With four of a possible six points in their first two games, and no regulation losses, the Northern Manitoba Blizzard are well poised to make the playoff round this coming weekend at the 2025 Centennial Cup in Calgary.
The top junior A champions from across the country are battling it out for national supremacy, and the Blizzard are showing they can hang with the best. They rallied for a single overtime loss point in their opener, and had their best period in the third of their second game to earn a crucial round-robin victory. And in a tournament where winning in regulation earns you three points in the standings, a clean victory can make all the difference when it comes to who makes the playoffs and who doesn’t.
“If you go down with zero or one points in two games, you’re basically chasing the rest of the tournament,” noted Blizzard Head Coach and General Manager Eric Labrosse. “It’s pretty tight in the standings, pretty much everyone has beat everyone else so far, so it’s really important to pick up points every game if you want to make the playoffs. We feel you need probably eight points to get into the playoffs.”