Playoff Wrap

[Hockey Eyes]

This is from today's edition (Tuesday) of the Telegram ....Most interesting .`
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It’s down to the Caps and Caribous, could be decided when they meet Friday in St. John’s

It has been known for some time that the defending champion Southern Shore Puglisevich Breakers would finish first in the 2019 East Coast Senior Hockey League standings. What remains to be seen is which one of the league’s other five teams will join them in earning a first-round playoff bye.

The Breakers concluded their 2019-20 regular season with a bang, blasting The Bigs Northeast Eagles 13-1 Sunday night at the Ken Williams Southern Shore Arena in Witless Bay, where Brandon Pye recorded a hat trick and Daniel Cadigan (1G, 3A) and Blake Dalton (2G, 2A) each had four-point games.

The result means the Breakers finished the season without a regulation-time loss in 15 games, the only small blot on their record being a 5-4 shootout loss to the Clarenville Ford Caribous in late November.

The ECSHL regular-season schedule was to have been 20 games per team, but wax reduced to 15 because of a late beginning to the campaign, a delayed start caused by issues involving the addition of the Harbour Grace Ocean Enterprises CeeBee Stars to the league’s lineup of clubs.

To make up for a shortened regular season, the league approved a playoff plan that will see all six teams participate in the post-season.

The first-place Breakers and whichever team finishes second will get byes to the semifinal round, while the other four teams will be engaged in an opening round consisting of best-of-five matchups (third versus sixth, fourth versus fifth).

The Caribous and Caps are the contenders for that second bye, with Clarenville currently holding the position, two points up on St. John’s. That could change tonight if the Caps defeat the Conception Bay Blues at the C.B.S. Arena. If that happens, second place and the first-round bye will come down to Friday night at Twin Rinks in St. John’s, where the Caps and Caribous are to meet in their regular-season finale.

The CeeBees, whose regular season is also completed, will finish sixth, meaning they will have a first-round meeting whichever team finishes in third place.

The Blues and Northeast Eagles will supply the other first-round playoff pairing. What’s still to be decided is which will claim fourth place and home-ice advantage in the series. That could also come down to a Friday-night game; that’s when Conception Bay and Northeast are set to play at Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay.

Also to be officially decided is the league’s scoring title, although it is a pretty good bet that will be claimed by the Caps’ Kyle McGrath, who had nine points in two games last weekend

Cadigan is second in points, but his Breakers have no games remaining. Next is Chad Earle of Clarenville, six points behind McGrath, but the Caribous have just that single game left.

The biggest question may be whether McGrath can claim two scoring crowns; he is also the individual points leader in the St. John’s Junior Hockey League, where he plays for the Caps junior entry.

There are a couple of weeks left in the SJJHL regular season.

[Flyer24]

When are the playoffs expected to start? I'm in there for some minor hockey games soon, will try and take in a game or 2.