Crossroads Staff
The Delisle Bruins and Kyle Elks are tied for first place in the Sask Valley Hockey League, and it is shaping up to be a two-team battle for first place.
Most of the teams in the SVHL have played at least two-thirds of their 18-game regular season schedules. The Bruins (11-1) and Elks (11-1) are eight points ahead of two teams tied for third place, so Delisle and Kyle are unlikely to be caught by any other teams this season.
The Bruins and Elks each have 22 points while the Eston Ramblers (7-5) and Beechy Bombers (7-7) are the teams tied for third place with 14 points a piece. The Kenaston Blizzards (6-7) earned a big two points in a game on Tuesday night to sit alone in fifth place with 12 points.
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As for the bottom half of the SVHL standings, the Central Butte Flyers (5-7-0-1) are in sixth with 11 points followed by the Lucky Lake Lakers (5-6) and Outlook Ice Hawks (5-7) with 10 points each, Loreburn 19ers (3-8-0-1) with seven points and Elrose Aces (0-9) with no points yet.
The Aces have only played half of their games, so they will have a busy schedule to close out the 2018-19 season. The Aces did not play last week, but they are scheduled to play twice over the course of the weekend.
A total of six games were played last weekend, along with a game on Tuesday. In three games on Jan. 4, the Ramblers defeated the 19ers by a score of 8-6 in Loreburn, the Elks defeated the Bombers by a score of 9-2 in Kyle and the Bruins defeated the Flyers by a score of 6-5 in Delisle.
In three games on Jan. 5, the Elks defeated the Blizzards by a score of 12-7 in Kenaston, the Flyers defeated the 19ers by a score of 10-5 in Central Butte and the Lakers defeated the Ice Hawks by a score of 11-3 in Lucky Lake. The Blizzards doubled up the Bombers by a score of 4-2 in Kenaston in the game this past Tuesday.
The league’s top eight teams make the playoffs, so no team is technically eliminated from the playoffs. The Aces would have to win most of their nine games to have a shot at making the playoffs, but the team is winless over its first nine games.
There are eight games scheduled for this coming week. In four games scheduled for tonight, Lucky Lake is in Delisle, Central Butte is in Kenaston, Kyle is in Loreburn and Outlook is in Elrose. All four games start at 8 p.m.
Eston has a home game tomorrow night at 7 p.m., but the game against Kenaston is being played at the Eatonia Memorial Arena. Tomorrow’s games also include Lucky Lake in Loreburn for a game at 7 p.m., and Elrose in Kyle for a game at 8 p.m. Outlook is in Delisle for a mid-week game on Jan. 15 at 8 p.m.
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