After an exciting regular season that came right down to the wire, its time to start the playoffs.
The first round match-ups are now set with the IceDogs playing against the Cattle Barons and the Hawks playing against the Omegas.
Here is a quick review of the first round of the playoff's schedule:

Friday, March 8 @ the PT. Edward Arena
7:00pm - IceDogs vs. Cattle Barons
8:10pm - Hawks vs. Omegas

Saturday, March 9 @ the RBC Centre (rink 2)
5:15pm - Omegas vs. Hawks
6:25pm - Cattle Barons vs. IceDogs

Friday, March 15 @ the Pt. Edward Arena
7:00pm - IceDogs vs Cattle Barons
8:10pm - Hawks vs Omegas (this game may be bumped up to the 7:00pm start if the other series is over in two games)

Note: You will notice that the start times for the second game of each night is only 1 hour and 10 minutes after the start of the first game of each night. This is done to make sure that everyone in the second game of each night is ready to go as soon as the first game of each night is over (plus a flood). If any of these games go to a 10 minute "stop time" overtime, we need to make sure that we don't waste any time waiting for players to show up.
As close as these four teams were this regular season, my guess is that overtime will be needed in at least one or two games.

Brandon Wilpstra of the Stars hit the 50 minute mark in penalties and will be suspended from playing in the first two games of next season.

Brett DeBoer of the IceDogs also hit the 50 minute mark in penalties and will also be suspended from playing in the first two games next season. These "accumulative penalty" suspensions do not effect playoff games, so Brett is okay to play in next week's playoff games.

Duncan Vanderwal of the IceDogs surpassed the 40 minute mark in penalties and will be suspended from playing in the first two games next season. He is also okay to play in next week's playoff games.

In the early game, the Hawks kept up their winning streak going into the playoffs with a 9-6 win over the Stars. The Hawks held a lead throughout the game, but the Stars stayed in the game the whole way through. An empty netter scored by the Hawks in the last minute of the game put an end to the Stars' miserable season. Dave VanOostveen is the Player of the Game. He scored four goals and added two assists in the Hawks' victory. The Hawks were playing to win it because they knew that their victory would give them a shot at first overall in the standings.

The middle game between the Omegas & IceDogs was a battle of the top two teams going into the evening. The IceDogs were able to pull off a 5-3 win and earned themselves the top seed going into the playoffs. Matt Tamminga earns the Player of the Game honours. He scored twice and added an assist in the IceDogs' victory. Brothers - Joe & Brett DeBoer each had three points of their own in the game. The loss dropped the Omegas to the third seed in the standings.

The most important game of the night was the late game between the Flyers & the Cattle Barons. Basically - whatever team was to win this game would be in the playoffs - the losing team would be out. The Cattle Barons won the game 4-1 and earned their franchise's (Cattle Barons & formerly the Cougars) first ever trip to the post season. This was a tough one to pick out just one Player of the Game, so I'm gonna "wimp out" again and make it between three co-winners all from the Cattle Barons. They are Kevin Ryan, O.J. Deelstra, & Steve Pastoor. Kevin & O.J. each got two goals and an assist, while Steve was stellar in net to give his team the win.

Dan Feenstra of the Hawks surpassed the 30 minute mark in penalties in his game against the Cattle Barons this past Friday. This means that Dan is suspended from playing in the game this week (March 1). He will be allowed to play again in the first game of the playoffs.

The early game saw the Omegas be the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a 10-3 victory over the Stars. Curt Moesker scored twice for the Stars. Freddie VanReenen & Zach VanReenen each had three points for the Omegas. Lance Ross scored a hat-trick and added an assist, but we'll give the Player of the Game honours to Mark Zylstra, who had two goals and four assists in the game.

The Hawks won their third game in a row by beating the Cattle Barons 6-3 in the middle game. This was another example of a game that was much closer than the score would indicate. Both teams were treating this game as a crucial game in their hopes of getting into the playoffs. An empty net goal by the Hawks sealed the victory. Rob Nutma gets the nod for the Player of the Game. He scored two important goals for the Hawks when the game was still at a pivotal point.

The IceDogs joined the Omegas in clinching a playoff of their own by squeaking out a 6-5 win over the Flyers. Late in the second period it looked like it was already a done deal with the IceDogs holding a 5-0 lead. Que the comeback. In the last minute of the second period, the Flyers were finally able to break the goose-egg. It didn't look like a threat to the IceDogs' victory at the time, but it was all Flyers in the third period. Four more consecutive goals by the Flyers in the third period got the IceDogs nervous, but Joe DeBoer was able to score in the last two minutes of the game. This goal stood as the game-winner for the IceDogs. Joe is the Player of the Game with his late-game heroics.

With the Flyers' loss, the Hawks have also clinched a playoff position.
The final playoff position will come down to the very last game of the regular season between the Cattle Barons & Flyers. It all comes down to whoever wins the game is in the playoffs.
The Cattle Barons currently sit one point ahead of the Flyers (22-21), so a tie would mean that the Cattle Barons would still be in the playoffs. An overtime win for the Flyers would put them into the playoffs because they would have more wins than the Cattle Barons.

It is still totally up in the air as to what the playoff seeds will be. There is still a ton of different possibilities depending on the outcome of next week's games. All I can say is that it will come right down to the final minute of the final game!