Monday Morning: Races!

This is outstanding.

SJHL/MJHL Playoffs start a month from tomorrow (Feb/26) and so much is yet to be decided.

Notre Dame is making a charge, and for about an hour, were tied with the Weyburn Red Wings for top spot in the SJHL Sherwood Conference. Weyburn went on to also win their game the same night, leaving each club with 30 wins, while ND is two points back with a game in hand.

Kindersley looks pretty entrenched in 3rd spot, 14 back of Notre Dame, and 6 up on Yorkton with 4 games in hand on the Terriers.

As far as the bottom three, Estevan's 9 points out of a possible Survivor Series spot with 12 games left. Yorkton's in 4th, three points up on Melville. The Millionaires have 2 games in hand, and they'll make them up this week, in Notre Dame tonight (MON) and home to Nipawin on Wednesday. The Terriers will be 2 games up again after the weekend, with 2 games in Flin Flon, while the Mils have the whole weekend off.

Here's what's left for the two teams...

Yorkton
Fri/Jan/29: @ FF
Sat/Jan/30: @ FF
Wed/Feb/3: vs NIP
Fri/Feb/5: vs MVL
Sat/Feb/6: @ MVL
Fri/Feb/12: vs KIN
Sun/Feb/14: vs KIN
Wed/Feb/17: vs EST
Fri/Feb/19: vs ND
Sat/Feb/20: @ WEY
(10 games left, 6H, 4A)

Melville
Mon/Jan/25: @ ND
Wed/Jan/27: vs NIP
Tue/Feb/2: @ EST
Fri/Feb/5: @ YOR
Sat/Feb/6: vs YOR
Wed/Feb/10: vs WEY
Fri/Feb/12: @ ND
Sat/Feb/13: vs KIN
Tue/Feb/16: @ KIN
Wed/Feb/17: @ BAT
Sat/Feb/20: @ HUM
Tue/Feb/23: vs EST
(12 games left, 5H, 7A)

On paper, I'd say Melville has the tougher schedule, especially the WEY-ND-KIN-KIN-BAT-HUM stretch near the end, and are on the road a lot more than the Terriers down the stretch. That Feb 5/6 home and home is gonna be huge!

The Bauer Conference also offers some great races down the stretch. Flin Flon's still got some separation in top spot, La Ronge and Battleford are tied for 2nd, Melfort's 3 points back with games in hand on La Ronge, while Humboldt sits just 2 points up on Nipawin for the final spot, and the Hawks have one game in hand. Nipawin starts a stretch of TEN straight road games this week.

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In the MJHL Sherwood, Dauphin will coast to a first place finish, Swan Valley's trying to nail down 2nd, but Portage and Neepawa keep winning behind them. Neepawa just one point back of Portage after beating them 3-0 last (SUN) night, and have a game in hand. That's going to be a great race for 3rd, but either team could certainly still get into third with a strong finish, but would also have to rely on a Stampeder slide. It's very much in the Stamps' hands... if they go 6-and-6 over their final 12, Portage would have to go 11-and-2 to finish ahead of them. Neepawa would have to be at least 11-2-1 in their final 14.

It looks like OCN and Winnipeg South will battle for the final spot in the Addison. Right now they're tied, while the Blizzard have 3 games in hand as they try to become the second Sherwood team in as many years to crossover. Neepawa did it last year. Looks like Winkler will finish 3rd, while the Saints and Selkirk go after top spot.

Swan Valley's remaining schedule
Thu/Jan/28 @ WSB
Sat/Jan/30 @ POR
Sun/Jan/31 @ WNK
Tue/Feb/2 @ WAY
Wed/Feb/3 vs OCN
Sat/Feb/6 @ WAY
Tue/Feb/9 @ DAU
Wed/Feb/10 vs NEE
Sat/Feb/13 @ POR
Mon/Feb/15 vs OCN
Fri/Feb/19 vs NEE
Sat/Feb/20 @ DAU
(12 games left, 4H, 8A)