Who would’ve thought there would have been a gap of 1,074 days (April 20, 2019) between Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) playoff games at the Fort William Gardens.

Thanks to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, that was a reality as the 2020 post-season was suspended and eventually cancelled.

The 2020-2021 season saw only a handful of regular season games played before again falling victim to the continuing public health restrictions.

Tuesday night marks the beginning of the best-of-five quarter-finals as the Thunder Bay North Stars hold home ice advantage against the Wisconsin Lumberjacks.

“(I’m) definitely more excited than nervous but I just got to go there and play my game and play hard and stay calm,” said North Stars Defenceman Zack Davis, who will play his first Junior ‘A’ playoff game. “The (Lumberjacks) are not a bad team at all. I know they finished lower than us in the standings but that doesn’t really mean anything in the playoffs because anyone can win. If we do win (the series) it’ll give us a nice boost to play the (Kam River) Fighting Walleye after that.”

Davis had six goals and 13 points in 25 regular season games with the North Stars since coming over in a November trade with the Steinbach Pistons of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

“I didn’t really play a lot of hockey last year and to start this season because I was injured,” added Davis, when talking about fitting in with his new team. “Once I got traded, I came (to Thunder Bay) and I think I fit in perfectly. I believe in my second or third game with the North Stars I got my first goal and first assist (so that helped).”

The North Stars won four of seven games head to head with the Lumberjacks, outscoring Wisconsin 28-20.

Game time at the Fort William Gardens is 7:30 p.m.

The Dryden GM Ice Dogs host the Fort Frances Lakers for their series opener at the Dryden Memorial Arena.

The Kam River Fighting Walleye will get the lower-seeded team in the best-of-seven semifinals while the Red Lake Miners will square off against the other quarter-final series winner.

SCHEDULE

Tuesday March 29th – Lumberjacks @ North Stars, Lakers @ Ice Dogs
Wednesday March 30th – Lumberjacks @ North Stars
Thursday March 31st – Lakers @ Ice Dogs
Friday April 1st – North Stars @ Lumberjacks, Ice Dogs @ Lakers
Saturday April 2nd – North Stars @ Lumberjacks, Ice Dogs @ Lakers IF NECESSARY
Monday April 4th – Lumberjacks @ North Stars, Lakers @ Ice Dogs IF NECESSARY

A correction to our story as Acadia News previously indicated that the last playoff game in the SIJHL was held on Saturday, April 13, 2019.