There’s been quite a bit of focus on the first-place battle between the defending champion Conception Bay Regional Renegades and Mount Pearl Blades in the Mary Brown’s St. John’s Junior Hockey League this season.
And why not? After all, the Blades and Renegades finished 1-2 in the regular-season standings the previous two years, facing each other in the league final both times, with Mount Pearl taking the SJJHL title in 2018 and CBR winning the 2019 crown after a thrilling seven-game championship series.
They’ve been swapping the league lead again in the 2019-20 campaign; Mount Pearl currently holds top spot after winning twice over the weekend, including a 3-2 overtime victory against CBR Saturday at the Conception Bay South Arena in what was their final head-to-head matchup of this regular season.
That puts the Blades two points up on the Renegades, who have a game in hand.
However, there are more than two teams that have legitimate aspirations at being on top of standings.
The St. John’s Caps hold third place, four points behind the Renegades, and they too have a game in hand on Mount Pearl.
A 6-4 win over the Conception Bay North Stars at Twin Rinks on Saturday means St. John’s hasn’t been beaten in regulation in seven games, going 6-0-1 in that stretch.
The Caps have a chance to extend that streak and to move closer to the Renegades and Blades when they take on the Trinity-Placentia Flyers tonight in Whitbourne,
And while were at it, it’s worth pointing out that the fourth-place Stars deserve a little attention, too. CBN may be 10 points out of the league lead, but it has three games in hand on the first-place Blades.
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While St. John’s works towards gaining first-place in the SJJHL standings, a Caps player continues to hold down top spot in the league scoring race.
That’s centre Kyle McGrath, who scored his 20th goal of the season and added an assist in Saturday’s win over the Stars, giving him 42 points on the season. That’s four more than Luke Akerman of CBN and defenceman James O’Brien of Mount Pearl, who scored the overtime winner Saturday against CBR and tallied again on Sunday when the Blades downed the Avalon Capitals 7-2.
McGrath is in contention for scoring titles in the two high-profile leagues. He’s also a member of the St. John’s Caps senior side, and as such, sits in second in points in the ECSHL.
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