The playoffs begin March 12 for the La Ronge Ice Wolves. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

junior hockey

Ice Wolves up against Mustangs in first round of SJHL playoffs

Mar 13, 2023 | 4:06 PM

The La Ronge Ice Wolves finished fifth overall in the 2022-23 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season.

They closed the regular season on Saturday with a 3-2 loss to the Flin Flon Bombers. The Ice Wolves have a 36-19-3-2 record for a total of 69 points.

The Battlefords North Stars finished the regular season in first place with 99 points, followed by the Humboldt Broncos with 81 points, the Bombers with 78 points and the Melfort Mustangs with 71.

“I think it was a very good year. It was pretty consistent, yet I think we left a little on the table,” Ice Wolves head coach Kevin Kaminski said.

“There were some games where we went down south that we thought we should have won. Whether we took them too lightly, the teams below us, and unfortunately we were right in the game but we lost some close ones.”

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The first round of the playoffs begins March 17 in Melfort against the Mustangs in a best of seven series. A second game will be played March 18 in Melfort, before they move to La Ronge for back-to-back games on March 21 and 22. The time of each game has yet to be announced.

In preparation for Friday, the Ice Wolves will continue to practice throughout the week. On Monday, the team held a 40-minute practice, discussed game systems and listened to a motivational speaker.

“As they keep going, it’s going to get harder and harder,” Kaminski said. “It’s not a sprint, it’s a long race. It was very good for the boys to hear from someone else about what we talked about all year long and now is time to go execute the game plan on Friday.”

Kaminski explained the Mustangs have a strong goalie in Prince Albert-born Joel Favreau, noting they also have a formidable defence as well.

“We’re going to have to make it miserable,” Kaminsk said. “We’re going to have to get lots of traffic, go to the blue line and make it hard on him (Favreau), take away his eyes and get pucks and people to the net, and then it’s second and third effort to score on rebounds.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno