For the fourth time this month, the Brooks Bandits are standing in the path of the West Kelowna Warriors.
On Saturday, however, the stakes are higher than they've ever been in the battle between the respective Alberta and B.C. junior A hockey provincial champions. Saturday's winner moves on to Sunday's RBC Cup national championship final.
The Bandits (3-1-0) locked up second place in the five-team standings Thursday afternoon in Lloydminster, Sask., when they beat the Carleton Place Canadians of Ontario 5-4 to wrap up their round-robin play.
The Bandits had three wins in regulation time while one of the three Warriors wins was in a shootout. That left Brooks with nine points, one ahead of the West Kelowna.
They meet in the semifinal round Saturday at 6:30 PT.
On Sunday, Brooks beat West Kelowna 5-1 in preliminary round play. Two weeks ago at the Western Canada Cup in Estevan, Sask., the Warriors spanked the Bandits 6-0 in a playoff to claim the first RBC Cup berth. That came after the Bandits defeated West Kelowna 4-2 in the opening round.
The Warriors roster includes two Prince George minor hockey products -- forwards Liam Blackburn and Jake LeBrun, as well as former Spruce Kings forward Bryan Basilico.
In the late game Thursday, the Trenton Golden Hawks (3-0-1) went on to clinch first place in the standings Thursday night with a 4-1 win over the host Lloydminster Bobcats (1-3-0).
Those same teams will meet Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PT in the other semifinal.
The final is scheduled to begin Sunday at 3 p.m. PT. All games are webcast live on hockeycanada.ca.
