Honkings from the Wild Goose; Week 11

Honkings from the Wild Goose 

We are getting into the nitty gritty of the regular season and teams are jostling for playoff position. 

Sask West Hockey League Standings: The Outlaws of Wilkie have top spot at 11-1, followed by the Kindersley Klippers at 9-3. In third are the Edam 3 Stars (7-4-1) and the Macklin Mohawks (7-5-1).  The Biggar Nationals hold 5th at 3-11, and the Asquith Admirals bring up the rear with a 1-10-2 record. 

Playoffs note: Lots of important matchups are still coming, and therefore, no meaningful prediction can happen. 

Cross Roads Hockey League Standings: The Rosetown Redwings (9-2) and the Unity Miners (9-3) occupy top spot in the league, followed by the Dodsland Stars at 8-4. The Kerrobert Tigers sit in fourth (4-6) alongside the Kindersley Kodiaks (4-8). At the bottom is the 0-11 Luseland Mallards. 

Playoffs note: It appears all the teams are locked into their respective spots.  

Sask West 

On Friday night, the Wilkie Outlaws headed down Highway 14 for a match at the Jubilee Stadium with the Biggar Nationals. Wilkie came away with the 11-2 win. 

The Outlaws scored often in the first two periods, with goals from Rick Cey (2), Mike Sittler (2), Kyler Lorenz, Barrett Nielsen and Derek Keller. Wilkie led 7-0 after 40 minutes. Daniel Hilsendager made it 8-0 before Brody Vogel broke the shutout at the 11:20 mark of the final frame. Rick Cey would complete the hattrick, but Jonathan Redlick would score just a couple minutes later. Rick would add another, and Braden Lacoursiere would round out scoring. 

Jared Herle stopped 40 of 42 shots in the win, while Mason Briske stopped 41 of 52 shots in the loss. 

On Friday in Macklin, the Edam 3 Stars paid the Mohawks a visit. Edam left with a hard fought 4-1 win. 

Hunter Steinhubel and Damon Schaefer traded goals in the first. That tie would stay until just 34 seconds into the third period, with Kendall Fransoo scoring on the power play to give the 3 Stars the 2-1 lead. They would not relinquish it as Jordan Fransoo and Keegan Tiringer scoring insurance markers. 

Taryn Kotchorek stopped 21 of 22 shots in the win. Trevor Martin stopped 41 of 45 shots in the loss. 

Also on Friday, the Kindersley Klippers made the trek east to Asquith for a game against the Admirals. The visitors came away with an 11-3 win. 

Caleb Grandfield opened the scoring, but Kade Jenson, Carson Grolla and Shayne Neigum all replied for a 3-1 Klippers lead. It was all Klippers in the second as Jaxon Georget, Markus Boguslavsky, Neigum (2), and Jensen* all scored for an 8-1 lead. In the third, Trey Tuffs and Boguslavsky made it 10-1, but Jesse Ganchar would score twice in four minutes to cut the massive deficit to 10-3. Neigum would round out scoring. 

Logan Drackett stopped 17 of 20 shots in the win, while Evan Vanderveer stopped 29 of 40 shots in the loss. 

On Saturday night, the Wilkie Outlaws headed north for a tilt with the Edam 3 Stars. The visitors squeaked out a huge 4-3 OT victory. 

Blake Young opened the scoring on the power play, but Cody Danberg tied it up with a shorthanded marker just 30 seconds later. Young gave the Outlaws the lead on another PPG. Owen LaClare once again tied things up for a 2-2 first period score. The score remained the same until the early stages of the 3rd, where Joel Blaquiere gave the 3 Stars the lead. Ryne Keller was able to tie it up again with just 5 minutes remaining. The overtime period lasted a whole ten seconds before Rick Cey ended it for the Outlaws. 

Joel Gryzbowski stopped 40 of 43 shots in the win, while Taryn Kotchorek stopped 28 of 32 shots in the loss. 

Also on Saturday, the Kindersley Klippers headed north by northwest to Macklin for another big matchup with the Mohawks. Macklin secured a tough 5-4 win. 

Tyler Baier and Kyle Donaldson traded goals in the first for a 1-1 draw. Kade Jensen and Markus Boguslavsky made it 3-1 Klippers before Baier cut the lead down to 1 after 40 minutes. Tyler Robertson tied it up on the power play just 63 seconds into the final frame. Hunter Steinhubel gave the home squad the lead at the 12:12 mark. Carson Grolla tied it up at four, but Baier’s hattrick goal proved to be the game’s winner. 

Logan Drackett stopped 21 of 26 shots in the loss, while Trevor Martin stopped 37 of 41 shots in the win. 

In the Sunday afternoon game, the Asquith Admirals played host to the Biggar Nationals. Biggar left with a 4-3 shootout victory. 

Talon Thomas was the lone goal scorer of the opening frame, giving Asquith the 1-0 lead. Just before the midway point of the 2nd, Caleb Grandfield extended it to 2-0, but a shorthanded marker from Dylan Haynes cut the lead back to one goal. In the third, Jonathan Redlick (shorthanded) tied the game up at 2, with Haynes giving the Nats the 3-2 lead. Talon Thomas tied it back up at 3 with just 3 minutes left in the game. The game went into overtime, which solved nothing. In the shootout, Presley Toth scored the only goal, giving the Nationals the extra point. 

Mason Briske stopped 44 of 47 shots in the shootout win, while Carter Woodside stopped 47 of 50 shots in the shootout loss. 

Cross Roads 

On Friday night, the Dodsland Stars hosted the Unity Miners in a big tilt at the Kerrobert Memorial Arena. Unity came away with the massive 5-3 win. 

Mark Ganter opened the scoring roughly nine minutes into the game, with Riley Dipple tying it up just 30 seconds later. Brayden Schultz and Hunter Sperle would find twine in the final five minutes of the period for a 3-1 Miners lead. Ganter would extend that lead in the second period, but Troy Joyce and TJ Greschner’s goals brought Dodsland back within one goal. It stayed this way until the dying minutes of the game, where Colby Ralston scored an empty net goal to secure the win. 

Ryan Rewerts stopped 37 of 40 shots in the win, while Conner Kidd stopped 33 of 37 shots in the loss. 

On Saturday night, the Kerrobert Tigers headed up Highway 21 for a date with the Unity Miners, with the Miners coming away with a hard fought 4-3 win.  

Riley Anderson and Quenton Murphy buried goals for a 2-0 Tigers lead after 20 minutes. Mark Ganter replied in the second, cutting the lead to 2-1 after two periods. Dalyn McCubbing tied things up at 2 at the 14:54 mark of the third, but Q. Murphy would give Kerrobert the 3-2 lead. Hunter Sperle tied it up again on the power play, and Brayden Schultz scored the game winner with just 6:48 left. 

Preston Plamondon stopped 45 of 49 shots in the loss, while Noah Gumpinger stopped 34 of 37 shots in the win. 

Also on Saturday, the Luseland Mallards hosted the Dodsland Stars. Dodsland eked out a 4-3 win.  

Carter Halter and Jaxon Walz scored just 17 seconds apart for a 2-0 Stars lead, but just 40 seconds after that, Chad Chotowetz cut the deficit to one. It was all Stars in the second, with markers from Riley Dipple and Mitch Bradley. Luseland wasn’t finished yet, clawing their way back with goals from Jace Fisher and Robbie Kohlman, but it simply wasn't enough. 

Kyle Turk stopped 35 of 38 shots in the win, while Avery Kohlman stopped 49 of 53 shots in the loss. 

On Sunday evening, the Kindersley Kodiaks and the Rosetown Redwings met at the WCEC. Kindersley came up big in a 4-1. 

Christian Vogel and Grady Ostrom would trade goals for a 1-1 draw after one period. No scoring was reported in the second, but it started fairly early in the third period. Jayden Holland would give the Kodiaks the lead with a shorthanded goal. Tyler Benjaminson added to the lead at the 5:12 mark of the final frame, and Calvin Feader tied a bow on the win with his 4th of the year.  

John Kampen stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss, while Kaden Elliott stopped 23 of 24 shots in the win. 

History Lesson 

We’ll be looking at the 1991/92 Wild Goose season this time for a couple of reasons. The Wilkie Outlaws held the top spot after a 30-game season with just 6 teams. The Outlaws were 19-10-1, followed by the Kindersley Klippers at 17-10-3, Kerrobert Tigers at 16-10-4, Macklin Mohawks at 13-14-3, Unity Miners at 12-14-4 and the Eston Ramblers at 5-24-1. There were 11 points separating 1st to 5th, and perhaps partially due to that, the playoffs were a round robin. The Mohawks and Tigers emerged as winners of this mysterious round robin playoff format, for a best of 5 finals. Kerrobert swept away Macklin in three straight, culminating in a 3-0 Game 3 win. The other reason we looked back on this year was from a road trip I had taken this past summer, stopping at the Kerrobert Museum and seeing all the memorabilia they had, including a slick 1992 WGHL champion hat with the team signing it. Subtle plug to go check out your museums in your area. 

Upcoming Games 

SWHL 

• Wednesday January 21st: Kindersley at Wilkie (8:30pm) 

• Friday January 23rd: Edam at Asquith (8:30pm), Wilkie at Macklin (8:30pm) 

• Saturday January 24th: Macklin at Kindersley (8pm), Wilkie at Asquith (8pm), Biggar at Edam (8pm) 

• TBA: Kindersley at Edam 

CRHL 

• Friday January 23rd: Kerrobert at Luseland (8pm) 

• Saturday January 24th: Rosetown at Kerrobert (8pm)