With just over a month to go before the action gets underway at the 2011 TELUS Cup, the St. John’s Privateers appear to be hitting their stride.

The hosts of this year’s National Midget Championship became the first team in Canada to lock up a league championship on Saturday night, completing a one-sided four-game sweep of the Central IcePak to claim the Newfoundland & Labrador Major Midget Hockey League title.

The Privateers, who also won the NLMMHL regular season crown with a 26-3-1 record, easily dispatched the IcePak by a combined 30-4 in four games (9-0, 11-2, 3-1, 7-1), earning the ninth provincial title in a row for St. John’s – it won six in a row as the Maple Leafs and the last two as the Fog Devils.

St. John’s captain Marcus Power followed up an MVP regular season by running away with the playoff scoring title, racking up 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in nine games, while linemate Danny Wicks, who topped the regular season scoring chart, had 18 postseason points (10 goals, eight assists) of his own.

Power and Wicks are two of the 10 players on the St. John’s roster who helped the Fog Devils win bronze at last year’s national championship in Lévis, Que. – the first Atlantic team to win a medal since the St. John’s Maple Leafs were bronze medallists in 2003.

Next up is the Atlantic Region championship, set for March 31 to April 3 in Charlottetown,
P.E.I. With a victory there, the Privateers would be not only the first team to repeat as Atlantic champions since the St. John’s Maple Leafs in 20, but also the first TELUS Cup host team to win its league and regional title since Red Deer in 2007.