The Big Six Hockey League playoffs have begun.
The league leading Bienfait Coalers (16-3-1) enter the post-season on a three game winning streak. The Coalers most recently dispatched the Midale Mustangs 4-3 at the Midale Harry O. Memorial Arena on Feb. 3 and the Carlyle Cougars 9-4 at the Bienfait Memorial Arena on Feb. 4. Coalers leading scorer Payden Benning led the charge last weekend notching one goal and two assists against the Mustangs before recording four goals and two assists versus the Cougars.
The Coalers finished the season atop the Big Six Hockey League West Division, which pits them against the East Division's last place Oxbow Huskies (8-12) in the best-of-five quarter-final round. The Huskies begin the playoffs on a three game losing streak including a season ending 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Redvers Rockets on Feb. 4 at the Redvers Rec Centre.
Bienfait defeated Oxbow in Game 1 of the series on Tuesday night.
The Rockets (14-6) enter the post-season as the hottest team in the Big Six Hockey League having rattled off five straight wins including a 6-3 victory at the Yellow Grass Communiplex against the Wheat Kings one day before beating the Huskies. The streak helped the Rockets, which features the league's top scorer in Jordon Miller, finish atop the East Division setting them up for a first round tilt against the Carlyle Cougars (2-18).
Redvers knocked off Carlyle 7-1 in the first game of that series on Wednesday night.
The Wheat Kings (12-6-2) finished nine points back of the Coalers capturing second place in the West Division standings. The Wheat Kings face the East Division's third seeded Carnduff Red Devils (12-7-1) in the first round of the playoffs. The streaky Red Devils have won three straight games, including a 5-3 victory on Feb. 1 at the Oxbow Arena against the Huskies.
Yellow Grass defeated Carnduff 5-2 on Thursday night to open that series.
The final quarter-final series will pit the defending Big Six Hockey League champion Wawota Flyers (12-6-2) against the Midale Mustangs (6-13-1). The Flyers, which finished second in the East Division, wrapped up their regular season at the Carnduff Fast Trucking Centennial Arena on Jan. 29 with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Red Devils. The Mustangs begin the playoffs riding a five game losing streak.
This weekend will also feature four Saskatchewan Hockey Association provincial playoff games.
The Coalers head on the road Friday with a one game lead in their best-of-three series against the Milestone Flyers, while the Cougars entertain the Ochapowace Thunder that evening in the first game of the provincial playoffs for both clubs. The Red Devils and Flyers are both home on Saturday and hoping their local fans will cheer them on to wins against the Grenfell Spitfires and Theodore Buffalos, respectively. The Red Devils fell 6-4 to the Spitfires and the Flyers were trampled 5-1 by the Buffalos in the first game of the two-game total-points series.
