The Big Six Hockey League’s regular season came to a close on Saturday night with three games.
The Bienfait Coalers trounced the Kipling-Windthorst Oil Kings 16-2, the Redvers Rockets doubled up the Arcola-Kisbey Combines 8-4, and the Wawota Flyers routed the Oxbow Huskies 11-2.
The playoffs will open with two-game, total-goal series involving the bottom four teams in the league, who will be trying to play their way into the quarter-finals. The seventh-seeded Flyers (8-10) will face the No. 10 Combines (0-17-1) in one series, while the No. 8 Huskies (5-12-1) will play the No. 9 Oil Capitals.
Game 1 in the Huskies-Oil Capitals series will be Wednesday night in Kipling, and Game 2 will be Friday night in Oxbow. Dates for the Flyers-Combines series have not been announced.
The other six teams in the league will have a first round bye. The Yellow Grass Wheat Kings finished the regular season with the best record in the league at 15-3, two points better than Redvers (14-4). The Carnduff Red Devils (13-5) were third, followed by the Carlyle Cougars (11-5-2) in fourth. The Bienfait Coalers (10-7) in fifth and the Midale Mustangs (9-9) in sixth.
Carnduff and Midale will meet in one quarter-final, while Bienfait will play Carlyle in another. The opponents for Yellow Grass and Redvers have yet to be determined.
Dylan Herzberg of the Bienfait Coalers was the top scorer in the league with 30 goals and 51 points, while Tanner Erickson was the top goaltender with a 2.06 goals-against average. Erickson also had a perfect 9-0 record during the regular season.
The Rockets are the defending league champions.
