The Flin Flon Bombers and Melfort Mustangs are battling it out with the Battlefords North Stars for third place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. (Submitted photo/Broad Leaf Media)

By Becky Zimmer

Playoffs on the horizon

SJHL playoffs fast approaching as teams jockey for position

Feb 28, 2022 | 2:56 PM

With only two weeks of regular play left in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, the race for placement in the top eight spots is tight in some spots and there are still plenty of points up for grabs.

The fight for first place has been tight this season. With only three games left following a 3-1 win against Melville on Saturday, the Estevan Bruins could potentially end the season with 92 points. Trailing close behind in the last month of play has been the Humboldt Broncos. With three remaining games in the regular season following a 7-1 win against Battlefords, they will potentially end the season with 90 points. Both teams have already clinched their divisions with Humboldt taking the Global Ag Risk Solutions division while Estevan has dominated the Viterra division.

If the Bruins do face a loss or two, with the Broncos winning their last games, they could potentially tie for points with the Broncos at the end of the season. According to the SJHL playoff format, the placing will be decided first by the number of wins followed by the number of points against each other and then the goal differential.

The Broncos are currently one win ahead of the Bruins so they will have the advantage if Notre Dame, Melville, or Weyburn can get a win over the next two weeks.

One point separates third, fourth, and fifth place with the North Stars, Bombers, and Mustangs battling it out for third place while Flin Flon and Melfort are also battling it out for top of the Sherwood division.

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With a loss on Saturday against the Broncos and a win on Sunday against the Millionaires, the Battleford North Stars are currently third with 68 points. With six games left on the SJHL docket, the North Stars will have a busy March with 12 more points up for grabs and the chance to end the season with 80 points while handily keeping third place. With a battle against the Bombers coming up, the North Stars also have the potential to knock two points out of their hands.

After a one game loss over the weekend, the Flin Flon Bombers currently sit tied for points with Melfort with 67 points. However they are sitting with 32 wins to the Mustang’s 29. With six games left to play, half of which are against both third place rivals, the Bombers could potentially end the season with 79 points. A win against Battlefords could also leave them with 78 points while two wins against Melfort could give them the advantage and leave the Mustangs with only 73 out of a possible 77.

After two winning performances this past weekend, including a shootout win over La Ronge, Melfort currently sits tied with the Bombers for fourth. If they can win their five remaining games, not only would they add another 10 points to their final points tally, ending the season at 77, but they would also leave the Bombers four points short of their own. This means the Mustangs would overtake the Bombers with 77 points to their 75.

With two wins against Weyburn and Nipawin over the weekend, the Yorkton Terriers gained some ground as they currently battle La Ronge for sixth place, especially after the Ice Wolves lost to both Melfort and Notre Dame over the weekend.

Both teams have 59 points with the Ice Wolves holding one win over the Terriers.

With four more games to play, with none of them against each other, both La Ronge and Yorkton could potentially finish the season with 67 points. With three games against Melfort and Flin Flon, the Ice Wolves could also have an impact on that race for third place.

With eight games left to play and a bit of a lead in their attempt to hold onto the last remaining playoff position, the Notre Dame Hounds could potentially finish the season with 72 points and move up a few spots in the standings. If the Hounds do clean sweep their March games, they could also shake up the standings a bit with Estevan, Humboldt, Battlefords and Yorkton all potentially seeing some point losses in their own races for first, third, and sixth.

Currently sitting in ninth place with 48 points, the Kindersley Klippers have little shot at overtaking the Hounds for that last playoff spot. However, if they can generate some wins in March action, they could have an impact on those first and third place races with five games remaining, all against Humboldt or Battlefords. They could finish off the season with 58 points to overtake the Hounds if Notre Dame fails to generate more than the required two wins. Either way, that eight place is not clinched just yet.

Melville, Nipawin, and Weyburn will not make either place but could cause some upsets in the current races. Three games remain for Melville, four for Nipawin, and five for Notre Dame.

The playoff crossover will see first place taking on eighth, second taking on seventh, third taking on sixth, and fourth taking on fifth.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim