The Mount Pearl Blades begin their quest for a second straight Mary Brown’s St. John’s Junior Hockey League championship as the league’s best-of-five quarter-final playoffs get underway this weekend.
The Blades will bring more than just hope to their bid for a repeat title; once again they are the top seed for the playoffs, having finished with a 22-3-2 record and in first place in the regular-season standings.
The Blades’ quarter-final series against the St. John’s Caps starts Sunday at the Glacier in Mount Pearl. The Caps may have finished last in the eight-team SJJHL (all teams are participating in the playoffs), but played the Blades pretty tough during the regular season. Mount Pearl, with league scoring champ Michael Broders, won three of their four meetings, but one of their victories came in a shootout.
The second-place CBR Renegades, who lost to Mount Pearl in the 2018 league final, face the Avalon Capitals in the first round. The Renegades open that series Saturday at the C.B.S. Stadium.
The playoffs actually get underway tonight, at the Bay Arena in Bay Roberts, where the C.B.N. Stars play host to the Northeast Eagles, and at the Southern Shore Arena in Mobile, where the Breakers take on the visiting Trinity-Placentia Flyers in a matchup of the fourth- and fifth place teams.
The schedule for upcoming Mary Brown’s St. John’s Junior Hockey League best-of-five quarter-finals (* - if necessary):
Series A
Mount Pearl Blades vs St. John’s Caps
Game 1, Sunday, Feb. 24, Glacier, 7:15 p.m.
Game 2, Saturday, March 2, Twin Rinks, 8 p.m.
Game 3, Sunday, March 3, Glacier, 7:15 p.m.
Game 4, Wednesday, March 6, Twin Rinks, 9 p.m. *
Game 5, TBD *
•••
Series B
CBR Renegades vs. Avalon Capitals
Game 1, Saturday, Feb. 23, C.B.S. Stadium, 7 p.m.
Game 2, Wednesday, Feb. 27, C.B.S. Stadium, 8 p.m.
Game 3, Saturday, March 2, Goulds Arena, 8 p.m.
Game 4, Monday, March 4, Goulds Arena, 8:30 p.m. *
Game 5, TBD *
•••
Series C
CBN Stars vs. Northeast Eagles
Game 1, Friday, Feb. 22, Bay Arena, 7:30 p.m.
Game 2, Sunday, Feb. 24, Jack Byrne Arena, 7:30 p.m.
Game 3, Friday, March 1, Bay Arena, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4, Sunday, March 3, Jack Byrne Arena, 7:30 p.m. *
Game 5, Monday, March 4, Bay Arena, 7:30 p.m. *
•••
Series D
Southern Shore Breakers vs. Trinity-Placentia Flyers
Game 1, Friday, Feb. 22, Southern Shore Arena, 7:45 p.m.
Game 2, Sunday, Feb. 24, Trinity-Placentia Stadium, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3, Friday, March 1, Southern Shore Arena, 7:45 p.m.
Game 4, Sunday, March 3, Trinity-Placentia Stadium, 2:30 p.m. *
Game 5 TBD *
•••
Final 2018-19 Regular-Season Standings
Team GP W L S/OL PTS
Mount Pearl 28 23 3 2 48
CBR 28 22 6 0 44
CBN 28 18 7 3 39
Southern Shore 27 12 15 0 24
Trinity-Placentia 28 11 15 2 24
Northeast 28 10 14 4 24
Avalon 28 8 16 4 20
St. John’s 27 7 16 4 18
•••
Final Scoring leaders
Player (Team) GP G A Pts
Michael Broders (MP) 27 17 41 58
Ryan Dawson (CBN) 25 24 33 57
Colin O’Neil (MP) 27 32 19 51
Tyler Nickson (CBR) 28 21 23 44
Cody Barron (AV) 25 21 22 43
Cameron Simms (CBN) 28 17 23 40
Blake Fudge (CBR) 22 11 28 39
Blake Dalton (SS) 22 17 22 39
Jack Keough (MP) 27 20 18 38
Grant Thompson (MP) 26 12 24 36
James O’Brien (MP) 21 12 22 34
Cass Warren (CBN) 28 20 12 32
Ryan Petten (CBN) 24 14 17 31
Conal McNamara (TP) 17 13 16 29
Justin Edison (TP) 20 13 16 29
Mitchell McGrath (MP) 27 15 14 29
Tyler Wall (CBR) 27 19 10 29
•••
Final Goaltending leaders
(Minimum 10 appearances)
Player (Team) GAA Sv% GP W-L
Jordan Blackwood (CBR) 2.79 .815 12 6-0
Mitch Rogers (MP) 2.87 .887 23 16-3
Shawn Hurley (CBR) 3.54 .855 11 6-5
Ian Woolfrey (SJ) 4.10 .875 12 4-7
Josh Langmead (N) 4.29 .853 23 8-8
Connor McCarthy (SS) 4.34 .872 17 7-4
Chris Smith (AV) 4.45 .883 19 6-13
Riley Akerman (CBN) 4.45 .866 25 16-8-1
Adam March (TP) 5.46 .852 17 7-7
