It's set to be a battle of Saskatchewan's best & Manitoba's best, and not just one time like in the past few years at the Western Canada Cup, as the Anavet Cup is back and what a Cup it should be.
The Western Canada Cup took over in 2013, which saw five teams battle for two spots in the National Championship.
Since that 2013 season, only three teams have advanced out of the MJHL-SJHL and moved onto the RBC Cup, with the Dauphin Kings being one of the teams in the 2014 season.
Now that the Anavet Cup is back, either an SJHL or MJHL is guaranteed to be heading back to the RBC Cup.
The best-of-seven set which starts Friday in Steinbach could perhaps feature an advantage to Nipawin if they find a way to win either game one or two in Steinbach. That's because, after the first two games at the T.G. Smith Centre in Steinbach, the series will shift over to the "Cage" in Nipawin for three straight games.
The Hawks were 24-2-1-2 on home ice in the regular season, and their 8-1 on home ice in the postseason so far.
But, the same could be said about the domination on home ice for the Pistons. They went 25-2-2-1 in the regular season, and they went 7-1 in the postseason on home ice.
If either team had struggles this season, they came on the road.
Steinbach went 23-6-0-1 in the regular season on the road, and 5-3 in the postseason. Nipawin went 19-6-2-2 away from the "Cage" in the regular season, but are below .500 in the playoffs at 3-4.
The Anavet Cup is back after an absence, and hockey fans are in for a real treat of a series.
Here's the full schedule:
Game 1 - Friday, April 28th - in Steinbach.
Game 2 - Saturday, April 29th - in Steinbach.
Game 3 - Tuesday, May 1st - in Nipawin.
Game 4 - Wednesday, May 2nd - in Nipawin.
Game 5 - Friday, May 4th - in Nipawin. **
Game 6 - Monday, May 7th - in Steinbach. **
Game 7 - Tuesday, May 8th - in Steinbach. **
** If necessary
