Survivor Series in full swing

SASKATOON — Two Survivor Series are underway in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs.

As of Monday, neither one has disappointed.

Both best-of-five series were knotted at 1-1 going into action Monday night with games scheduled for Humboldt and Estevan.

“These are short series,” Broncos head coach and GM Ryan Smith said Monday prior to a home game against the Weyburn Red Wings.

“They (games) come really quick. These are the playoffs. You can’t get too worked up about the last game. Win or lose, you’ve got to move on to the next one really quick.”

The Broncos and Wings will resume their series Tuesday in Weyburn, while the Estevan Bruins will play host to the Battlefords North Stars for the second straight night.

“You can’t say it’s a do or die, because it’s not,” Smith said. “There’s still going to be a Game 4 regardless of what happens, but pivotal is a very, very good word to describe it. It will swing the series in favour of one team, which has the chance to close it out the next night.”

Humboldt and Weyburn — who met in the league final just a few years ago — have renewed their playoff rivalry, only this time in a wild-card scenario.

The teams played it close in four games during the regular season.

Three of the four games were decided by one goal and the last encounter needed 10 rounds of a marathon shootout to determine a winner. Even the one game that had a larger margin of victory (4-1) wasn’t decided until Humboldt netted a power-play goal and empty netter during the final 12 minutes.

“The regular season series against them was very tight,” said Smith, who is in his first season behind the Broncos’ bench after moving over from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

“The teams mat ch up quite well against each other. The strengths of both teams are probably their defence and their systems. Probably in both teams’ (first) wins in the series, the teams played their game and established their game early. We felt we did that in Game 1 in Humboldt and were able to take that game. And then, in Game 2, they made some adjustments and put some things into place and they took charge there.

“The results of the games are very accurate and true, as far as I’m concerned, in the way the first two games went.”

Home-ice advantage came into play early in the series.

“There are some line matchups that we’re trying to get and they’re trying to get,” said Smith. “At home, you always get your last change — that’s a big advantage, along with the home crowd, the nooks and crannies of your home rink, knowing the bounces and stuff like that.”

A fifth game, if necessary, would be played Thursday in Humboldt.

Meanwhile, a fifth game in the other series between the Bruins and North Stars would go Thursday in North Battleford.