The semifinal showdown between the St. Albert Merchants and Beaumont Chiefs kicks off Thursday at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Game two in the best-of-seven Capital Junior B Hockey League series is 8:30 p.m. Friday in Beaumont and game three is 8 p.m. Sunday in St. Albert.
Visit www.cjhl.org for the rest of the playoff dates.
The west-division Merchants, recipients of the Challenge Cup as the top team in the regular season at 34-3-1, are 3-0 in the playoffs.
The Chiefs (18-16-4) finished third in the east division and their playoff record is 5-1 with four overtime wins.
In league play the Merchants (34-3-1) crushed the Chiefs 7-1 Oct. 6 in St. Albert and the team’s 3-2 loss Jan. 17 in Beaumont ended a 17-game winning streak.
The winner qualifies for provincials, April 3 to 6 in Grande Prairie, and will face-off against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (27-10-1), the first-place team in the east, or North Edmonton Red Wings (22-13-3), ranked second in the west, in the best-of-five Founders Cup final.
The St. Albert Flyers are seeded fifth in the Sutter North Cup playoff tournament in Lloydminster based on the final standings in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Flyers (18-10-9) will play the No. 3-seeded Sherwood Park Squires (20-10-7) Thursday, the No. 2-seeded Spruce Grove PAC Saints (20-8-9) Friday and the No. 7-seeded CAC United Cycle (17-14-6) Saturday in the pool B round robin.
The top two teams in pools A and B advance to the semifinals to determine the three north teams for provincials, March 19 to 23 in Red Deer.
The Flyers are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games, including two ties last weekend on home ice.
The SAPEC Tier 1 city junior high basketball finals rattle the rim Friday at the SkyDome.
Tip-off times are 5:30 p.m. for the girls and 7 p.m. for the boys.
The scores from Tuesday’s semifinals were unavailable at press time.
In league play the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders and Richard S. Fowler Falcons finished first in the girls’ and boys’ divisions, respectively, with 7-0 records.
In last year’s finals the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs defeated the 2012 champion lady Marauders 61-53 for their first SAPEC banner since 2004 and the VJM boys knocked off the undefeated Lorne Akins Gators 64-53 for the second time in three years.
