Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Seth Dyer and the St. Bernard’s boys will play Arcata in Wednesday’s tournament semifinals.

By Ray Hamill — College of the Redwoods will play host to four Dick Niclai Tournament semifinals over the next two nights, as the excitement continues to build around the annual H-DN postseason tournament.

This season sees a return to normalcy for the highly-anticipated annual tournament, which was adversely affected by the pandemic in each of the past two winters, including a cancellation two years ago.

And that means a return to College of the Redwoods for the semifinal rounds, with back-to-back doubleheaders on Wednesday and Thursday night, as well as a return to Lumberjack Arena for both championship games on Friday night.

On Wednesday, H-DN commissioner Jack Lakin expressed his gratitude to the Corsairs for reaching out to the league and offering to host the four semifinals at no cost.

“The H-DNL appreciates the support of College of the Redwoods as the host site,” Lakin said. “(CR) Athletic Director Bob Brown approached the league last Fall, hoping to develop a partnership highlighting high school educational athletics on the North Coast.

“It provides four of our H-DNL teams the opportunity to compete in a junior college setting and experience CR as a potential next step in their education.”

The Redwoods athletics department has focused on building a better relationship with the local high schools in recent years and that includes offering their facilities for the tournament.

“CR has embraced the sense of community, offering the facilities without cost to the league, providing all required staff for the score table, and accommodating all league requests to meet the needs of both spectators and participating teams,” Lakin added

CR will also provide a concessions stand for spectators.

The action gets under way on both nights at 6 p.m., with the boys playing their semifinals on Wednesday and the girls playing on Thursday.

The second semifinal on both nights will tip off at 7:30 p.m.

Lili Nunez and the Del Norte girls will play St. Bernard’s on Thursday.

The South Fork boys will play McKinleyville in Wednesday’s opener, followed by the Arcata and St. Bernard’s boys.

On Thursday, the St. Bernard’s and Del Norte girls will play at 6, followed by the Eureka and Ferndale girls.

Both St. Bernard’s games will be broadcast live on MIX 95.1 FM, with the SB and Del Norte girls game also being broadcast live on KPOD 97.9 FM and on DelNorteSports.com.

Door open at 5 p.m. on both nights, with regular season admission prices. 

No school passes will be honored, only league, NCS and CIF passes.