The provincial major midget hockey league won’t finish its regular season until the middle of February, but the Western Kings and St. John’s Maple Leafs are already locked into the top two spots in the standings of the five-team league.
All that remains to be seen is who will be the St. John’s and Western’s opponents in the first round of the playoffs.
The Kings took two games against the Leafs over the weekend in Corner Brook including a Sunday contest that saw them overcome a 4-3 third-period deficit for a 6-4 win. Central will take first place and St. John’s are guaranteed second.
The East Coast Blizzard swept a two-game weekend series from the Central IcePak in Lewisporte to move into third place ahead of the idle TriPen Osprey and secure a playoff berth at the same time. However, the Osprey are just three points behind with a game in hand (regulation-time wins in the league are worth three points).
Even the IcePak are not yet mathematically out of the playoff picture, although a TriPen regulation win or a Central loss would mean the IcePak would be stuck in last place.
Weekend Results
Saturday
At the Corner Brook Civic Centre
Western 4, St. John’s 1
At the Lewisporte Stadium
East Coast 6, Central 2
Sunday
Western 6, St. John’s 4
At the Lewisporte Stadium
East Coast 7, Central 2