The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League has shattered its playoff attendance record. There were 81,005 fans who attended the SJHL postseason games, breaking the previous mark of 71,852 set in 1999-2000 (48,566 fans attended playoff games in the 2003-04 season). President Laury Ryan stated: "We are more than excited with the results of the new format for the playoffs. Our goal was to bring more SJHL playoff action to more fans than ever before. The change exceeded our expectations and really demonstrates the demand for entertaining playoff hockey by our fans." The record is all the more impressive when considering the biggest drawing seriesÊfrom each of the last two years (Yorkton vs. Melville) did not materialize this year. A big factor for the record setting playoff attendance mark can be attributed to the addition of two teams into the postseason.ÊThe Melfort Mustangs would have missed the playoffs under the former system, however they had four successive home dates of over 1,000 fans and 6,847 in total playoff attendance. The Humboldt Broncos drew over 1,500 for theirÊElimination Series game seven versus the Weyburn Red Wings. The Yorkton Terriers have drawn, at least, 2,000 fans for each of their final seven home dates.Ê The Battlefords North Stars had, at least, 2,000 fans for their final six. The average attendance during the conference finals (Yorkton vs. Estevan) (Battlefords vs. La Ronge) was 1,814.Ê The Credential Cup final average attendance was 2,235. For the playoffs, as a whole, the average was 1,266.Ê That last figure surpasses the 2003-04 average of 1,214ÊandÊtheÊseven-yearÊaverageÊofÊ1,184. Including the regular season and playoffs, the SJHL also beat last year's Total Attendance with 359,346 in cumulative numbers. Last year's overall attendance was 348,248.Ê The figures for 2004-05 are more impressive when taking into account five fewer regular season games for each team as well as three games played in Saskatoon as part of the September Showcase, which was neutral territory for each of the 12 clubs.
