A very frigid Week 11 in the Sask West Hockey League (SWHL) did see some important games played, but Wilkie continues to lead the league with a perfect 15-0 league, clinching first. In second place is the Kindersley Sr Klippers at 9-5, followed by the Hafford Hawks at 8-6. In fourth place is the Biggar Nationals at 6-6-2, with the Macklin Mohawks in fifth with a 5-7-1 record. Rounding out the standings is the Edam 3 Stars at 4-8-1 and the Unity Miners at 1-11-1
On Sunday afternoon, the Kindersley Sr Klippers travelled north to play against the Wilkie Outlaws and the home team walked away with the 6-2 win.
Brett Boehm opened the scoring at the 16:20 mark, his eleventh of the season. Lane Gilliss would tie the game up at 1 midway through the frame and Kyle Donaldson’s shorthanded marker would give the Klippers the 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. After that, it was all Outlaws as Blake Young would strike twice, as well as Ryne Keller potting his ninth of the year. Wilkie held the 4-2 lead well into the third period. Rory Gregoire would extend the lead to 5-2 and Rick Cey’s seventeenth of the year on the power play would tie a bow on the victory.
Curtis Sander took the win, stopping 23 of 25 shots while Logan Drackett was peppered in the loss, stopping 51 of 47 shots.
On Saturday night, the Biggar Nationals hit the highway to visit the Kindersley Sr Klippers and the Klippers secured a 4-1 victory, their 3rd in a row.
Lane Gilliss didn’t wait very long, scoring his seventh of the year just 29 seconds into the game. Dylan Haynes tied the game up at 1 with this third of the year just five minutes later, which is how we went into the first intermission. Tyler Traptow was the lone goal scorer of the second as the Klippers held the 2-1 lead going into the final frame. Jared Erickson would extend the lead midway through the third, and Kyle Donaldson sealed the victory with an empty net goal.
Brett Matlock took the loss, stopping 41 of 44 shots, while Logan Drackett secured the W, stopping 38 of 39 shots.
Two other games (Macklin at Hafford and Unity at Edam) were meant to be played on Saturday but were postponed due to the extreme cold.
On Friday night, the Wilkie Outlaws opened the doors to the SaskCan Community Centre for the Macklin Mohawks, and it was the home team cruising to the 6-1 victory.
Blake Young would score his tenth of the year just four minutes into the game to give the Outlaws the 1-0 lead, and Ryan Keller would extend that lead to 2-0 to end the first period. In the second, Keller would score shorthanded, and on the power play to make the hats fly. Rory Gregoire then scored his sixteenth of the year to extend the lead to 5-0 after two periods. In the final frame, Spencer would break up the no hitter just six seconds in on the power play, but Mitch Suchan would respond on the extra man advantage to round out the scoring.
Jared Herle took the win, stopping 32 of 33 shots, while Trevor Martin stopped 35 of 41 shots in the loss.
Also on Friday, the Edam 3 Stars travelled to the other Polar Dome to play the Hafford Hawks, and it was the Hawks that came away with the 7-3 victory.
Logan Spence would open the scoring, but Jeremy Boyer would respond a couple minutes later to tie the game up at 1. Kyle Ireland’s tenth of the year would give Hafford the 2-1 lead after one period. Darian Dziurzynski would score just a minute into the second to tie the game again at 2. Boyer would score again to give the lead back to the home team after 40 minutes. The flood gates opened in the third as Ireland and Brandon Lesko would extend the lead to 5-2. Lesko would score his second of the night into the empty net to seemingly secure the win, but Josh LaClare scored with 2:06 left to cut the lead to 6-3. With the goalie pulled again, Ireland would fire his twelve of the year into the open cage to properly secure the win.
Taryn Kotchorek took the loss, stopping 23 of 28 shots, while Joel Gryzbowski took the win, stopping 32 of 35 shots.
The Wilkie Outlaws are absolutely destroying on the power play this year. As of January 15th, they are 25 of 65, good for an 38.5% efficiency. Only Macklin and Kindersley have scored double digit power play goals this year (both teams have 11). On the penalty kill side, they currently sit 6th (8 PPG allowed on 44 times shorthanded), but they are on the bottom end of the log jam with 1st place to 6th place being separated by six percentage points. It is also important to note that the Outlaws have been shorthanded the second least in all the league. The Klippers lead that category with 73 times shorthanded.
Seven games on the docket for the weekend. On Thursday, Edam travels to Kindersley. On Friday, Biggar visits Unity in a rescheduled game from January 12th, Macklin hosts Kindersley and Wilkie travels to Hafford. On Saturday, Unity travels to Macklin, Hafford hosts Biggar and Kindersley travels to Edam.
