The semifinals have been determined in the Big Six Hockey League playoffs.
In one semifinal, the top-seeded Redvers Rockets will play the fifth-ranked Bienfait Coalers. And in the other, the No. 2 Carnduff Red Devils will play the No. 3 Yellow Grass Wheat Kings in a rematch of last year’s final, which Yellow Grass won.
Bienfait and Yellow Grass were the last two teams to advance from the quarter-finals. Bienfait moved on by defeating the Carlyle Cougars 5-4 on Feb. 18 in Bienfait to win the best of five quarter-final series in four games. Levi Barnstable scored the series-winning goal with less than four minutes to play in the third period.
Carlyle had forced Game 4 by defeating Bienfait 5-2 in Game 3 the night before.
In the other series, Yellow Grass punched their ticket to the semis with a 5-1 win over the Wawota Flyers on Feb. 18 to take that matchup in four games. Wawota had extended the series with a 6-5 overtime victory over Yellow Grass on Feb. 13.
The other two series ended in three-game sweeps.
The Rockets reached the semis by dominating the eighth-ranked Arcola-Kisbey Combines in all three games. They clinched the series with a 13-1 win over Arcola-Kisbey on Feb. 16, and they outscored the Combines 33-3 in the three games.
The other series saw Carnduff defeat the No. 7 Midale Mustangs. Carnduff wrapped up the series with a 4-0 win on Feb. 13. The Red Devils won the last two games by shutouts.
The semifinals will also be best of five series. Dates for the series had yet to be decided as of the morning of Feb. 19.
In provincial play, the Rockets have advanced to the senior C south semifinal versus Davidson. Redvers advanced with a 5-0 win over Langenburg on Feb. 15 to sweep the best-of-three matchup.
The dates for the Davidson series have yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, the Carnduff Red Devils have started their Senior B south semifinal against Balcarres. Carnduff won Game 1 5-4 in overtime on Feb. 15. Game 2 is set for Feb. 22 in Carnduff at 7:30 p.m., and Game 3, if necessary, would be March 1 in Balcarres.
