The playoff participants are set, but the final match-ups have yet to be determined heading into the final weekend of SJHL regular season play.
The Flin Flon Bombers and Melfort Mustangs sit comfortably in first and second, with 91 and 79 points respectively. However, neither team will know who their first round opponent is until the season wraps up on Saturday.
As of press time, the Weyburn Red Wings and Estevan Bruins are tied for sixth with 54 points, while the Kindersley Klippers sit eighth with 53 points. The Red Wings were in Notre Dame on Wednesday to face the Hounds. Results were not available by press time.
The Bruins and Red Wings close out the season with a home-and-home on Friday and Saturday, while the Klippers face the third place Battlefords North Stars in their own home-and-home. The North Stars moved one point ahead of the Humboldt Brocos for third place after beating the Broncos 7-4 in Humboldt on Saturday.
The Broncos face the league-leading Bombers in their own home-and-home this weekend.
The Sherwood Division’s other two teams—the Nipawin Hawks and La Ronge Ice Wolves—are both eliminated from the playoffs.
As of press time, the current playoff seeds from first to eighth are Flin Flon, Melfort, Battlefords, Humboldt, Melville, Weyburn, Estevan, and Kindersley.
As of March 11, the Bombers still lead the SJHL and Sherwood with 91 points. Meanwhile the Mustangs are in second in the division and league with a record of 38-14-3-0 with 79 points, the Hawks are third in the Sherwood with a record of 20-29-1-4 with 45 points and the Ice Wolves are fourth with a record of 15-34-3-2 with 35 points.
The Mustangs closed out their home schedule with a 3-1 win over the Ice Wolves on Sunday, March 10 in Melfort. The Ice Wolves led 1-0 after the first and second periods.
Clay Sleeva had a pair of goals for the Mustangs with Ryan Duguay adding the other third period goal. Max Henderson scored the lone Ice Wolves goal.
James Venne made 23 saves for the Mustangs; Topher Chirico made 29 saves for La Ronge.
The Mustangs 7-3 home win on Friday, March 8 came on the night the Hawks were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Mustangs led 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 after the second period.
Nolan Patterson, Aidyn Hutchinson and Duguay each had a pair of goals for the Mustangs; Sleeva added the other Melfort goal. Braeden Jockims and Evan Forrest responded for Nipawin.
Venne made 23 saves for Melfort; Tyson Endall made five saves in just over 10 minutes of action before he was replaced by Damon Cunningham who made 25 saves.
The Mustangs hosted the Bombers on Wednesday, March 6 and defeated Flin Flon 3-1.
The game was scoreless after the first period and the Mustangs led 2-1 after the second period.
Sleeva, Duguay and Logan Belton scored for the Mustangs. Alexi Sylvestre responded for the Bombers.
Venne made 34 saves for the Mustangs; Harmon Laser-Hume made 32 saves for Flin Flon.
The Hawks closed their week with a 6-3 loss to the Bombers on Sunday, March 10 in Nipawin. The game was scoreless after the first period and the Bombers led 4-1 after the second period.
Mark LaFleur, Artem Hrabovetskyi and Evan Forrest scored for Nipawin. Justin Lies had a pair of goals for the Bombers; Joey Lies, Keefe Gruener, Noah Houle and Kylynn Olafson added the other Flin Flon goals.
Damon Cunningham made 40 saves for Nipawin; Harmon Laser-Hume made 26 saves for Flin Flon.
The Hawks opened their week with a 5-2 win over the Yorkton Terriers in Yorkton on Tuesday, March 5. The game was scoreless after the first period and the Hawks led 3-1 after the second period.
Jacob Michelson, Finley Radloff, Hrabovetskyi, LaFleur and Forrest scored for the Hawks. Jaron Desnoyers and Tommy Chunchukov responded for the Terriers.
Endall made 34 saves for Nipawin; Ethan Farrow made 25 saves for Yorkton.
The Hawks were in Melville to play the Millionaires on Tuesday, March 12. Results were not available by press time.
The Ice Wolves opened their week with a 6-4 loss to the Bombers in Flin Flon on Friday, March 8. The Bombers led 3-1 after the first period and 4-3 after the second period.
Bryn McLean, Dylan Handel, Sage Roberts and Parker Layton scored for La Ronge. Matt Egan had a pair of goals for Flin Flonp. Justin Lies, Riley Niven, Anthony Piccininno and Sylvestre added the other Bombers goals.
Eric Kahl made 59 saves for La Ronge; Kenneth Marquart made 39 saves for Flin Flon.
The Ice Wolves are in Nipawin to play the Hawks on Friday, March 15 and the Mustangs are in La Ronge on Saturday, March 16.
