The Alton Redbirds ended their regular season on a high note, winning their last two games over Highland and Belleville.
Now, the Redbirds will look to extend their hot streak in the first round of the Mississippi Valley Hockey Club Association playoffs, which starts on Thursday.
Alton will play Highland in the first game of the best of three series at 9:25 p.m. Thursday at Granite City Ice Rink. The two teams will play game two at 8:40 p.m. Feb. 6 at Granite City and, if necessary, game three at 8:45 p.m. Feb. 7 at East Alton Ice Arena.
The Bethalto Eagles and the East Alton-Wood River Oilers also will start first-round play on Thursday. The Eagles will play the O'Fallon Panthers in game one at 7:15 p.m. at East Alton and the Oilers will play Triad at 8 p.m. at Granite City.
Alton and EA-WR are playing in the Class 1A division and Bethalto is playing in 2A. The Redbirds are seeded fifth and the the Oilers are the No. 6 seed in 1A and the Eagles are seeded sixth in 2A.
Granite City and five-team defending MVCHA champion Edwardsville receive first-round byes.
The Warriors, seeded second in 1A, will play the winner of the Triad-EA-WR series in the second round. Granite City finished its regular season at 8-10-3.
The Tigers, seeded first in 2A, will play the winner of the Freeburg/Waterloo-Collinsville series in the second round. EHS finished with the best record in the league at 15-4-2 and 32 points.
Both Highland and Alton finished in a tie for fourth in the 1A division at 5-13-3 and 13 points, but Highland was awarded the fourth seed due to head-to-head competition. The Bulldogs beat Redbirds in two out of three meetings this season.
Alton knocked off Highland 5-2 on Jan. 19, then ended its regular season on Thursday with a 3-1 win over Belleville, making it the first time this season the Redbirds have won two games in a row.
Bethalto is looking to snap a six-game losing streak. The Eagles will take a 10-9-2 record into their series with O'Fallon. They lost to the Panthers twice during the regular season.
EA-WR will take a 19-game losing streak into its series with Triad. The Oilers (1-20) haven't won a game since Nov. 2, when they beat Highland 4-3.