President's Update March 1st, 2013

HHL semi-finals

Cupar Canucks (20-3-1) versus Strasbourg Maroons (11-10-3)

The Cupar Canucks defeated the Lumsden Monarchs three games to one in their quarter-final series. Their only loss came in Lumsden in game two in overtime.  Against the Monarchs, Cupar scored 27 goals and allowed 15. Scoring was paced by Kyle Ross who picked up 6 goals and 12 assists. Kyle Ermel had 11 points and Justin Bernhardt had 9 points. Jamie Wutke picked up all three wins in the series and posted a 3.69 GAA in four games played. The Strasbourg Maroons defeated the defending champions Avonlea Arrows three games to one. The Maroons won game one and game four in overtime, with game four going to double overtime.  Strasbourg scored 19 goals and allowed 16 in this series against Avonlea. Brady Heintz scored the double overtime series winner and also led the Maroons in playoff scoring with 4 goals and 5 assists. Tyler Kifferling picked up all three wins in net for Strasbourg and posted a 3.49 GAA.

These two teams played twice this year. In November, in Strasbourg, the Cupar Canucks posted a 10-3 victory. In December, in Cupar, The Canucks posted a 10-8 victory in a game that saw the Canucks see a three goal lead evaporate twice before winning the game in the third period.  Game one of this series is Sunday evening in Cupar at 7 p.m. The Canucks play their second provincial game in Lumsden Tuesday evening and the result of that game will dictate dates of games two and three.  All games are posted under the Schedule tab.

Wynyard Monarchs (18-4-1) versus Bethune Bulldogs (14-8-3)

The Wynyard Monarchs swept the Southey Marlins in three games. They scored 24 goals and only allowed 9 in those three games.  Brett Leffler, the league’s leading scorer, continued his scoring pace with 4 goals and 5 assists in this series. The Bethune Bulldogs came back from a two game deficit to defeat the Raymore Rockets three games to two. Despite losing their starting goalie in game one and a double overtime game in game two, the Bulldogs scored 28 goals in their next three games. The Rockets were short of players for the final two games. Derek Fuchs with 9 goals and 5 assists leads the Bulldogs in scoring. Jacob Ulmer had 12 points, Lucas Ulmer had 11 points, Joel Kot had 11 points and Mike Reich had 9 points in the Rockets series.  ‘AP’ goalie Brooke Robinson from the Southey picked up two wins as he posted a 3.50 GAA.

These two teams split their season series with Wynyard defeating Bethune 5-1 in November and the Bulldogs scoring four third period goals to win 7-5 in Wynyard in January. Game one of this series is Sunday afternoon at 3:30 in Wynyard. Game two is in Bethune on Tuesday evening and game three is Wednesday in Wynyard. Wynyard host Bruno and Bethune hosts Avonlea on Saturday evening in Provincials.

Provincials Update:

Provincial ‘A’

Cupar Canucks: The Cupar Canucks defeated Balcarres 5-4 on Friday evening and have moved on to the Provincial ‘A’ semi-final against the Lumsden Monarchs. The Monarchs defeated Midale 4-2 on Friday evening in Lumsden and then won the series on Sunday evening with a 6-3 victory.  Lumsden in is in Cupar for game one of this series on Friday evening. Game two will be Tuesday evening in Lumsden. The Wynyard Monarchs had two late goals on Saturday evening and pulled out a 6-5 come from behind victory against Rosthern to force a game three on Sunday afternoon in Wynyard. In game three, the Monarchs led 1-0 after one period, were down 3-1 after two periods and scored four times in the third period to pull out a 5-3 victory. The Monarchs will now play the Bruno T-Birds in the other semi-final with game one in Wynyard on Saturday evening.

Provincial ‘D’

The Avonlea Arrows defeated the Craik Warriors 7-4 in Avonlea on Saturday evening and 4-3 in Craik on Sunday to take their two game total point series 11-7. The Arrows will now face the Bethune Bulldogs. The Bulldogs defeated the Odessa Bruins 8-1 on Sunday afternoon in Bethune and won their two game total points series 11-4. Bethune and Avonlea now play in one semi-final. Bethune hosts game one of this series on Saturday evening at 8 p.m.

All series are posted on the Provincials page.

Statistics from the playoffs are under our “Statistics” tab at the top of the page. There are three Provincial games this weekend and two league games. ..Please get out to a game near you!

Gerry Tomkins

HHL President

Keep current on HHL games and HHL teams playing in Provincials on Twitter by using either or both of the following accounts…

http://twitter.com/GeraldT and from our new account http://twitter.com/highwayhockey