After a heartbreaking loss in Radville to the Notre Dame Hounds, the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings bounced back in a big way, beating the Estevan Bruins 8-5 to continue to hold a share of first place in the Viterra Division.
The weekend started Friday night in Radville, where the Wings were officially the visiting team, while there was a large contingent of Weyburn fans making the short trek to Radville.
The Red Wings take an early lead in the game, with Brendan Hunchak scoring his first as a Red Wings with 8:12 left on the clock in the first period. The power play marker was assisted by Max Monette and Jerome Maharaj. Then, Cade Meiklejohn scored an even-strength goal with 3:44 left in the opener, with Maharaj and Jaxson Ruthven assisting.
The Hounds, though, would get one back when DJ Freigang got the puck past Dazza Mitchell to make it 2-1 Weyburn after 20 minutes.
Notre Dame would then even the game up with a goal by Kyle Kalamaras 4:16 into the middle period, but less than five minutes later, Meiklejohn would restore the lead for the Red Wings. His second of the game would be assisted by Maharaj and Ruthven, and Weyburn again had the lead.
Before the period was over, though, Notre evened things up again as Vincent Palmarin scored on Dazza Mitchell.
Meiklejohn would get the hat trick goal to restore the lead for the Red Wings 6:12 into the third period. Maharaj and Nick Kovacs assisted, and Weyburn was leading 4-3.
In the final six minutes, though, the Hounds would score two to steal the win, with Alexander Hollands scoring with 5:37 to play, then former Red Wing Matteo Speranza scored with 4:01 to play, making it 5-4 Notre Dame.
The Red Wings didn't have a lot of time to bounce back, as they were off to Estevan Saturday night to take on the Bruins in the latest edition of the Highway 30 rivalry.
The first period would see the teams exchange goals, with Felix Allard scoring 2:07 into the game to give Estevan an early lead. Meiklejohn, though, would score his fourth goal in two games, and sixth in three, as he put his eighth of the campaign in behind Cam Hrdlicka 5:30 into the period. Tyler Teasdale had the assist on the goal.
The Bruins would regain the lead with 6:13 to play as Kaelen Whittingham put the puck past Mitchell, but the goal would be the last time Estevan had the lead in the game.
Meiklejohn, just 31 seconds later, notched his second of the game to make it 2-2. The unassisted goal would be the last one of the first period, and set up what would be a wild second frame.
With 7:25 left on the clock in the second period, Hunchak scored his second goal in as many games. The goal, shorthanded, was unassisted. Then, 1:21 later, Jacob Visentini scored his seventh of the year on the power play. Elijah Anderson would be credited with the assist on the goal.
Weyburn would then make it a 5-2 game with 4:01 left on the clock in the period when Max Monette scored his tenth of the season. Visentini and Braigh LeGrandeur had the assists on the goal.
The Bruins would answer back with 3:07 to play, though, as Ilia Chmelevski scored to make it 5-3. Then, a shorthanded goal by Zach Burfoot would pull Estevan within one.
Before the second period was over, though, Monette scored his second of the game, assisted by Meiklejohn, to make it 6-4 Weyburn with seven seconds on the clock.
Carter Briltz would then make it 7-4 with an unassisted shorthanded goal 6:09 into the period. Maharaj followed it up with a power play goal at the 7:56 mark, assisted by Kovacs and Teasdale.
The Bruins would add one more goal when Chmelevski scored at the 10:11 mark, but then the Red Wings held on to preserve the victory.
The Red Wings will now have another break, as they will get a 10-day break before a northern road trip that will take them to Nipawin and Flin Flon. Head coach Cody Mapes, in the postgame show on Great Plains Ford Red Win Radio, on Country 106.7, said they will spend part of that time looking to shore up the defensive side of their game, with the Red Wings giving up five or more goals in their past seven games.
In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, DiscoverWeyburn encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverWeyburn app.