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Senior hockey provincial brackets revealed

Jan 13, 2017 | 12:51 PM

The 2017 senior men’s hockey provincial draws were released yesterday with six Sask West Hockey League (SWHL) teams entering and just two Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League (SPHL) teams throwing their hat in the ring.

There are four separate brackets in the senior provincials: A, B, C, and D.

From the SWHL, the Wilkie Outlaws and Kindersley Red Lions are entering in the A bracket, the Biggar Nationals and Luseland/Dodsland Mallards are entering in the B bracket, and the Eatonia Huskies and Macklin Mohawks are entering in the C bracket.

The only two teams from the SPHL entering the provincials this season are the Shellbrook Silvertips, playing in C, and the Edam Three Stars, entering in D. Shellbrook will play the Delisle Bruins of the SVHL, and Edam will play the Kyle Elks, also of the SVHL.

The bracket that teams choose to compete in is mostly based on the population of the city or town. Category A is over 4,000, B is 4,000 and under, C is 2,500 and under, and D is 1,250 and under. For categories B to D, the team is also allowed three ‘imports’, who’s population does not count against the total. In A, there are no limits on the population or on the number of imports and the team can also play up a division or two, even if the city or town isn’t big enough.

As far as matchups go, Wilkie will take on the Meadow Lake Broncos of the BLHL in the first round in bracket A, while the Red Lions will face off against the Hague Royals — the only other SWHL representative playing the A bracket.

In B, the Nationals will play the Watrous Winterhawks, while the Mallards’ opponent will be the Outlook Ice Hawks. In C, Eatonia has a first round date with the Eston Ramblers and the Macklin Mohawks find themselves matched up with the Rosetown Red Wings.

All first round series except for bracket A are best-of-two, with the number of total goals scored serving as the tie breaker. In bracket A, the first-round series is a best two-of-three.

Specific dates for the games have not be given quite yet, but most first-round matchups must be done by Feb. 13. The only ones that will take place later are the Mallards versus Ice Hawks and Three Stars versus Elks series, which don’t need to wrap up until Feb. 27.

The full brackets can be found here.

 

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11