The inaugural SJHL/MJHL Showcase is just under a week away, and the excitement of the event is beginning to ramp up. The Showcase will see each league send three teams of 20 players to Regina for six games over two days January 15th and 16th.

While there will be a little bit of league pride on the line, SJHL president Bill Chow explained winning isn’t the end all, be all of the two days.

“Wins would be nice, but at the end of the day, for me in particular, it’s more about exposing the players, the athletes and the coaches to higher levels of hockey, and giving them the opportunities to move ahead,” Chow said.

All of the players selected for the event must be eligible for an NCAA scholarship, which means they must not have played for a major junior team, such as one in the WHL. For Red Wings fans, this means Ben Hiltz, who is second on the team in scoring, won’t be eligible to play, as he played two games last season with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL. The team's leading scorer, Cade Kowalski, will be eligible.

The MJHL released their rosters late Monday. While there aren’t many names familiar to SJHL fans, there are enough to keep things interesting. Daniel McKitrick, who formerly played with the Humboldt Broncos, is now a member of the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. Nolan Ferguson spent last season, and part of this season with the Estevan Bruins will also be representing the MJHL, as he now plays with the Pistons as well.

Chow stated the SJHL would be releasing their rosters after the January 10th roster deadline, as coaches in the league will still be looking to make moves to improve their team heading into the playoffs. It is expected this means the rosters will be released on Thursday of this week.

The Showcase will see six games over two days. The schedule has the games on the 15th scheduled for 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The three games on the 16th are at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. All six of the games will be played at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.