For the second straight year, the Estevan Bruins finished fourth in the SJHL's Sherwood Conference, which means a first round match-up against the conference's fifth place team.

Last year their opponent was the Melville Millionaires. This year they'll play the Notre Dame Hounds. And while the opposition is different, the circumstances are eerily similar.

The Bruins will play an opponent that finished about 10 points beneath them in the Sherwood Conference standings. And they will play an opponent that they beat five times in the regular season.

Last year's series between Estevan and Melville delivered some of the best hockey seen in Estevan in years. Four of five games went into overtime. One game was a triple overtime classic. The non-overtime game was decided in the final couple minutes of the third period.

And while the Bruins won that series, they played the equivalent of six games in a seven-day span. They had little energy remaining for a series against a powerful Yorkton Terriers squad, and the Bruins dispatched by Yorkton in a four-game sweep.

Bruin supporters will absolutely be hoping that they can finish off the Hounds quickly this year.

There is an upside to playing in the SJHL's "survivor series." If you can quickly eliminate of your opponent, you'll be sharp for the next round of the playoffs. The winner of the Estevan-Notre Dame series will play the Weyburn Red Wings in the second round.

Weyburn will have a 12-day layoff between their final regular season game February 19 and their first playoff game March 2.

Win the survivor series quickly and you'll be a sharp team playing an opponent who will be rusty in the first game. But if you need five games to win the survivor series, you won't have much left for the following round.

Estevan should be viewed as the prohibitive favourite against Notre Dame. They beat Notre Dame in five of six meetings between the two clubs, and they outscored the Hounds 41-16. Estevan had at least seven goals in each of the last five games against the Hounds.

If the Bruins work hard and avoid over-confidence against a perceived lesser foe, they'll win the series in relatively quick fashion. If they get cocky, or if they look past Notre Dame to what would be a great series with Weyburn, then the Bruins are in trouble.

It should be a quick series. But as everybody found out last year against Melville, should doesn't necessarily amount to anything in the SJHL playoffs.