It’s playoff time in the Big Six Hockey League, with the top eight teams battling it out to see who’s the best in the post-season.
The Carnduff Red Devils were the top team in the regular season, and are taking on the eighth place Carlyle Cougars. The second-place Redvers Rockets are in a battle with the seventh place Oxbow Huskies, the Bienfait Coalers, who finished third, are paired up with the sixth place Midale Mustangs and the Yellow Grass Wheat Kings and Wawota Flyers will be the fourth versus fifth battle.
For Carnduff, their main offensive weapon is Matthew Audette, who tied for the league lead in scoring with Oxbow’s Taysen Holt with 56 points. Brandon Trask scored 13 goals and 26 assists for 39 points in the regular season to finish second on the Red Devils, while Mark Moriarty added 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. Cody Dumaine was Dumaine man in net with a 14-3-0 record and a 2.87 goals against average. Carlyle is led on the scoresheet by Brett Turgeon, with 18 goals and 15 assists in 24 regular season games. Cooper Fox wasn’t too far behind with 16 goals and 12 assists. The goaltender with all of their wins this season was Josh Hohn, who had a 4-7-1 record during the season to go along with a 4.52 goals against average.
Carnduff beat Carlyle 6-2 in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Game 2 will be Tuesday night in Carlyle.
The Redvers Rockets had the scoring touch of Jordon Miller and his team-leading 43 points at the top of their list of top point producers. Miller was the only player who played all 24 games with the Rockets. Drew Hoff had 35 points to chip in as well, but they had a two-headed collaboration in net leading them to victory. Shane Marsh was 7-0-0 with a 2.71 goals against average and Thomas Bauche was 10-5-0 with a 2.98 average in net. Holt leads Oxbow in their playoff race but second place in scoring was Derek Cooney, who had 25 goals and 31 assists for the Huskies. Third in scoring was Brycen Odgers, with 18 goals and 17 assists. Both goaltenders Tyler Myers (5-5-0 record) and Ethan Veroba (5-9-0 record) had identical 6.29 goals against averages.
Redvers won Game 1 9-3 on Thursday night. Game 2 is slated for Sunday night in Oxbow.
The Bienfait Coalers have Wyatt Garagan and Payden Benning co-lead the team in scoring with 41 points each, while Keegan Malaryk isn’t far behind with 36 points in only 19 games. Jackson Walliser saw the lion’s share of action between the pipes with a 12-3-1 record and a 2.74 goals against average. Brad Tomiski was the Midale Mustangs leading scorer with 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points for the Mustangs this year. Tyler Hoium was second with 17 goals and seven assists in 21 games. Derek Tendler was 11-11-0 in net with a 3.95 goals against average.
Game 1 will be Friday night in Midale at 8 p.m.
The Yellow Grass Wheat Kings were led in regular season scoring by the stick of Devin Cobbold, whose 22 goals and 26 assists in 24 games paced the squad. Justin Richter had 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points, and Brendan Vertefeuille had 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points. Tanner Erickson went 11-4-2 with a 3.69 goals against average between the pipes. Wawota, the two time defending Big Six champions, will notable get Riley Riddell back. Riddell — last year’s playoff scoring co-leader — had six goals and seven assists in five games for the Flyers, who will gladly accept the scoring touch behind leading scorer Kent Sauter (17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points) and Taylor Ernst (11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points). Guilliaume Blouin (7-5-3, 3.71 goals against average) and Scott Knelsen (7-1-1, 2.43 average) split most of the time in net.
Wawota won Game 1 6-3 on Wednesday night. Game 2 will be Monday night in Wawota.
