Written By Brian Lockhart

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals boys' hockey team will have to win their first opening-round game to advance into District 4/10 playoffs this season.

The Royals have been playing well and have a lot of talent on the team, but they're just not winning this year. They have had several one-goal games but have managed to come out on top only once this season and are in eighth place in the nine-team District line-up.

Prior to the playoffs, there was an opening round between the lower-place teams to see who would advance to the quarter-final round of playoffs. Eight teams will start the quarter-final round beginning February 14.

From there, four teams will qualify for the semi-final round, with the two remaining teams battling in the championship final.

Currently, the team from John F. Ross is in the lead in the District with a 9-1 record.

St. James is in second place with a 9-2 record. They are followed by Orangeville District Secondary School, who are in third place with an 8-3 record.

Norwell District is in fourth place, followed by Centennial Collegiate and Centre Wellington.

The Royals will likely be up against Erin District High School in the first round. Erin has only won one game this season.

The team from CDDHS is scheduled to play their final regular season game on Thursday, Feb. 8, against Centre Wellington on home ice at the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex.

Game time is 2:00 p.m.