By Scott Fisher /

Winnipeg Saints
The old adage is the key to post-season success is a stingy defence.

But the Saints, coming off an 11-9 win over Selkirk in the opening game of the MJHL semifinal, might make a modification to that thought.

After a league-best 99-point campaign, the Saints, who are led by a league-high eight 20-goal scorers, know how to put the puck in the net.

They’re led by MJHL scoring champion Dan Watt, who was heads and tails above the rest of the league with 62 goals and 136 points in 60 games.

Blake Chartier was tied for third with 107 points, so there’s little doubt the Saints will be looking to open things up.

Selkirk Steelers
If anyone has the answer to the Winnipeg Saints’ relentless offence, it may be the Steelers.

Selkirk boasted the league’s second-stingiest defence, surrendering 186 goals, and are backstopped by MJHL goaltender of the year Alan Armour.

Armour ranked fourth in the league with a 2.66 goals-against average during the regular season, but has seen that number climb to 3.68 in the playoffs.

If the Steelers hope to get by the top-ranked Saints, they’ll need to nullify Winnipeg’s top-ranked powerplay, which clicked at a 29.8% rate during the regular season.

After an unsettling 11-9 setback in Game 1 of the division final, the Steelers rebounded with a 5-2 victory in Game 2.

Winkler Flyers
The Flyers had an upset on their minds in the opening round.

But their penalty-killing unit wasn’t up to the challenge.

The Flyers were leading their opening-round series with Selkirk 2-1 before dropping three straight to lose the series 4-2 to the Steelers.

The Flyers, who were outscored 19-7 over the final three games, killed off just 57.6% of their their penalties.

Nick Lazorko led the team with two goals and seven points in the six-game series. Harry Mahesh, Jordan Neduzak and Craig Cornelsen each had a half-dozen points as the Flyers put up a valiant effort.

Winnipeg South Blues
The South Blues finished in fourth place in the Addison Division, but didn’t qualify for the post-season, thanks to the cross-over rule.

The South Blues (20-42-0-0) were ousted from the post-season party by the Sher-Wood Division’s Neepawa Natives (24-29-3-5).

Hometown talent Troy Smukowich led the club in scoring with 70 points in 60 games while Adam Stoykewych was the squad’s lone 30-goal scorer.

Beausejour Blades
Sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story.

Sometimes, they tell everything.

The Blades offence produced a league-low 147 goals while the defence gave up an MJHL-high 424 tallies.

The result, as one might imagine, was a disasterous 16-point campaign (6-52-2-2).

Nineteen-year-old Medicine Hat product Kyle Harty was the bright spot. He led the squad with 23 goals and 45 points, to go along with 100 penalty minutes, in 53 games.