MHL playoffs underway

MHL

The Maritime Hockey League playoffs began Friday night in Edmundston.

The Blizzard enter the playoffs as the top-ranked team in the entire CJHL. The squad finished first overall in the MHL regular season standings with a 44-6-1-1 record for 90 points.

Edmundston will face the reigning MHL champion Miramichi Timberwolves in the opening round. The Timberwolves would have finished third instead of fourth in the EastLink North Division if not for having to forfeit several points due to dressing an ineligible player. 

Here's how the opening round of the MHL playoffs will look.

EastLink North

1. Edmundston vs 4. Miramichi 

2. West Kent vs 3. Campbellton

EastLink South

1. Summerside vs 4. Pictou 

 2. Amherst vs 3. Truro

The Yarmouth Mariners, Valley Wildcats, Grand Falls Rapids and Fredericton Red Wings all missed the playoffs. Those teams included a number of players with Sea Dogs connections: Jake Tracey (Fredericton), Joshua Henry* (Fredericton), Zachary Bridgeo (Fredericton), Matthew Ferdinand* (Grand Falls), Jonah Leard (Grand Falls) and Brayden Campbell* (Grand Falls). Former Sea Dogs coaches Greg Leland and Jeff Cowan, meanwhile, continue to work behind the bench of the Rapids.

Here are the players with Sea Dogs connections – having either played a game with the club at some point or attended training camp – on the eight remaining teams:

Amherst - Jack O'Blenis 

Amherst - Charles-Antoine Lavallee* 

Amherst - Kiefer Lyons

Amherst - Jeremie Richard* 

Edmundston - Will Allen*

Edmundston - Frederic Cousineau 

Miramichi - Cael MacDonald

Miramichi - Jack Flanagan* 

Pictou County - Owen Arnold* 

 *attended Sea Dogs training camp this season 

In other MHL news, the Red Wings will relocate to Bathurst next season, where they'll fill the void being left by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan's move to St. John's. The team will be called the Chaleur Lightning. They'll be natural rivals for Miramichi and Campbellton.

Les Red Wings de Fredericton déménage à Bathurst et deviennent le Lightning de Chaleur dans la @THEMHL pic.twitter.com/qkn6OPPHwM

— Francois Le Blanc (@RCFrancois) March 7, 2025

The Red Wings spent six seasons in Fredericton but, as was expected, struggled to draw large crowds in a market that remains dominated by UNB hockey. The Red Wings moved to the capital city in 2019 from St. Stephen.