DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: The calm before the playoff storm
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This is the last edition of The Carillon without coverage of hockey playoffs, as the final regular season games in high school, senior and in the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League finished up this weekend.
From these games, it’s an all-out sprint until the end of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, as I try and attend as many post-season games as I can. Hockey is a post-season sport, and that means extra effort has to be made during this time of year, especially with the Providence Pilots volleyball and basketball finals taking place this time as well.
Here are some story-lines I’m keeping a close eye on as we hit the busiest part of my year.
The Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League won’t have an undefeated season after the Macdonald Swarm fell in shocking fashion to ninth-place East St Paul last week. The Swarm should still be the favourite to win the league.
All three Eastman teams in the South East Manitoba Hockey League are in the top half of the standings, with Springfield battling Winkler for top spot all year. Red River and Ile des Chenes have put together solid seasons as well and will finish third and fourth. That spot was all but decided after a game between the two teams Feb. 7 in Ile des Chenes.
In the high school ranks, I mostly go to Steinbach Regional games, but I’ll definitely need to head out to Niverville for third division playoff action, as the Panthers have yet to lose in regulation this season.
The U18 Eastman Selects female team will need to survive the rest of the league to set up the marquee match-up with the Winnipeg Ice in the finals. The two teams had a combined two regulation losses this season before they played Feb. 8. On the male side, dreams of having home ice in a first-round playoff match-up appear over after two tough losses to the Winnipeg Wild. With a definitive top-four and the Selects six points up on Southwest, Eastman should play the worst of the top teams this season in an attempt to spoil the narrative.
In the Capital Region Junior Hockey League, the St Malo Warriors quest for a three-peat will be on the road, with renovations continuing at their home rink. They only trail Beausejour in the standings.
In the MJHL, I’m rooting for an all-Eastman final, which would make covering the league a breeze for me. There will be no need for any planned long trips. Niverville and Steinbach will be the league’s two best regular season teams, so there’s a solid chance that rivalry could get super-charged.
If there are any non-playoff stories I might miss in the chaos of the next couple months, be sure to give me a lead on them by emailing sports@thecarillon.com.