The Canalta Cup will be inside Affinity Place on Friday night, just like it was on Tuesday in Flin Flon.
It's all come down to one game in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League between the Estevan Bruins and Flin Flon Bombers. The Bombers forced a game seven with a huge win on Tuesday in front of more than 1900 fans at the Whitney Forum.
Now, the league's championship trophy is up for grabs on Friday night. Regardless of the result, both teams will advance to the national championships in Estevan from May 19-29 and this series between Estevan and Flin Flon will go down as one of the best finals in recent memory. Earlier this season, Bill Chow announced he was retiring as the league's commissioner after 11 years and earlier this week before game six, the SJHL announced that Kyle McIntyre would be the new commissioner.
McIntyre holds a Master of Educational Administration and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan and recently retired after a 30-year career in education including the past 20 years in a senior leadership position.
"It's quite an honour a great privilege," said McIntyre. "The SJHL has a deep tradition. Following in the footsteps of Bill Chow won't be an easy task but it is one that I'm extremely excited about."
McIntyre played in the league some 35 years ago and has been a huge SJHL fan since. He says when the opportunity came open, he couldn't pass it up and now the rest is history. Here in Manitoba, the MJHL has continued to grow over the past few years with the addition of the Winnipeg Freeze who just finished their first full season while the Niverville Nighthawks will enter the league next year. When asked if he thinks there could be growth among the SJHL, McIntyre said there likely will be talks about that in the future; however, it really is too early to tell."
"We have 12 very passionate franchises right now and we're going to move ahead with that," said McIntryre. "We'll see what the future holds for us, but we are in a great place."
The new commissioner also predicted that Flin Flon would win game six, he was right and now the league title will be on the line in front of 2200+ fans at Affinity Place on Friday. In the MJHL, the Kings and Pistons are tied at two games apiece heading to Steinbach for game 5.
