The first week of the SJHL season has already provided plenty of movement, and there’s no shortage of early storylines around the league.
The defending-champion Flin Flon Bombers remain at the top of the first Power Rankings of the season, while the Battlefords North Stars and Yorkton Terriers round out the top three.
Flin Flon opened its title defence with a 6-2 win over La Ronge after falling behind just 27 seconds into the game. Jack Martin and Leo Seitz helped lead the offence, while highly touted rookie Dylan Caron also made an early impact.
It was also the first SJHL coaching win for Cole McCaig, while Finn Werner is back in the crease after returning from the WHL.
The North Stars split their opening weekend, dropping a 3-1 decision to Kindersley before responding with a 4-1 win over Nipawin. They have plenty of experience throughout their lineup and will have many opportunities to build momentum early with a heavy home schedule.
Yorkton sits third after opening the season with a 6-2 win over Estevan before suffering a wild 5-4 overtime loss to Warman on Tuesday night.
The Terriers appeared to have the game in hand after building a 4-2 lead in the second period, but hometown product Trey Markus changed everything in the final minute.
Yorkton's Austin Horbachewsky and Jake Briltz have already stepped into bigger offensive roles, while Tyson Medernach has quickly shown why he's considered one of the league's top rookie candidates.
Kindersley comes in at fourth after making an early statement with a 3-1 road win over Battlefords. Konnor Watson scored in his Klippers debut, while goaltender Mattias Radke turned in a strong performance.
Melville sits fifth after splitting its opening weekend with Weyburn. The Millionaires created plenty of quality scoring chances, but struggled to finish them in Saturday's loss. The early play of goaltender Noah Kraus and the overall balance of the lineup remain encouraging signs for Doug Johnson's club.
Weyburn is sixth after also splitting with Melville. Trennen Redlick has already produced a pair of multi-point performances, while rookie goaltender Ethan Berard looked sharp in the Red Wings' victory in Melville.
Humboldt is seventh after splitting a pair with Warman. The Broncos won Friday's game before dropping the rematch. Humboldt has plenty of offensive talent and will get another strong test against the Battlefords this weekend.
Melfort checks in eighth thanks to beating Nipawin before losing to La Ronge. Dru Mushumanski, Luke Dekay and Tristin Ziola have already shown chemistry up front, with Mushumanski emerging as one of the league's early scoring threats.
Warman moves up to ninth following its comeback win over Yorkton. The Wolverines have shown plenty of offensive ability and goaltender Luke Brunen has looked sharp early. The next step will be finding consistency and stringing wins together.
La Ronge is 10th after splitting its opening weekend, while Nipawin drops to 11th following a pair of losses.
Estevan rounds out the rankings at 12th after an opening-night loss in Yorkton.
