Sports

Junior C championship will be determined in Guelph tournament this season

February 17, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Fans of Junior C hockey will have to travel this year to see their team play if the squad makes it to the provincial Schmalz Cup championship.

The Provincial Junior hockey League announced that it will be turning to a tournament style championship for 2022 instead of the usual playoff format.

After the recent ‘pause’ in hockey across the province due to government restrictions, the PJHL had to make a decision to either extend the regular season or pick up where it left off and finish with a short season.

In the Carruthers division, the season was extended into March so teams would complete 30 games before going into the playoffs. That means the division playoffs will be going into April this year.

In a normal year, the division champions would playoff to determine a conference winner. Those teams would play a semi-final series to determine who would be going to the Schmalz Cup.

The Schmalz Cup is normally played at the two final team’s arenas.

This year the League decided to move to a tournament to decide the Schmalz Cup championship.

Due to the season running late, it wasn’t viable to continue the playoffs in the regular way because it would run too late in the year and ice may not even be available.

PJHL Commissioner, Terrence Whiteside, confirmed that the change is for the 2022 season only, and that ‘any permanent change will require approval of the membership.’

The final tournament will pit four conference champions in a round-robin style tournament to determine rankings for the semi-finals.

The semi-final will be played on May 14.

The championship final game will take place on Sunday, May 15.

This year, all games in the tournament will be played at the University of Guelph. That might present a challenge for fans who want to watch games depending on which two teams advance to the championship.

Because of the tournament style of play, Guelph was chosen as a central location in Ontario.

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