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PJHL ready to start Schmalz Cup championship series

May 9, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Junior C hockey in Ontario is now moving into the provincial Schmalz Cup championship series as two teams will now battle it out for the 2024 Junior C title.

The Clarington Eagles and the Lakeshore Canadiens are the final two teams remaining in the League after a season that got underway way back on September 13, 2023.

Four teams were battling it out in the PJHL semi-finals.

The Clarington Eagles, representing the East Orr Division, eliminated the Hanover Barons, representing the North Pollock Division, in a series that went six games and wrapped up with a 4-2 Clarington win on Sunday, May 5.

Hanover had an early 2-1 lead in the series. The Eagles turned it around with a win in game four, then capped the series with wins in Games five and six to take the series.

In the other series, The Lakeshore Canadiens, representing the West Stobbs Division, knocked out the New Hamburg Firebirds of the South Doherty Division.

The series went six games. Lakeshore won the first two games before giving up a loss in Game 3.

The Canadiens won game four with a 4-0 shutout, but the Firebirds kept the series alive with a 4-2 win in Game 5.

Lakeshore ended the series with a 5-2 win in Game 6, on Saturday, May 4.

The championship series schedule has not yet been announced as of press time.

This year the Schmalz Cup will once again be using a best-of-seven series format to determine this year’s provincial championship team.          The Cup was decided in a tournament format for the previous two years, as a result of the pandemic, but will now go back to the pre-pandemic format.

With the tournament format, teams had been playing in neutral territory and saw dwindling attendance due to travel time for fans.

The 61-team Provincial Junior Hockey League is the world’s largest Junior hockey league.

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