Crossroads Staff
The Kyle Elks now sit alone in first place in the Sask Valley Hockey League after the Delisle Bruins were upset on home ice on Tuesday night.
Delisle and Kyle were tied for first overall heading into last weekend’s action, but the Outlook Ice Hawks knocked off the Bruins by a score of 3-2 on Jan. 15 in Delisle. The Elks and Bruins hook up for a game tonight in Kyle, so there is a lot riding on the outcome.
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Kyle (13-1) is in first overall with 26 points, and Delisle (12-2) is only two points behind the league’s defending champions. The Bruins handed the Elks their only loss this season, a 5-2 win on Dec. 7 in Delisle. Even with a win tonight, the Bruins will likely need help to finish the season in first.
The third to eighth place teams in the SVHL are separated by only five points, so there is bound to be some jostling of position before each team has finished its 18-game schedule. The ninth place Loreburn 19ers (3-10-0-1) have a shot at the playoffs.
The Eston Ramblers (8-5) are along in third place with 16 points while the Beechy Bombers (7-7), Kenaston Blizzards (7-8) and Ice Hawks (7-7) are tied for fourth place with 14 points. The Lucky Lake Lakers (6-7) are in seventh place with 12 points and the Central Butte Flyers (5-8-0-1) are in the final playoff spot with 11 points.
Loreburn has seven points and four games left to play, so they are four points out of eighth with an outside shot at making the playoffs. The Elrose Aces (0-11) are not mathematically eliminated with seven games left, but it would take several miracles for Elrose to see the playoffs.
Elrose came as close to getting a point as the team has all season long. The Aces lost a close game at home on Jan. 11 by a score of 3-2 versus Outlook. In other games on Jan. 11, the Bruins beat the Lakers 8-4 in Delisle, the Blizzards beat the Flyers 8-5 in Kenaston and the Elks clobbered the 19ers 11-3 in Loreburn.
In three games on Jan. 12, the Lakers beat the 19ers 7-2 in Loreburn, the Ramblers beat the Blizzards 7-6 in a home game for the Ramblers played in Eatonia, and the Elks beat up on the Aces by a score of 15-5 in Kyle.
There are nine games on the schedule this weekend including tonight’s big match up in Kyle. The league’s two top teams get started at 8 p.m. The Aces are a busy bunch this weekend with games on three consecutive days, and starting with a home game tonight versus the Lakers at 8 p.m.
As for tonight’s other key match ups, Eston is in Beechy and Kenaston is in Outlook for games at 8 p.m. Elrose is in Loreburn and Kyle is in Central Butte for games tomorrow at 7 p.m., and Lucky Lake is in Eston tomorrow for a game at 8 p.m. To close out the weekend, Loreburn is in Beechy and Delisle is in Elrose for games on Jan. 20 at 5 p.m.
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