The Big Six Hockey League resumes play after their Christmas hiatus with a number of games this weekend. It all kicks off with three matchups this weekend.

The Carlyle Cougars will play host to the Kipling/Windthorst Oil Kings Friday night. The Cougars come into the game currently first in the league with a record of 8-2-2. The Oil Kings are currently 8th, with a 3-7 record.

The disparity in the standings shouldn’t be seen as an indicator as to how the game will go, though. The last time the two teams met up was on December 21st. The 5-4 win by the Cougars saw Kipling battling right until the end of the game.

The puck drops in Carlyle at 8:00 p.m.

The Carnduff Red Devils travel to Oxbow Friday night to take on the Huskies. Red Devils are currently in 5th place in the league, sitting with a record of 6-4, six points back of Carlyle for first. The Huskies, meanwhile, have won just two of their last 10 games, and have four points.

Carnduff is led by Nico Anderson, who has 20 points on the season, and goaltender Cody Dumaine has the best GAA in the league. The Huskies, however, do have one of the top scorers in the league in Taysen Holt, who has 22 points.

With both teams currently mired in losing skids (five games for Oxbow, two for Carnduff), one of those streaks will be ending tonight.

The third game of the evening Friday sees the Arcola/Kisbey Combines taking on the Bienfait Coalers in Arcola.

For the Combines, they have struggled in their first two years back in the Big Six. They are looking for their first win of the season, coming close a few times to breaking the slump. Meanwhile, Bienfait is right behind Carnduff in the standings and is looking to move up to join the logjam for third place.

The Combines are led by Rhett Palmer, who has 14 points in 10 games this season. The play of Walker Hengen and Brett Lees has also helped the team keep things close in many games this year.

The Coalers will be looking to Dylan Herzberg and Keegan Malaryk to continue to find the back of the net as they try to start off 2019 with a win.

After the action on Friday night, there will be two more games Saturday. They include Redvers in Kipling taking on the Oil Kings, and the Yellow Grass Wheat Kings visiting the Midale Mustangs.