As a reward for finishing first overall in the NWJHL regular season, the Fort St. John Huskies are being forced by the league to start the Championship series on the road.
In a highly unusual move, the NWJHL decided to favour the La Crete Lumber Barons when releasing the schedule.
La Crete finished 2 points behind the Huskies in the regular season but will still host game 1 and 2 of the series. The Lumber Barons will have a big advantage by hosting game 7, if the series gets that far.
“The current unbalanced regular season schedule between the two divisions was taken into consideration, with it being decided the head-to-head record between the two division playoff champions would be used to determine home ice advantage in the Championship series.” said the league in an email to CJDC TV News.
The standard format for most sports during the playoffs is to reward the team with the most regular season points.
Each team won two games in their head-to-head matchup during the regular season. So the league awarded the Lumber Barons the advantage because they were ahead of the Huskies on goal differential.
“The NWJHL Playoff format was discussed and agreed upon by each of our 8 member clubs during a league meeting held by the NWJHL executive,” said the league.
But the Fort St. John Huskies are not thrilled with the league’s decision. They said they share their fan’s frustration about the league’s decision.
Game 1 is scheduled for Saturday March 15th at 7:00 pm in La Crete. Game 2 is also in La Crete on Sunday March 16th.
The Huskies will host game 3 on Friday March 21st. Games 4 and 5 will also be played at the North Peace Arena before the series shifts back to La Crete for the final two games.
The Huskies are encouraging fans from around the region to come out and support the team.
The series is expected to be a close one. Fort St. John finished first over all in the regular season with 70 points. The defending champion Lumber Barons finished in second place with 68 points.