Several Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League teams have locked in their spot in the standings and have anywhere from nine to five games remaining in the regular season.
At this point, no teams have been eliminated from the playoff picture, but seven teams have clinched a spot in the playoffs.
Humboldt is the top ranked team in the Source Embroidery Power Rankings and they lead the Bauer Conference. Nipawin has an outside chance to catch Humboldt, but would need to win seven of their last nine and have Humboldt earn just one point in their final seven games.
Nipawin and the Flin Flon Bombers are in an intriguing fight for second place, as the Hawks are one of the hottest teams going 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games. That hot streak helped the Hawks move from sixth to fourth in the league rankings.
Flin Flon fell from fourth to sixth place in the rankings.
The Battlefords North Stars have secured a playoff spot and are three points out of third place and five out of second place with seven games remaining. The North Stars hold the seventh once again in the weekly rankings.
Melfort moved up a spot in the rankings and were clinging on to the fifth spot in the conference just a point up on La Ronge with two games in hand as of Wednesday morning.
La Ronge went on a seven game losing streak and was the 11th ranked team this week.
As for the Sherwood Conference, Yorkton leads the way, listed at second in the overall league rankings and holding a comfortable five-point lead in the conference standings.
Melville is on the verge of locking up the second spot in the conference, but Notre Dame is still within striking distance.
Estevan, Kinderlsey and Weyburn are fighting for the fourth and fifth spots, as Estevan has 38 points Kinderlsey had 37 before their game Wednesday night against La Ronge. Weyburn is bringing up the rear with 31 points.
Estevan moved up from the 11th spot in last week's rankings to eighth and are a team that might be getting hot just at the right time.
Also in junior A hockey news, the Canadian Junior Hockey League announced that new awards will be presented nationwide. All 10 Junior A leagues will submit nominees for the new CJHL awards which will include Most Valuable Player, Top Forward, Top Defenceman, Top Goaltender, Top Rookie and Coach of the Year. There will also be an award for the highest ranked player of the NHL Central Scouting's final draft rankings called the Top NHL Prospect Award.
SJHL Players of the Week
Dylan Smith helped the Estevan Bruins into a playoff spot for the time being and was named the player of the week for the second time since mid-January. He had six goals and two assists in two games during the week.
The defenceman of the week honours go to Nipawin's Grant Jensen. He had one goal and one assist in three games and has helped the Nipawin Hawks make a run for second place in the conference standings.
Notre Dame' Ian Williams was named the rookie of the week after earning a goal and two assists in two games.
Melville's Alex Wakaluk was the goaltender of the week with two wins during that span. He stopped 59 of 61 shots in games against Kindersley and the Battlefords and has played the most minutes this season while recording 23 wins and holding a .932 save percentage.
Wakaluk was also the goaltender of the month with a 7-2 record in January. He recorded two shutouts and never allowed more than three goals in a game.
The rookie of the month was Notre Dame's Dion Antision. He had seven goals and four assists in 11 games.
Flin Flon's Josh Roach was named the defenceman of the week and has earned that title three of the four months this season. He had 13 points in nine games in January.
Roach's former teammate, Adam Antkowiak of the Humboldt Broncos was named the player of the month. He had a huge month with nine goals and eight assists in 11 games.
