Come next season, the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League will no longer be split in the Bauer and Sherwood Conferences, or more commonly known as the North and South.
The SJHL's governor's meeting Friday resulted in some changes for next season that are expected to create more interest in regular season play and put more emphasis on all regular season games not just division matchups.
The league will change from two divisions of six teams to three divisions of four teams.
The Battlefords North Stars will be put in a division with the Humboldt Broncos, Kindersley Klippers and Notre Dame Hounds.
La Ronge, Flin Flon, Melfort and Nipawin make up another division, which leaves Estevan, Weyburn, Melville and Yorkton in the third division.
It is unofficial yet, but SJHL president Bill Chow said each team will likely play 56 games, up from the 54 scheduled this season.
Chow said the plan is for each team to play the other three in their division six times throughout the season (three home and three away) and the remainder of the teams four other times (two home and two away) which totals 50 games. The remainder of the games would be played with rival teams, with match ups yet to be determined.
The division changes create a change in the playoff structure as well. Next year, the top teams in their respective division will earn the first, second and third positions in the playoffs based on their overall points. The second place teams in their divisions will earn spots four through six depending on their points. The teams with the next highest point totals will be ranked seventh to 12th. The seventh place team will play the 10th place team and the eighth and ninth place teams will play in best-of-five survivors series.
SJHL Players of the Week
Estevan's Dylan Smith returned to the SJHL Jan. 10. Since joining the Bruins this season he has notched four goals and four assists in five games. Last week Smith had three goals and three assists in three games as Estevan earned three points in the standings.
The defenceman of the week is no stranger to that honour. Once again, Flin Flon's Josh Roach was the league's top defenceman for the week. Roach leads the SJHL's defenceman in points with 12 goals and 32 assists in 41 games. He had a goal and three assists during the week including a three-point game against his former team the Humboldt Broncos in a Flin Flon win.
Dylan Fluter of the Humboldt Broncos was named the rookie of the week. Fluter and the Broncos played in Flin Flon twice on the week and he earned points in both games including a game-winning goal. Fluter has 11 goals and nine assists in 35 games.
Weyburn's Jean-Philippe Boucher was the goaltender of the week after posting two wins and making 70 saves combined against Notre Dame and Melfort. Boucher is 10-8-0-1 on the season despite the Red Wings losing record and has a 2.94 goal-against average.
