Sask West This Week
An average week back from the holiday break for the Sask West Hockey League (SWHL) resulted in a lot of movement in the standings. The Kindersley Sr Klippers lead the league with a 7-1-1 record, followed by the Wilkie Outlaws at 7-2. The Hafford Hawks sit in third place with a 6-2 record. followed by the Macklin Mohawks with a 4-4 record. Sitting in fifth place is the Edam 3 stars with a 3-4 record, followed by the Biggar Nationals at 1-6-1 and the Unity Miners at 0-6-1 record.
On Sunday night, the Hafford Hawks hosted the Kindersley Sr Klippers, with the Hawks coming away with a 6-5 overtime victory.
Zane Florence and Jaxon Georget exchanged goals in the first for a 1-1 tie. It took half of the 2nd period before Connor Neave would give the Hawks a 2-1 lead on the power play. Tyler Traptow would tie it back up at 2 just a minute later. Jared Erickson and Shayne Neigum would score just 20 seconds apart to give the Klippers the 4-2 lead, but Kyle Litchenwald would cut that lead down to 4-3, which held at 40 minutes. In the early third, Ryan Schaefer would tie the game back up at 4. With just 1:30 left, Neave would score to give the hometown team the 5-4 edge, but Damon McKenzie would instantly reply to tie the game again and send it into overtime. In the extra frame, the hero would wear Hawks colours as Kobe Kindrachuk sent the crowd home happy.
Cody Beswitherick took the overtime loss, stopping 39 of 45 shots, while Joel Gryzbowski stopped 34 of 39 shots for the win,
On Saturday night, the Edam 3 Stars and the Hafford Hawks battled at the Edam Arena, and it was the visiting Hawks taking away the 5-1 win.
Connor Neave and Kyle Ireland (on the power play) hoisted the Hawks a nice 2-0 lead after the first, with Ireland scoring his second of the game at the 8:32 mark of the second period. Damon Schaefer answered back a minute later to cut the lead to 3-1, which held after 40 minutes. Jeremy Boyer and Ireland would extend the lead to secure the victory in the third period.
Joel Gryzbowski took the win, stopping 46 of 47 shots, while Taryn Kotchorek stopped 40 of 45 shots in the loss.
On Friday night, the Wilkie Outlaws travelled north for a game against the Edam 3 Stars, with Edam coming away with the 4-1 win
No scoring was reported in the first, and it took at the way until the 3:09 mark of the second before the deadlock would be broken, with Rick Cey scoring on the power play. The scoreboard read 1-0 after 40 minutes. The flood gates opened for the 3 Stars in the final frame as Keegan Tiringer, Damon Schaefer and Jordan Fransoo would score within a 5-minute span to grab the 3-1 lead. Tiringer would add an empty netter to tie a bow on the victory.
Jared Herle stopped 37 of 40 shots in the loss, while Taryn Kotchorek secured the win, stopping 33 of 34 shots.
Also on Friday, the Kindersley Sr Klippers hosted the Unity Miners, with the Klippers taking the 6-2 victory.
The only goal of the 1st period came off the stick of Aiden Bangs, giving Kindersley the 1-0 lead. Shayne Neigum would extend the lead in the second before Daniel Hilsendager would cut it back to a 1 goal deficit. In the third, the dam burst as Neigum, Jaxon Georget, Jessey Pocock and Damon McKenzie all scored to open up a 6-1 lead. Ethan Scherr scored late for the visitors to round out scoring.
Brett Vanderveer took the loss, stopping 33 of 39 shots, while Cody Beswitherick stopped 10 of 12 shots in the win.
Five games are on the docket for the January 10th to 12th weekend, with playoff positioning on the line. Wilkie hosts Kindersley and Unity travels to Hafford on Friday, both at 8:30pm. On Saturday, Unity hosts Hafford, Kindersley travels to Biggar and Edam hosts Macklin, all at 8pm.
