The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings were hoping to get one more win this season over the Battlefords North Stars when the two teams took to the ice Thursday afternoon for the final game of the SJHL Showcase in Warman. The North Stars, however, would pick up their fourth consecutive win over Weyburn, skating to a 6-1 victory.
The North Stars leading scorer, Kian Bell, would open things up 2:10 into the game, and the Alex Izyk would make it 2-0 for the North Stars with 4:05 to go in the first period. Bell then made it 3-0 with his second of the game with 7:45 on the clock in the second. The goal would also see the Red Wings make a switch in goal, with starter Eric Kahl replaced by Dazza Mitchell.
The change in the crease, though, didn’t slow down the North Stars, as Ben Portner would make it 4-0 with 5:25 to go in the second.
Kahl would return to the net for the third period, and he was greeted by Jackson Allan, who scored 4:05 into the period.
Weyburn would get on the goal just over four minutes later, ruining the shutout bid of Joey Hawco, when Braigh LeGrandeur scored his first of the season. The goal, at the 8:34 mark of the period, was assisted by Nicholas Kovacs and Lucas Schmid.
Then, the frustrations started to boil over. It started with two players from each team being sent off for roughing minors after a post-whistle scrum with 9:35 to play. Then, Weyburn’s Tyler Teasdale dropped the gloves with Battlefords’ Riley Girod with 7:03 remaining. Both players received five-minute majors for fighting and game misconducts.
With 6:06 to play in the period, Weyburn forward Cade Meiklejohn hit Alex Izyk in open ice, as Izyk was trying to leave the zone, and it would draw a crowd. By the time the dust settled, Andrew Casellato and Marshall Light from the North Stars, and Weyburn’s Jacob Visentini and Grady Sterling-Ponech would get sent to the showers with fighting majors and game misconducts. Also getting penalized in the scrum was Izyk, who got a two-minute minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, as well as Red Wing blueliner Lucas Jeffreys, who got a double minor for roughing and a ten-minute misconduct.
Tanner Gold would add one more goal for the North Stars with 1:08 to play to make it a 6-1 final.
Despite the loss, the Red Wings still find themselves in a three-way tie for first place in the Viterra Division, knotted at 20 points with the Estevan Bruins and Melville Millionaires. Weyburn will get a chance for a little separation Friday night when they host the Kindersley Klippers at Crescent Point Place.