Klippers Kid / Andrew Dommett and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Kindersley Klippers are battling with the Yorkton Terriers for the conference title. Lawrence Scott photo

By Mike Stackhouse /

There’s four teams still in the hunt for the SJHL championship.

The Yorkton Terriers and Kindersley Klippers are battling for the Sherwood Conference title while the La Ronge Ice Wolves and Battlefords North Stars are going head-to-head for bragging rights in the Bauer Conference.

Both series were knotted at a game apiece as of press time.

Here’s how each team got to where they are now.

SJHL SURVIVOR SERIES BAUER CONFERENCE
The three-year reign of the Humboldt Broncos came to an end in three games as the La Ronge Ice Wolves swept them out of the playoffs with a three-game series sweep.
Game 2 went to double overtime and only ended at 8:19 when Doug Lindensmith netted the winner. Humboldt goalie Andrew Bodnarchuk made 65 saves in the loss.
Adam Bartko stopped 29 shots in a 3-0 win in
the clincher.
 
SHERWOOD CONFERENCE
The hottest team to end the regular season was the Melville Millionaires, who won nine straight and ended the year on an 11-2 run in their final 13 tilts.
After storming back from a late 4-1 deficit in the series opener to post a 5-4 overtime win in the Survivor Series against Yorkton, it appeared as though the hockey gods would remain on their side.
Instead, the Terriers responded with decisive victories in Games 2, 3, and 4 to stun the fourth-place Mils and earn the right to face top-seeded Weyburn in the Sherwood semifinals.
 
BAUER CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS FLIN FLON VS. LA RONGE
Generally, the winner of the 4 vs. 5 Survivor Series earns an overmatched series with the first-place team in the conference semis.
However, La Ronge stunned heavily favored Flin Flon with back-to-back wins at the Whitney Forum to open the series.
Flin Flon lost only four times at home all season before getting swept in Games 1 and 2. La Ronge would go up 3-0 before Flin Flon rallied for two wins to make it close. Games 3-5 all went to overtime with the Bombers taking the fourth and fifth meetings. The Ice Wolves, facing the prospect of having to win for a third time in Flin Flon in Game 7, finally ended the series in Game 6 with a 3-1 decision.
 
BATTLEFORDS VS. MELFORT
Through the first four games of the series, very little separated these two teams, who were believed to be closely matched at the end of the regular season.
The Stars switched up goalies after a 3-2 Melfort win in Game 1 as Graham Hildebrand took over from Kyle Birch, last year’s playoff hero.
Hildebrand backstopped the team to back-to-back 4-2 victories and the real turning point game in overtime of Game 4 when Mitch Wall split the defense on a one-on-two and beat Chris Ward to put the Stars ahead three games to one. In Game 5, the Stars exploded for seven goals, two from grinder Nathan Tomac to put the series away and advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2006.
 
SHERWOOD CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL WEYBURN VS. YORKTON
The Red Wings were heavy favorites, but Yorkton took Game 1, backed by the emotion of playing for goaltender Luke Boechler (battling leukemia) and adapting to a new open-ice style of play from interim head coach Trent Cassan.
The Wings, surprisingly, changed goalies for Game 2 as AJ Whiffen, who set an SJHL career record for shutouts and also was the league’s leading netminder for the season, was ticketed for the bench. He was back in for Game 3 and Weyburn won that contest, but the Terriers were clearly in the driver’s seat and, with their new-found speed and extreme physical play, were the better team in Game 4.
The Wings appeared to roll over on home ice in Game 5 as Yorkton steamrolled to a 6-1 win, completing the biggest upset in the 2010 playoffs.
 
NOTRE DAME VS. KINDERSLEY
Before the playoffs began, many felt this would be the closest match-up of them all, but Notre Dame limped home down the stretch with a number of injuries and inconsistent defensive play.
The Klippers had experience on their side and although the first three games of the series were decided by one goal, it was Kindersley emerging each time. Game 4 was decided early in the second period when Taylor Duzan and Andrew Dommett scored 20 seconds apart to put the Klippers ahead 3-0. The game ended 4-1 for Kindersley, which completed the four-game sweep.
Playing games in Eston following the tragic fire in early January didn’t seem to be an issue as they went into the conference finals with a 10-0-1 record in their new digs.