For the third straight year, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines will be battling for a playoff spot with a week left to go in the MJHL season.
But this time, they are in the driver seat.
After missing the playoffs for the last two seasons, the Wolverines are three points up on the Virden Oil Capitals for the final playoff spot in the West Division.
Both teams have three games left. Both teams play one team that is not in a playoff spot, and then two games against West Division opponents that are locked into the playoffs.
For the Wolverines, they will host the Dauphin Kings on Tuesday night, host the Winnipeg Blues on Friday night and then finish up the regular season on Saturday night in Dauphin.
For Virden, they will play their remaining three games on the road. They will go to Swan River and The Pas on back to back nights to take on the Stampeders and Blizzard on Tuesday and Wednesday. They finish up on Saturday night in Neepawa.
A good rule of thumb heading into the week for the Wolverines, is the Oil Capitals need to win two more games than the Wolverines this week to beat them in the standings.
If by some scenario the two teams end up tied, it will go to tiebreakers. The first two tiebreakers are Most Wins against each other (3-3 tie), and then Most regulation games against each other (also tied 3-3). The third tiebreaker is Most Wins Overall, which the Wolverines lead as of now, 23-22. But for the two teams to be tied at the end of the season, Virden would almost certainly have more wins. If there is a scenario that the two teams are tied with wins as well, the fourth tiebreaker is greatest goal differential in games versus each other. Wolverines win that 16-15.
The sublot to this race, is the top of the West Division race, as the Dauphin Kings and the Northern Manitoba Blizzard are separated by six points with each three games left to play. Both teams will play a role into three of the six games involved. The Kings will just need one point to clinch first in the West.
Below is a chart that shows what each record the teams can get in the final three games and how it would affect who makes the playoffs. Yellow means the Wolverines make it, red means the Oil Capitals make it.
