There will be a new champion ion the Big Six Hockey League this year.
The Wawota Flyers, two time defending league champions, and Carnduff Red Devils went right to the edge in their Big Six Hockey League playoff semifinal Tuesday in Carnduff, needing a fifth game to decide the league crown, with the Red Devils coming up big with a 5-2 win.
Trevor Geiger scored a natural hat trick in the deciding game, after Wawota led 1-0 after the first period. Landon Senchuk scored the other goal for Carnduff, while Wawota’s Warren Hunter scored the Flyers’ goal. Cody Dumaine got the win in net.
There wasn’t a lot of time to celebrate the win, as the league final got underway Wednesday in Redvers. The Rockets took Game 1 4-0.
Game 2 is March 16 Carnduff.
Game 3 is set for March 22 in Carnduff and Game 4 would be March 23 in Redvers.
Game 5 is scheduled for March 25 in Carnduff at 7 p.m. and Game 6 for March 27 in Redvers. Game 7 is scheduled for March 29 in Carnduff.
Last Thursday, the had Flyers pushed the semifinal to another game with a 5-3 win at Wawota.
Kent Sauter scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, while Justin Lamontagne, Ryan Taylor and Taylor Ernst each scored single goals for Wawota. Riley Riddell scored four assists.
Callan Carlton, Cody Moore and Geiger scored the Red Devils goals, with Brandon Trask collecting a pair of assists.
The Red Devils did win the first game of their provincial semifinal against the Balcarres Broncos Saturday in Balcarres. They went up 3-0 after the first period on goals by Shawn Gallant, Geiger and Nico Anderson. In the second period, they went up 5-0 thanks to goals from Jordan Miller and Gallant, but Balcarres attempted a comeback and scored the next four goals in a row.
With the game on the line, Matt Audette scored with 59 second left, adding to his three assists in the game.
The teams will play the second game of their best-of-three series Saturday at Carnduff, and Game 3 if necessary will be Sunday in Balcarres.
The winner of the series to play against the north winner of Beechy against Outlook.
