CALGARY, ALTA. — 14 more teams now know their playoff fate as the 2018 ASHL National Championships steam into the playoff round on Saturday.
In a hyper-competitive Men’s B2/C1 – Pool A, the four teams that advanced to the B2 side of the playoff bracket all finished with identical 2-1 records which required the ASHL’s tie-break structure to sort out the seeding.
After the dust settled, the Century West Steelers (Regina) emerged as the 1-seed out of the bracket due to their +7 goal differential. Securing the second seed was the Eatery Knights (Burnaby), who matched S&A Flyers’ +4 goal differential but won the day on the back of their lowest goals against.
JV Driver (Edmonton) subsequently wound up as the 3-seed as a result of their head-to-head win over the Flyers. Suffice to say, there wasn’t much dividing these teams as they head into the B2 Quarter-Finals.
On the bottom side of that same Pool A, the Hustlers (Calgary) head to the C1 side after finishing 5th in pool play, while the Colts (Langley) join them there as they still look for their first win of the tournament.
Each of those six teams will await results from Pool B and Pool C to detremine who their playoff opponents will be.
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The tie-break also proved to be a factor in the Women’s C/D Division, which saw six teams advance to the C Playoffs while the remaining four teams will set their sights towards a Women’s D Championship.
In Pool A, it was the Renegades (Burnaby) who ran the table with a perfect 3-0 record as they earn a bye to the semi-finals. As a result of their narrow 1-0 victory over the Swamp Donkeys (Regina), the Agitated Chipmunks (Saskatoon) locked up the 2nd seed, while the Donkeys head to the C playoffs as the 3rd seed coming out of Pool A.
Over in Pool B, the Saskatoon Blues (Saskatoon) have proven to be a team-to-beat as they made their way through the round robin without a blemish on their record. Behind them things were far more murky as the remaining three teams in the pool shared matching 1-2 records.
On the back of goal differential, Prime 1 Electric (Oshawa) overcame a pair of early losses to lock up the 2-seed. They’re joined by TKO Black Ice (Burnaby), who edged the Shotskiis (Regina) as a result of their head-to-head win.
Quarter-final action in the division picks up this afternoon with the semi-finals set for Saturday night.
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On the other side of the split, the Shotskiis will take on the Porch Crawlers (Winnipeg) in the first of two Women’s D semi-finals, with the Fusion (Burnaby) and The Mucks (Saskatoon) making up the other semi-final.
In a division where the margin for error has been razor-thin, expect some tight games on Saturday night.
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