By KEVIN BERGER Local Journalism Initiative
However the playoff series between the Martensville Chiefs and the Saskatoon Quakers ends up, one thing was made very clear following the start of their Prairie Junior Hockey League (PJHL) playoff series this weekend: it won’t be an easy sweep for either team.
After finishing their inaugural season in second place within the Bob Dybvig Division with a 30-10-0-2 record, the Martensville Chiefs began their first round of playoffs against the third-place Quakers on Friday, February 27 at the Martensville Sports Centre.
Despite tying the Quakers 1-1 in the first period, the Chiefs quickly fell behind as the Saskatoon team went on to score five more goals in the next two periods while the Chiefs answered back with just one, leaving the Martensville team with a 6-2 loss.
Jeffrey Stewart notched Martensville’s first goal off assists by Dylan Prince and Carter Mason. Nate Bohmann then scored Martensville’s second goal in the third period off assists by Stewart and Hayden Meszaros.
After that sluggish start, the Chiefs travelled to the Rod Hamm Arena in Saskatoon on Sunday, March 1 to hand the Quakers a 4-3 loss in overtime.
Martensville burst out of the gate in Game 2, scoring three goals in the first period to gain a 3-0 lead.
Garin Lammers scored unassisted, followed by Kieran Sobry a minute and a half later and Luke Senick about six minutes after that. Jase Borschneck, Senick and Lammers were all credited with assists on these goals.
Down but not out, the Quakers battled back with two goals in the second period and one more in the third to tie up the game 3-3. The winning goal was then scored by Jesse Borschneck unassisted just a few minutes into the first overtime period.
Rhett Harkot was in net for Martensville in both matches, stopping 29 of 35 shots in Game 1 and 39 of 42 shots in Game 2.
The Chiefs also played the Quakers on Tuesday, March 3 at the Martensville Sports Centre. Results are not available due to publication deadlines.
Regardless of that result, however, this best-of-seven series is guaranteed to go to five games because of Martensville’s overtime win on Sunday.
Game 4 will take place on Friday, March 6 at the Rod Hamm Arena, while Game 5 will be held at the Martensville Sports Centre on Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
If necessary, Game 6 will take place in Saskatoon on Tuesday, March 10, while Game 7 will return to the Martensville Sports Centre on Thursday, March 12.
In the other playoff series within the Bob Dyvig Divison, the Saskatoon Westleys are leading the Saskatoon Royals 2-0 as of March 2 after the Westleys downed the Royals 4-3 in overtime during Game 1 and 8-2 in regular time during Game 2.
The Bill Johnston Division has the Regina Capitals leading the Pilot Butte Storm 2-0 and the Fort Knox ahead of the Assiniboia Southern Rebels 2-0.