An impressive year for the Sask West Hockey League finished up over the weekend. Both the Wilkie Outlaws and Macklin Mohawks took home provincial banners, Wilkie defeating Kyle for the "C" banner, and Macklin using a road win against Redvers to win the banner for "D".

Starting off with the matchup between Sask West, and Sask Valley Hockey League teams, the Wilkie Outlaws swept yet another series on Friday night to end their perfect run in the Provincial "C" bracket.

After a 7-4 win in Game 1 against the Elks, Game 2 went a little differently from the SaskCan Community Centre in Wilkie. A scoreless first saw the Outlaws out-shooting the Elks by double, and keeping it up into the second, Wilkie finally broke through as Blake Young made it 1-0.

Ryan Keller and Rick Cey scored for Wilkie in the third to give them a 3-0 lead that they would not relinquish, ending the season on a high-note as the Outlaws ran the table in provincials without a loss.

The undefeated run in provincials saw Wilkie defeat Porcupine Plain, Biggar, Dinsmore, and finally Kyle in series sweeps. The only two games the Outlaws lost this season came in the SWHL Finals against the Kindersley Sr. Klippers.

Macklin was not treated to the same locally based matchup as Wilkie and Kyle, instead taking off to Redvers for their championship weekend.

After the Mohawks took a thrilling overtime victory against the Rockets in Game 1, their sights were set 750 KM across the province to Redvers where they would be playing Games 2 and 3 on Easter weekend. Macklin lost a one goal affair 3-2 on Saturday night, setting up a winner-take-all game on Easter Sunday.

Redvers was looking good early in Game 3 with a 3-1 lead early in the second, moving to 4-2 fast-forwarding to early in the third. Macklin made their push with about 12 minutes left in the game, and had things tied up 4-4 by the ten-minute mark.

From there a powerplay goal gave the Mohawks a 5-4 lead with five minutes left in the game, and then the the long trip across the province paid off as an empty netter sealed the game for Macklin 6-4.

— Macklin Sr Mohawks (@MacklinMohawks1) April 1, 2024

Those two victories created a bit of history for the SWHL. According to league statistician Phil Heilman, for the first time since 2008 the league had multiple teams win provincials, without winning the league title. The Leader Flyers won the SWHL back during the 08-09 season, while the Eston Ramblers won the "B" title, the Macklin Mohawks earned the "C" crown, and the Luseland Mallards came out on top in "D".

This year, the SWHL champion Kindersley Senior Klippers were stopped in Senior A provincials, losing to the eventual champion Kenaston Blizzards. The Klippers prevented Wilkie from the ultimate perfect season in the SWHL finals, as you can read a reaction from that series in the related stories section below.

Senior hockey is now complete across league and provincial play. It was another successful year with 13 senior leagues partaking in play across the province, and nearly 50 teams total competing in Hockey Saskatchewan provincials.

(Links provided)