The 2024 SJHL Playoffs presented by UPL begin Friday night. Here’s how each team matches up in their respective series going into the start of the post-season, with a few burning questions from each.
#1 Flin Flon Bombers vs. #8 Kindersley Klippers
Burning Questions:
- Will the Flin Flon Bombers be able to rev the engine back to 100% after sitting on cruise control for much of the new year once they had clinched No. 1 overall?
- Can Kindersley No. 1 Cody Jaman replicate his February success to keep the Klippers close in games?
- How will the Kindersley veterans, led by captain Logan Linklater up front and Simon Diaz on the back end, handle their first playoff series as a group?
#2 Melfort Mustangs vs. #7 Estevan Bruins
Burning Questions:
- How healthy are these two teams?
- Assuming Ilia Chmelevski (and Keagon Little, when he is back) get a steady dose of Melfort’s, and perhaps the league’s, top defence pair of Leith Olafson and Chase Friedt-Mohr, where will Estevan’s secondary scoring come from, especially against a red-hot James Venne in the Mustangs’ net?
- Who will Estevan match up against the Clay Sleeva-Aidyn Hutchinson combination up front?
#3 Humboldt Broncos vs. #6 Weyburn Red Wings
Burning Questions:
- Can either of these teams stay out of the box? Both power plays have been DEADLY this year, and both teams have had discipline and penalty-killing issues.
- Who will win the goalie duel? Ben Motew of Humboldt and Dazza Mitchell of Weyburn are both as elite as they come in the league this year.
- How will Weyburn’s shutdown pair of Nicholas Kovacs and Tyler Teasdale do against the Broncos’ Spencer Bell-Travis Bryson-Cage Newans unit, one that almost nobody has been able to stop the last number of weeks?
#4 Battlefords North Stars vs. #5 Melville Millionaires
Burning Questions:
- How will the defending champion North Stars be able to use their vast advantage in playoff experience?
- We know Will Dyke has the net in Melville, but who will get the lion’s share of minutes in the Battlefords net between Logan Cunningham and Matthew MacArthur?
- Doug Johnson’s Millionaires can sure shut down anybody’s attack, but they score enough goals to get through?
