The most important weekend of the Big Six Hockey League's 2016-17 season is here.
Second to fourth place and a number of playoff seeds will be on the line this Friday and Saturday when the Big Six Hockey League wraps up its regular season. At this point, only the Bienfait Coalers (14-3-1), Oxbow Huskies (8-10) and Midale Mustangs (6-12-1) know where they'll stand when the post-season begins later this month.
The Coalers have locked up first place and a first round bye, while the Huskies and Mustangs have secured the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively. The Carlyle Cougars (2-17) will finish outside the playoff picture.
The Redvers Rockets (12-6) start the action this Friday with a game in Yellow Grass against the Wheat Kings (10-5-4). The Rockets travel to Oxbow to play the Huskies the next night.
The Rockets and Wheat Kings are tied at 24 points, which is one point ahead of the Carnduff Red Devils (11-7-1) and two points behind the Wawota Flyers (12-6-2). Both the Red Devils and Flyers, which occupy the second and fourth seeds, are idle this weekend.
The Coalers are also in action this weekend with a Friday night tilt in Midale against the Mustangs and a home date with the Cougars on Saturday.
Five of the Big Six Hockey League teams are also engaged or set to start play in the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) provincial playoffs.
The Coalers got things started at provincials with a 2-1 double-overtime win over the Qu'Appelle Valley Hockey League's Milestone Flyers at Bienfait Memorial Arena on Jan. 27. The teams play the second game of the best-of-three series at the Milestone Memorial Centre on Feb. 10.
The Red Devils will start their best-of-three provincial series against the Qu'Appelle Valley Hockey League's Grenfell Spitfires on the road this Friday with the two teams meeting again in Carnduff on Feb. 11.
The Flyers also see their first provincial playoff action this weekend with a Saturday night game in Theodore against the Triangle Hockey League's Buffalos. The rematch is scheduled for Feb. 11 in Wawota.
The Cougars begin play in the SHA provincial playoffs on Feb. 10 when they entertain the Triangle Hockey League's Ochapowace Thunder. The Rockets start provincials on Feb. 18 with a neutral site game in Radville against a Wilcox-based club.
