There are two local clubs guaranteed to be playing in a provincial championship and two more are looking to join them.
The Lacoka peewee girls and midget girls squads are heading to the Hockey Alberta provincials that run March 23 to 26, with the peewees playing host to the tournament and the midgets ensured of a spot at the event being held in Rocky Mountain House.
However, both squads are hoping to make life a bit easier while adding a banner to the rafters for being the zone champion.
The peewee girls are set to face Innisfail in the zone final, while the midget girls could clinch the banner next week after beating the West Central Wildcats 3-1 last week in Rocky Mountain House. The team is hoping for a great and roaring crowd when they host the second game of the series on March 6 with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
And the two clubs looking to reach the provincial championship are the peewee Elks and the bantam Moose.
The Elks earned a spot in the zone final after a 2-2 tie in Lacombe on Saturday. The draw gave them the series win after a 5-2 win a week earlier. The club will now face Wetaskiwin for the Zone 4 title. Meanwhile, the Moose faced Lacombe Feb. 27 in the first game of the zone final.
Game two of that series is tomorrow night (Thursday) in Lacombe.
Regular season complete
All three Lacoka teams now wade into the playoffs after finishing off the regular season over the weekend.
For the midget girls, it was a thrilling end as they came away Feb. 25 with a 2-2 tie in Stettler. Danielle Blacklock scored in the first followed by one off the stick of Racheal Wood nearly eight minutes into the second, only to watch the home side climb back with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart later in the middle stanza.
That leaves the midget girls with a record of 15 wins, three losses and two draws to end the season in second place and will now wait for an opponent after getting a first round playoff bye.
The bantam girls squeezed themselves into the first round of the playoffs, ending the season in sixth with five wins and 15 losses after a 2-1 loss to Warburg Feb. 24 in Lacombe then falling 9-2 in Stettler Feb. 25. Ivy Woolf scored the lone goal midway through the third versus Warburg, while Woolf and Jayda Keim had the goals in Stettler. The club will now face Camrose, who finished third, in the opening round of the playoffs. Game two of that series goes in Ponoka (10 a.m.) March 5.
For the peewee girls, the season concluded with the team in second place and a record of 10 wins, seven losses and three ties after closing out the schedule with a 5-3 win in Ponoka Sunday over 3Cs. Chloe Wilton had a pair in the win with singles coming from Hailey Huchkowski, Breanna Thompson and Brooklynn Raine. The club will now face Camrose in the league semi-final with the first game in that series going March 3 (6:15 p.m.) in Ponoka.