The Melfort Mustangs and Nipawin Hawks are headed to the SJHL Playoffs along with the Flin Flon Bombers from the UPL Division.
The fourth seeded Hawks will be facing the fifth seeded Weyburn Red Wings in the opening round. Meanwhile the sixth seeded Mustangs face the third seeded Bunge Division champion Battlefords North Stars. The top seeded Bombers will be facing the eighth seeded Estevan Bruins.
In the other playoff matchup the second seeded Yorkton Terriers face their rival the Melville Millionaires.
Playoff game dates have not been determined before deadline but playoffs are expected to open on Friday, March 20.
The Hawks ended the regular season with a record of 35-19-1-1 with 72 points, 14 points behind the league and UPL Division leading Flin Flon Bombers. The Mustangs finished in third place in the UPL Division with a record of 30-22-2-2 with 64 points and the La Ronge Ice Wolves were fourth in the division with a record of 11-40-4-1 with 27 points.
The Hawks closed their regular season with an 8-2 win over the Mustangs in Nipawin on Friday, March 13.
The Hawks led 2-0 after the first period and 7-2 after the second period.
Tiernan Ryan and Eric Hoiness each had a pair of goals for the Hawks; other Nipawin goals came from Brady Seabrook, Sean Shiels, Finley Radloff and Braedan Jockims.
Kellan Simmonds and Jack McHarg scored for Melfort.
Affiliated Player Cole Ivey made 26 saves for Melfort in just over 30 minutes before being replaced by fellow AP Jacob Appleby who made 14 saves. Gage Roberts made 16 saves in two periods for Nipawin before being replaced by Colten Scott who stopped all six shots he faced.
The Hawks opened their week with a 5-1 loss to the Bombers in Flin Flon on Tuesday, March 10.
The Bombers led 1-0 after the first period and the game was tied 1-1 after the second period.
Seabrook scored the lone goal for the Hawks.
Joey Lies had a pair of goals for the Bombers; other Flin Flon goals came from
Nathan Lalumiere, Daniel Morozov and Rhett Ewen.
Roberts made 28 saves for Nipawin; Finn Werner made 20 saves for Flin Flon.
The Mustangs wrapped up their home regular season schedule with a 6-1 win over the Estevan Bruins in Melfort on Wednesday, March 11.
The win also clinched the Mustangs sixth place overall in the SJHL standings.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and the Mustangs led 4-1 after the second period.
Kaleb Binner had a pair of goals for the Mustangs; Cole Unger, Tristin Ziola, Simmonds and McHarg added the other Melfort goals.
The game was delayed for nearly an hour before the second period could begin with snow, water, extra flooding, and fire extinguishers becoming the solution.
Ewan Rennie scored the lone goal for the Bruins.
Kason Kobelka made 19 saves for Melfort; Nathan Kam made 37 saves for Estevan.
La Ronge closed their season with a 2-1 win over the Bombers in La Ronge on Saturday, March 14.
Waylon Gardipy scored the winner for La Ronge 1:36 into overtime.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first and second periods.
Grayden Perozni scored the lone Ice Wolves goal in regulation time.
Ewen responded for the Bombers in regulation time.
Graham Brown made 41 saves for La Ronge; Werner made 24 saves for the Bombers.
The Ice Wolves opened up their season concluding home-and-home with the Bombers with a 3-1 loss in Flin Flon on Friday, March 13.
The game was scoreless after the first period and the Bombers led 1-0 after the second period.
Waylon Gardipy scored the lone goal for the Ice Wolves.
Lalumiere, Kyle Marsden and Reid Arberry responded for the Bombers.
Brown made 44 saves for the Ice Wolves; Charlie Tritt made 10 saves for the Bombers.
SUBHEADLINE: SJHL announces 2025-2026 Awards finalists
Last week the SJHL announced their 2025-2026 awards finalists and the Nipawin Hawks and Melfort Mustangs were both well-represented.
The finalists were selected by league coaches, general managers, media and staff.
Forward Mason Karokachuk of the Hawks was a multiple nominee. Karokachuk was nominated for the SGEU Most Valuable Player Award, Bourgault Forward of the Year and Saskatchewan Player of the Year.
In the MVP and Forward awards categories he shared the nomination with Ewan Rennie of the Estevan Bruins and Gabriel Courchesne of the Yorkton Terriers.
In the Saskatchewan Player of the Year category he shared the nomination with Jye Zawatsky of the Terriers and Boston Harkness of the Melville Millionaires.
Hawks goaltender Gage Roberts was nominated for the SaskTel Goaltender of the Year along with Charlie Tritt of the Flin Flon Bombers and Callum Creig of the Terriers.
Eric Hoiness of the Hawks was nominated for Most Sportsmanlike Player along with Kale Margolis of the Millionaires, who is from Kinistino, and Lucas Schmid of the Weyburn Red Wings.
Hawks coach Tad Kozun was nominated for Coach of the Year along with the Flin Flon Bombers Mike Reagan and Connor Logan of the Battlefords North Stars.
Trainer Emma Galloway of the Hawks was also nominated for the Dayna Bronns Trainer of the year.
Mustangs goalie Kason Kobelka was nominated for Rookie of the Year along with Cash Olson of the Estevan Bruins and Cash Lanigan of the Yorkton Terriers.
Bo Eisner of the Mustangs was nominated for SuperU Defenseman of the Year along with Thomas Ries of the Terriers and Harkness from the Millionaires.
