The Fishing Lake Hockey League is entering its final weekend and the standings are finally beginning to take shape. The Canora Cobras missed an opportunity to move up in the standings with a 4-2 loss at home to the Kelliher Komets on Saturday night. With the loss, coupled with a Theodore Buffalo win on the same night, the Buffs clinched first place.
The Cobras will therefore finish in second spot and earn home ice advantage in the first round of playoffs. Their opponent still remains to be seen. The Kelliher Komets and Kelvington Wheat Kings each sit with identical 10-9-0 records and the final placings will go down to the final game. The Wheat Kings hold the advantage on the strength of a 3-2 record versus the Komets in head-to-head play between the two teams. Therefore, the Wheat Kings only need to beat the Foam Lake Flyers on Friday night. A Wheat King victory would give them third spot and a date with the Canora Cobras in a best of 5 opening round playoff series.
Should the Wheat Kings lose, the Kelliher Komets would have an opportunity to sneak into third place, should they beat the Theodore Buffaloes on Friday night. Whichever team finishes in fourth spot will be forced to play a best of 3 survivor series versus the fifth place Foam Lake Flyers, with the survivor moving on to play the Theodore Buffaloes.
On Saturday night, a rough start for the Cobras saw the visiting Komets score three times in the first period. The big jump proved to be too big a hill to climb for the Cobras, as the Komets hung on for the 4-2 victory. Todd MacMurchy and Tanner Denesowych scored for the Cobras. For Denesowych, his rocket shot from the point was his first goal as a Cobra. Jeremy Hrebenik got the start in goal, but left after the first period due to a shoulder injury. Jared Smutt stopped 35 shots in relief.
While the goal of any team is to finish as high as possible in their league standings, the Cobras may be catching a break if history is any indication in the Fishing Lake Hockey League. Only once in the past seven years has the team that finished in first place during the regular season gone on to win the league championship. The Cobras will be hoping that trend continues as the playoff season approaches.
The Cobras have one meaningless game remaining. On Tuesday February 12th, the Cobras are in Theodore to round out the regular season. While the game may not have any bearing on the final standings, three players will each be vying to win the league’s scoring crown. The Cobras’ Todd MacMurchy will be gunning for his third consecutive title, but currently sits 2 points behind teammate Daniel Lamb. Hot on their trails is Theodore’s Travis Goebel. Goebel scored 9 points in the Buff game on Saturday night vs. Foam Lake and now sits in third spot, just one point behind MacMurchy and three behind Lamb.
Don’t forget that the Cobras open up their provincial playoffs on Saturday night. The Carnduff Red Devils will be in Canora at 8:00 for game 1 of the two game total goal series. Game 2 goes on Sunday night in Carnduff.
