By Brian Lockhart

The Conference championships are over in the Provincial Junior Hockey League leaving four teams that will battle it out for the provincial Junior C Schmalz Cup title.

The North Carruthers Division champion Stayner Siskins defeated the Mitchell Hawks in a series that went six games and ended on May 3, with a 3-1 win for Stayner on Siskins home ice.

The Grimsby Peach Kings are conference champions after eliminating the New Hamburg Firebirds in six games.

In the east, the Clarington Eagles came out on top after a five-game series over the Napanee Raiders.

In the west, the Lakeshore Canadiens won their conference title after knocking out the North Middlesex Stars in four games.

The battle for the provincial championship will now go into tournament play to decide the Schmalz Cup champions for 2022.

In a regular year, the Schmalz Cup playoffs would follow the usual best-of-seven playoff format.

This year, because of the hockey shut-down in January, the entire league ran late to get enough regular season games in.

League executive made the decision to go to a tournament style championship to ensure all games could played.

Preliminary games will be played at team home areas in Stayner, Grimsby, Clarington, and Lakeshore.

The third round of the tournament will get underway at the University of Guelph on May 12.

The final game to crown the provincial champions will take place at the University of Guelph on May 15.

The final game day will also include PJHL awards for player of the year, coach of the year, volunteer of the year, and trainer of the year.

For game information and times, visit the PJHL website at www.thepjhl.ca.