For two days, the Alton Redbirds fought with the Triad Knights and the Edwardsville Tigers for the No. 1 seed in the 1A portion of the MVCHA playoffs.
After getting ties against Triad on Monday and Edwardsville on Tuesday, the Redbirds have won the fight.
Alton is the top seed in the six-team 1A bracket and will get a two-week break before resuming on Feb. 7 to play either Edwardsville or Highland in a best of three semifinal series.
The postseason bracket was announced on Wednesday. The tournament will begin on Jan. 31, when the Granite City Warriors take on Columbia in a one-game playoff game at 9 p.m. at McKendree Metro Rec Plex, while the Bethalto Eagles and the East Alton-Wood River Oilers play game one in a best-of-three 1A first-round series at 8:30 p.m. at Granite City Ice Rink.
The Warriors will take a 13-6-1 record into their game with Columbia. The winner plays top-seeded Collinsville in a best of three 2A semifinal series, which starts on Feb. 4.
The winner of the Bethalto-EAWR series will play second-seeded Triad in a 1A semifinal series, which starts on Feb. 7.
The top five teams in the 11-team league advance to the 2A playoffs, while the rest competes in the 1A playoffs.
The Redbirds finished 7-10-3 and 17 points. They beat Triad and Edwardsville by one point for the top seed in 1A.
Before Monday, Alton was tied with Edwardsville and Triad for first with 15 points. The Redbirds tied Triad 3-3 on Monday, moving both teams into a first-place tie with 16 points.
AHS clinched the top spot after finishing in a 2-2 deadlock with Edwardsville on Tuesday in the regular season finale for both teams. A loss would have given Edwardsville the top seed.
The Redbirds finished sixth overall in the MVCHA and have surpassed their win total of five from last year. They were swept by Bethalto in a best of three first-round series a year ago.
Granite City finished fifth overall to secure a spot in the 2A playoffs. The Warriors also finished with their second straight winning season and have matched their win total of 13 from last winter.
GCHS ended its regular season on Monday with a 4-2 loss to Columbia, snapping the Warriors' nine-game winning streak. The Warriors also lost to the Eagles 4-2 on Nov. 27.
Columbia (14-6, 28 points) clinched the fourth spot with the win over Granite City on Monday.
Bethalto is the No. 4 seed in the 1A playoffs. The Eagles finished their regular season at 3-16-1 after winning six games last year.
EA-WR is seeded fifth and will take a 2-17-1 mark into its playoff series with Bethalto. The Oilers won two games a year ago.
The two teams split their two meetings this season. The Eagles won the first meeting, 10-0, on Nov. 20 and the Oilers won the second, 5-4, on Jan. 15.