Six of eight teams will open their Turnbull Cup Playoffs on Friday night. Selkirk is in Steinbach, the Blues are off to Winkler while the Waywayseecappo Wolverines welcome the Virden Oil Capitals.
The Dauphin Kings and Swan Valley Stampeders; meanwhile, will have to wait one more day than the rest of the league as their best-of-seven series opens Saturday at Credit Union Place. These two teams met a few years back in the playoffs, Swan Valley won the series and ended up pushing the Portage Terriers to game seven of the MJHL final where they came up short in overtime.
In that year, Dauphin entered the playoffs ranked seventh while the Stampeders who were led by Swan River’s Josh Tripp finished second. This year, it’s a flip of the script as Dauphin were West Division champions while the Stampeders limped into the playoffs and finished fourth in the West. Dauphin won 41 games in the regular season and finished the season with four straight wins, two of which came against Swan Valley.
“When you look at the season, once Carson got here it really solidified our back end, him and Keaton have been outstanding,” said Doug Hedley. “Our back end has generated a ton offensively and they get us going. It doesn’t matter who it is, everyone on this team has produced. And what our forwards have done has been tremendous, our guys come into work every day and they want to get better.”
Vs Swan Valley:
Dauphin won seven of eight contests against the Stampeders in the regular season and they outscored them 32-12 in the process. Most recently, Dauphin completed a weekend sweep against their Parkland rival.
Here is a look at the season series between the two teams:
Nov. 12 – 5-0 Kings win
Nov. 13– 2-1 Kings shootout win
Nov 19 – 5-2 Kings win
Nov. 20 – 4-0 Kings win
Jan. 19 – 5-2 Stampeders win
Feb. 2 – 3-0 Kings win
Mar. 11 – 7-3 Kings win
Mar. 12 – 4-1 Kings win
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Carson Cherepak went a perfect 5-0 against Swan Valley while Keaton Woolsey was 2-1. For the Stampeders, Kobe Grant was 0-5-0-1, Dylan Black won the team’s only contest against Dauphin
By the numbers:
Kings:
PP – 5/33
PK – 32/34
Top Scorers:
Kaden Bryant – 75 points in 54 games
Colby Jaquet – 62 points in 54 games
Logan Calder – 55 points in 53 games (split with Terriers)
Stampeders:
PP – 2/43
PK – 28/33
Top Scorers:
Carter Cockburn – 49 points in 54 games
Quinn Mulder – 42 points in 53 games
Adam Rajsigl – 36 points in 53 games
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Dauphin will enter the series as favourites; however, Doug Hedley knows the Stampeders are a well-coached team and they will be ready for the challenge.
“They’re going to make adjustments and they will be well prepared,” said Hedley. “They’re a big hockey club that has plenty of experience and they like to play a physical game. Regardless of our record against them in the regular season, that’s all in the past, it’s the first to four wins now and we aren’t taking anything for granted.”
Series schedule: bold denotes if necessary
Game 1 – Saturday, March 26 in Dauphin – 7:30 p.m
Game 2 – Tuesday, March 29 in Dauphin – 7:30 p.m.
Game 3 – Friday, April 1 in Swan River – 7:00 p.m.
Game 4 – Monday, April 4 in Swan River – 7:00 p.m.
Game 5 – Friday, April 8 in Dauphin – 7:30 p.m.
Game 6 – Sunday, April 10 in Swan River – 6:00 p.m.
Game 7 – Tuesday, April 12 in Dauphin – 7:30 p.m.
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Dauphin and Swan Valley were separated by 34 points in the standings. Now, that’s all in the past and this all Parkland battle is set to be a fun one, beginning on Saturday in Dauphin.
Also ahead of the game, head to the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy and get your 50/50 tickets for the progressive pot that is already more than $800. The winner will be announced at Saturday’s game, you don’t have to be at the game to win.