High school hockey regional playoffs get underway on two fronts.
The SAERC Saints are hosting the NSSAF Highland Region Division 2 tournament at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.
The five teams from the Cape Breton West High School Hockey League are all taking part- the host Saints, the Dalbrae Dragons, the Richmond Academy Hurricanes, the Eskasoni Warriors and the Inverness-Baddeck Academy Rebels.
The tournament opens with a pair of games Thursday- Inverness-Baddeck Academy meets Dalbrae at 6 p.m. and SAERC squares off with Richmond Academy at 7:30 p.m.
The round robin portion of the tournament continues Friday and Saturday; the semi-final and championship games are Sunday.
The Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals travel to Truro to take on the CEC Cougars in Northumberland Region playoffs.
Game time is 6:30 p.m.
The teams meet again in Antigonish Friday night.
The Halifax Mooseheads host River Denys’ Colten Ellis and the Rimouski Oceanic in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Mooseheads (18-31-4), losers of nine straight and 11 of the last 12, are ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference with 40 points, nine points behind Quebec for eighth, and 11 points ahead of last-place Acadie-Bathurst; the Oceanic (35-14-8) are third in the conference with 78 points.
Ellis has a 16-8 record with a 2.35 goals against average and .908 save percentage in 25 games for Rimouski in the 2019-20 season.
It’s the first of two games between the teams, who meet again in Rimouski Feb. 28.
Puck drop at Scotiabank Centre is 7 p.m.
