Playoff weekend in the Soo
Tonight. Saturday night. Sunday afternoon. If you live in Sault Ste. Marie — and are into junior hockey playoffs — then this is a cool place to be this weekend.
Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League and Soo Thunderbirds and Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will all be taking to the ice.
The Greyhounds will play host to the Saginaw Spirit in Games 1 and 2 of their first round, best of seven, OHL playoff series tonight at 7:00 and Sunday afternoon at 3:00 at the Essar Centre.
Clear-cut favourites to upend — and perhaps sweep — the Spirit, the Greyhounds head into the playoffs as the no. 1 ranked team in the 20-member OHL.
On the flip side, Saginaw shows up as the no. 8 seed in the Western Conference as a well-coached, albeit young and inexperienced team.
Meanwhile, over to the NOJHL, the Thunderbirds and Eagles will face off in Game 4 of their best of seven, NOJHL semi-final tonight at 7:30 at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo.
The Eagles lead the series two games to one and carry momentum of having overcome a 1-0 deficit to go one up on the T-Birds.
Game 5 is set for Saturday night at 7:00 at John Rhodes Community Centre.