Game 1 of playoffs Thursday night

The Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals now know who they’ll face in the opening round of the 2018 MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League) playoffs. The Caps and Campbellton Tigers will open the best-ofseven Eastlink North Division semifinal series at Eastlink Arena in Summerside on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Caps finished second in the division, and third overall in the 12-team league, at 33-16-1-0 (won-lost-overtime lossesshootout losses). The Tigers were third at 24-22-2-2. Actually, Campbellton and the Miramichi Timberwolves (23-21-3-3) finished tied with 52 points, but the Tigers were awarded third place based on having more regular-season wins.

The Caps defeated Timberwolves 5-2 in Miramichi, N.B., on Saturday night to close out the regular season for both teams. The Timberwolves will meet the regular-seasonchampion Edmundston Blizzard, who took a 36-9-4 mark into Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Woodstock Slammers (12-29-6-2).

Following is the schedule for the Caps-Tigers’ series:

Game 1

Thursday, March 15 – Tigers at Caps.

Game 2

Saturday, March 17 – Caps at Tigers.

Game 3

Monday, March 19 – Tigers at Caps.

Game 4

Wednesday, March 21 – Caps at Tigers.

Game 5, if necessary

Friday, March 23 – Tigers at Caps.

Game 6, if necessary

Sunday, March 25 – Caps at Tigers.

Game 7, if necessary

Tuesday, March 27 – Tigers at Caps.

Note: All games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.