U18 Female Selects set to join post-season as hockey playoffs roll on

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2023 (868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editor’s note: This article was written on Feb. 15, and published in the Feb. 16 Carillon

The field of local hockey teams competing in their respective post-seasons will grow once again this weekend, as the U18 Female Selects kick off their quarterfinal match-up against the Yellowhead Chiefs Feb. 16.

The Selects, which play out of the Niverville Community Resource and Rec Centre, will be hosting game two on Feb. 19 at 1:30 p.m. and game four (if necessary) Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Yellowhead and Eastman finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Manitoba Female Hockey League this season, with the Selects eight points up on sixth place Pembina Valley, and eight points behind the Chiefs.

The two teams haven’t seen that much of each other, splitting a pair of games in October early this season. Yellowhead has won the past two match-ups against Eastman, including a 4-2 victory in their most recent match-up Feb. 5.

The final week of the Capital Region Junior Hockey League’s regular season is this weekend, with St Malo locked into second place in the league standings.

HTJHL

Elsewhere, the first round in the Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League (HTJHL) and South East Manitoba Hockey League (SEMHL) are heating up.

Only one game will be completed after press time in the HTJHL, as in a surprising result, the Macdonald Swarm defeated the Red River Mudbugs in game one of their series.

Red River, which finished the season 26 points ahead of last-place Macdonald was defeated 7-4 on their home ice to kick off the playoffs, before evening the series the next night in Sanford. Game three was in St Jean Feb. 15.

Macdonald was lead up from by Talon Weselak, who picked up a hat trick in their game one victory.

The Springfield Xtreme, which finished in third place in the HTJHL standings, have not had problems with the expansion Landmark Blues so far, picking up a pair of tight wins Feb. 11 and Feb. 12. They’ll be looking for the sweep Feb. 18 on home ice in Oakbank.

The series between the fourth-seeded Lorette Comets and fifth-seeded Niverville Clippers may have produced the best game of the post-season so far. After a back and forth affair, which saw Niverville take three separate one goal leads, they looked to have game one locked up.

Leading 4-3 after an early third period goal from Teo Lambert, Brent Masse took a four-minute kneeing penalty with five minutes to play. Lorette would use the extended powerplay to their advantage, as Tyler Van de Velde scored the equalizer with under three minutes remaining in regulation.

In overtime, the Clippers got the first chances of the game, and finally took the lead for good, as Lambert managed to corral a loose puck after a scramble, shooting his second of the game into a wide open net, setting off the celebrations.

It was an important goal, as the higher-seeded Lorette picked up a 5-3 win in game two, and a 4-0 win in game three, both played at the Ile des Chenes arena to put them on the precipice of winning the series.

Niverville will get a chance to force a decisive game five Feb. 18 at home Feb. 18. Puck drop; is as 4:00 p.m.

SEMHL

Many series in the SEMHL will be playing on Wednesday night, including the Red River Wild — Ste Anne Aces series. As of press time, the teams are locked up at one game apiece, with the teams each picking up a win at home.

The playoffs kicked off in entertaining fashion in Ste Anne, with the Aces picking up a 4-3 victory to kick off the playoffs. The Aces got four consecutive goals from four different goal scorers to take a 4-1 lead into the third period. Including an odd goal from Brenden Walker.

When Burke Heide rifled a pass to Walker, he looked to have a sure breakaway, but the forward could only get a piece of the puck at the attacking blue line. As the puck rolled towards the Red River net, Walker swung his stick at the puck, but completely missed, in the process fooling Red River starter Mark Friesen who had the puck trickle behind him into the net.

Red River pushed hard for an equalizer in the waning moments, but could only pull to within one.

Friesen would get his revenge the next night, only allowing a single goal on 36 shots in St Jean, as the Wild scored three goals in the first period to cruise to a 4-1 victory, evening the series.

In Ile des Chenes, the return of playoff hockey was put on hold, after bad driving conditions Feb. 14 cancelled game two of the North Stars series against the Morden Bombers.

Morden, which has become one of the most lethal offenses in the SEMHL over the course of the season, scored six goals in game one Feb. 10, and hold a 1-0 series lead.

The new schedule for the series includes games in Ile des Chenes Feb. 18 and Feb. 20 if needed. A game five would be in Morden Feb. 23.