MORTAL KOMBAT FINISH THEM!! - 4 TEAMS REMAIN

The Clark Cup field is down to four, and the two conference finals could not feel more different. In the East, it is a battle of two lower seeds that wrecked the bracket on the way here, as the No. 6 Madison Capitols meet the No. 5 Muskegon Lumberjacks. In the West, the chalk held, with No. 1 Sioux Falls facing No. 2 Fargo in the matchup that looked possible all along. Both conference finals are best-of-five series in a 2-2-1 format, with Games 1, 2, and 5 at the higher seed’s rink. Both series begin Friday, May 1. 

That split gives this round two very different personalities. Madison and Muskegon are here because they survived and kept swinging. Sioux Falls and Fargo are here because their full-season quality held up when the bracket tightened. One conference final feels like a survival story that kept growing legs. The other feels like a true heavyweight test. Either way, there is no hiding now. Four teams remain, and every one of them has already shown it can handle playoff pressure in its own way. 

Start in the East, because that side of the bracket now belongs to the underdogs. Madison is the biggest surprise left in the postseason, but at this point the Capitols are more than a Cinderella headline. They swept Green Bay in the opening round, then took down Anderson Cup champion Youngstown in four games. The clincher said everything about how Madison wants to play. The Capitols beat the Phantoms 2-1 despite being outshot 38-13, got an early power-play goal from Eero Butella, the winner from defenseman Nolen Geerdes, and a huge 37-save performance from Caleb Heil. That is not flashy hockey. It is winning hockey. 

Heil is the biggest reason Madison is still standing. Through the first two rounds, he is 5-1 with a 1.11 goals-against average and a .966 save percentage, the best goaltending profile of the four remaining teams. Madison also is not getting carried by one player alone. Geerdes and Tyden Bergeson each have six playoff points, and Butella has already delivered one of the biggest goals of the team’s spring. The Capitols do not need a track meet. They want games to stay tight, tense, and uncomfortable. Right now, they are very good at dragging opponents into exactly that kind of series. 

Muskegon, though, looks like a different kind of problem. The Lumberjacks swept Cedar Rapids in the first round, then came through a much tougher semifinal against Dubuque in five games. That series showed why Muskegon may be the more complete team in the East. When Dubuque pushed back, the Lumberjacks answered. When they needed a swing game, they got one. In Game 4, Drew Stewart scored twice, Viktor Norringer added a power-play goal, Stewart struck again shorthanded, and Carl Axelsson made 31 saves in a 4-2 win that forced a fifth game. Then Muskegon buried Dubuque 6-1 in the decider after giving up the game’s first goal. 

That matters heading into this matchup. Madison may have the hottest goalie, but Muskegon looks deeper and a little more versatile. Norringer leads the Lumberjacks with eight playoff points. Stewart has seven. Adam Belusko has seven. Axelsson is 5-2 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. Madison’s cleanest path is to turn this into another series of 2-1 games and force Muskegon to play with frustration. Muskegon’s best path is to stretch the series into something more layered, where its broader scoring base and special-teams bite start to show. On balance, Muskegon looks like the more complete club in the East, but Madison has already made a habit of not caring what the paper says. 

The West has a different feel entirely. Sioux Falls and Fargo are not surprise survivors. They are the top two seeds in the conference, and both have the type of team identity that usually lasts this long. That makes this series feel a little closer to a true championship rehearsal. Sioux Falls has the higher seed and opens at home, but Fargo comes in with enough structure and composure to make this a real test. 

Sioux Falls has the strongest case as the most complete team left in the bracket. The Stampede were the only club in the league to finish in the top three in both scoring offense and scoring defense during the regular season, averaging 4.31 goals per game while allowing just 2.79. Their power play also clicked at 25 percent. In the semifinals, they were pushed hard by Lincoln, but their response was telling. After getting drilled 6-2 in Game 3 and allowing four power-play goals, the Herd came back with a 5-1 win in Game 4 fueled by three power-play goals of their own, then closed the series with a 2-0 shutout in Game 5. That is what a complete team looks like in the postseason. It gets hit, adjusts, and takes control back. 

The pieces are all there for Sioux Falls. J.J. Monteiro has five playoff points. Matthew Grimes and Brent Solomon each have four. Linards Feldbergs is 3-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. Logan Renkowski had a huge regular season and remains one of the most dangerous scorers left playing. Ryan Cruthers was also named a Coach of the Year finalist, which fits what Sioux Falls has looked like all season long: organized, dangerous, and hard to shake. If there is one team left that looks built for the whole thing, it is probably this one. 

Fargo’s argument is different, but it is real. The Force do not hit you the same way offensively, yet they are tough to break down and comfortable in close games. They allowed just 168 goals in the regular season, the fewest in the Western Conference. In the semifinal against Sioux City, Fargo won in four games, but the clincher was a grinder. The Force came back from an early hole, got a shorthanded goal from Nate Delladonna in regulation, and then won 3-2 in double overtime on Gavin Uhlenkamp’s series-ending goal. That kind of win does not always look pretty. It does tell you something about how a team handles pressure when the game keeps dragging on. 

Fargo also has enough skill to make Sioux Falls work for everything. Uhlenkamp has five playoff goals. Graham Jones has five playoff points. Kolin Sisson has four. Ajay White has been solid in net at 3-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. The Force may not look as explosive as Sioux Falls, but they do look patient, disciplined, and capable of turning a series into the kind of grind where one mistake matters. If Fargo can keep this series close and stop it from becoming a special-teams showcase for the Herd, it has a path. 

So who looks best positioned to reach the Clark Cup Final? In the East, it is Muskegon, because the Lumberjacks bring the better blend of scoring depth, recent playoff resilience, and championship-level comfort. In the West, it is Sioux Falls, because the Stampede have the strongest all-around profile of the four teams left. That does not mean Madison cannot keep squeezing the life out of opponents, or that Fargo cannot turn the West final into a trench fight. It just means that if you are judging completeness, those are the two clubs with the clearest case right now. 

That is what makes this round strong. Every team left has proof. Madison proved it can slow a series down, frustrate opponents, and win on the road. Muskegon proved it can handle a long semifinal, respond to adversity within a series, and advance. Fargo proved it can stay calm in a game that keeps stretching. Sioux Falls proved it can adjust when a series starts turning against them. Four teams remain, and none of them got here by accident. The conference finals are not a bridge to the Clark Cup Final. They are the round that should tell you which teams are actually built to win it.