Since the Yorkton Terriers were knocked out of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs by the Estevan Bruins in March, the league has gotten much closer to naming a 2016-2017 champion.
Yorkton and Estevan fought through a 4-1 quarter-final series, with Estevan taking the series after game 5.
Other teams who faced off in the quarter-finals were the Battlefords North Stars and the Weyburn Red Wings (won by Battlefords), the Notre Dame Hounds and the Flin Flon Bombers (won by Flin Flon) and the Nipawin Hawks and the Humboldt Broncos (won by Nipawin).
Estevan moved on to semi-finals to play against the Battlefords North Stars. Battlefords swept Estevan in four games. This earned Battlefords their spot in the Canalta Cup Finals - the league championship, and knocked Estevan out of the playoffs.
On the other side of semi-finals, the Nipawin Hawks and the Flin Flon Bombers are still duking it out. At the time of print, the series was tied 3-3. Game seven was to be played in Flin Flon on Tuesday night. The winner of that game will move on to the final to play in a best-of-seven series against Battlefords.
Battlefords came out of the regular season on top of the league by a mile with 97 points stemming from a 48-9-1 record.
Second place was a tie between Flin Flon and Nipawin, both with 83 points. While Nipawin (40-15-2-1)Â had one more win, Flin Flon (39-14-2-3) had one less loss which pushed them into second place in the standings.
