The Birch Hills Blackhawks against the Rosetown Red Wings during a provincial game earlier this season on Feb. 11, 2023. (Birch Hills Sr. Blackhawks/Facebook)

By Logan Lehmann

The final round

Blackhawks, Sabres set to battle in Twin Rivers Hockey League finals

Mar 9, 2023 | 3:27 PM

Eight teams qualified for the Twin Rivers hockey League playoffs this season and now over a month later, two teams remain standing.

The East Division’s best Birch Hills Blackhawks are set to face off against the West’s third-seed Dalmeny Sabres.

The road to the finals has been anything but easy, with both semi-final matchups going to a series-deciding game five. For Dalmeny, their second-round win was just that much sweeter as it’s their first Twin Rivers finals appearance in team history.

“The guys were pretty pumped, definitely excited for the final,” said Sabres head coach Darrin Wutzke. “First time ever so the guys are pretty excited.”

Dalmeny is playing the role of the underdogs having swept the two-seed Rosthern Wheat Kings in the first round, then reverse swept the league-best Willow Cree Chiefs in the semi-finals coming back from down 2-0 to win 3-2.

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When asked about his team’s play in their semi-final series, Wutzke said he’s proud of his team’s perseverance not just in that series, but all season long.

“Definitely tough, they had only lost one game all year and they were definitely the best team in the league,” he continued. “Through the season, my guys kept building and believing in themselves and the next thing you know, we’re going to the finals.”

As for the Blackhawks, they nearly suffered the same fate in the second round of their semi-final bout. After going up 2-0 in the series, the Kinistino Tigers clawed their way back to force game five before Birch Hills closed out the set with a statement 5-1 win on home ice.

“We were happy with the moment that was in front of us, it was more of a relief (to win),” explained Blackhawks head coach Todd Becker.

“For whatever reason in game three we came out flat,” he continued. “Game four, the longer short of it was probably discipline on our part, cost us that game then game five we played a solid sixty minutes with contributions out of everybody.”

Both teams faced off with each other just once this season, with the Dalmeny coming away with the 5-3 win in their lone contest. The win means that the Sabres will get home-ice advantage in the finals.

“Just hoping everyone is going to be healthy,” Wutzke explained. “We’re banged up a bit like most teams are this time of year. Just trying to rest some bodies and get everyone healthy for Sunday’s game.”

“They got some top scorers on their team that we’re going to have to manage,” said Becker. “It’s going to be a fast series like it was against Kinistino but we’re looking forward to it.”

The best-of-five league finals gets underway on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. in Dalmeny.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann