Defending champion Spud Kings open playoffs at home Tonight

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Falls Spud Kings are gearing up to defend their NCDChockey Mountain Division title as the 2026 playoffs begin.

The quest for back-to-back championships begins tonight as the Spud Kings face off with the Grand Junction River Hawks. Puck drop is set for 7:05 for game one of the best-of-5 Mountain Division semifinals.

Despite entering the postseason on home ice, the Spud Kings are still looking for a little momentum. The Spud Kings finished the season dropping their last two games with a 5-2 loss to the Utah Outliers and a 4-2 loss to the Rock Springs Miners.

That being said, the Spud Kings did enough throughout the rest of the regular season to finish second in the Mountain Division.

This season, the Spuds won 6 of 9 against the River Hawks and have won each of the last four. 

In their last matchup, which was just 11 days ago, they beat Grand Junction 5-1, thanks to goals from Santino Canevari, Sam Grimaldi, Bookie Warshaw, Hunter Whisenand, and Andrew Schmidt. 

The Spuds have already punched their ticket to the big stage, thanks to their cup win out in New Jersey a season ago. That means win or lose in the division playoffs, the Spuds already have one of the four spots locked up in the Division Cup. 

Make sure to download the Local News 8 APP for score updates throughout the game.