SWHL This Week, Playoff Week 3

League and Provincial playoffs continue for some Sask West Hockey League (SWHL). 

League 

Game 2 of the Best of 3 between the 3 seed Hafford Hawks and the 6 seed Biggar Nationals happened on Tuesday night and it was the Nats staving off elimination with a 4-2 win. 

Chris Henry opened the scoring early for the home team, which held all the way into the later stages of the 2nd period, where Jonathon Redlich extended that lead to 2-0. Jeremy Boyer responded just 3 minutes later to bring the deficit down to one. In the final frame, Andrew Galombos tied the game up at 2 at the 13:50 mark. Jordan Unger fired his 1st of the playoffs past goaltender Joel Gryzbowski to give Biggar the 3-2 lead. Brett Novak would tie a bow on the victory with an empty net goal late. 

Gryzbowski stopped 41 of 44 shots in the loss, while Brett Matlock stopped 41 of 43 shots in the win. 

This led to a winner take all game 3 Friday night in Hafford, which the Hawks won 6-2. 

Hafford came out flying in the first, with Quinton Cubbon, Jorden Braid, Galombos, and Scott Linnell all scoring within 7 minutes of each other to hold a big 4-0 lead. Dylan Haynes would reply for the visitors to cut the lead to 4-1 after 1. That score would hold all the way into the middle of the 3rd, where Boyer and Brandon Lesko scored 43 seconds a part to extend the lead to 6-2. Haynes would fire his second of the night past the goaltender to round out the scoring. 

Matlock stopped 33 of 39 shots in the loss, while Gryzbowski stopped 30 of 32 shots in the win. 

The Semi-Finals are finally set as the 1 seed Wilkie Outlaws take on the 5 seed Macklin Mohawks, while the 2 seed Kindersley Sr Klippers take on the 3 seed Hafford Hawks. 

Provincials 

The Wilkie Outlaws will face the Biggar Nationals in the North Semi-Final of the ‘C’ Division with game 1 happening on Sunday in Wilkie. The hometown Outlaws controlled the game, cruising to a 9-3 victory.  

In the ‘A’ Division, the Kindersley Sr Klippers finished off the Loreburn 19ers of the Sask Valley Hockey League with a 9-6 game 2 victory. They will play the Kenaston Blizzards of the Sask Valley Hockey League in the next round. 

In the ‘D’ Division, the Macklin Mohawks finished off the Perdue Pirates of the Sask Prairie Hockey League with a 10-3 game 2 victory and will play the Eston Ramblers of the Sask Valley Hockey League in the Semi-Finals.