CARNDUFF - There will be a new champion in the Big Six Hockey League this year.
The fifth-ranked Bienfait Coalers defeated the fourth-seeded Carnduff Red Devils 6-4 on Thursday night in Carnduff in the third and deciding game of their best-of-three quarter-final series.
The Red Devils won the league title last year.
Carnduff came out flying Thursday night. Ben Hiltz scored 4:01 into the game, and then Nico Anderson and Devon Carriere tallied 28 seconds apart to give Carnduff a 3-0 lead with 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the first.
Kaelan Holt scored twice in 25 seconds in the final two minutes of the first to pull Bienfait to within one.
Curzon tied the game early in the second and Holt added his third of the game 13 seconds later. Taysen Holt made it a 5-3 game by the midway point of the game.
Hiltz’s second of the game with 11 seconds to play in the middle frame pulled Carnduff to within one.
Taysen Holt finished the scoring with an empty-net goal late in the third.
Zack Miller (Bienfait) and Cody Dumaine (Carnduff) were in goal.
Bienfait will face either the No. 1 Redvers Rockets or the third-seeded Moosomin Rangers in the semifinal round.
One series has yet to be decided. The No. 7 Yellow Grass Wheat Kings hold a 1-0 series lead in their match-up with the second-seeded Oxbow Huskies. Game 2 will be Friday night in Yellow Grass at 8 p.m.
Game 3, if necessary, would be Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Oxbow.
Carnduff's season isn't over, as they are still playing in Senior D provincials. They lead Central Butte 1-0 in their best-of-three south semifinal series. Game 2 is Feb. 18 in Central Butte and Game 3, if necessary, would be the following night, also in Central Butte.
