play for the SJHL championship trophy are now set.
The two teams that won’t be in the postseason are teams that are very much used to being there: the Humboldt Broncos and Melville Millionaires.
The Broncos will miss for the first time since 1979-80 – 35 straight seasons in the playoffs.
The Millionaires made the playoffs 10 straight seasons and will miss for the first time since 2004-05.
The Yorkton Terriers picked up a single point last Saturday, Feb. 20, but losses by the Broncos and Millionaires were enough to mathematically put both of them out of contention.
The Weyburn Red Wings are champions of the Viterra Division, after defeating the Estevan Bruins 6-2 on Saturday. That gave the Wings a 16-point lead over the Estevan Bruins, who had six games left.
The Melfort Mustangs won on the same night as the Red Wings, their eighth straight victory a 3-2 win in Humboldt. That kept Melfort even with Weyburn, in second overall, with the two clubs just one point back of the Battlefords North Stars for the league lead.
The North Stars may still have the inside track with multiple games in hand. After Tuesday night’s tilt in Humboldt (played after The Reminder went to press), Battlefords had five games remaining compared to Melfort’s four and Weyburn’s three.
The Terriers are going to the playoffs after missing them a year ago. They clinched a spot with losses by Melville and Humboldt Saturday, but also took care of business on their own, erasing a 4-0 deficit before losing to the Kindersley Klippers 5-4 in a shootout.
Eric Bolden had two goals and an assist as his Nipawin Hawks picked up a 5-2 win in Melville on Saturday. That left the Hawks three points up on Flin Flon for fourth spot in the SJHL, though Flin Flon played Tuesday night after The Reminder went to press.
— Compiled from an SJHL news release
