The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings extended their winning streak to three games and their points streak to 11 Friday night after they edged the Klippers 5-4 in Kindersley. The win moved the Wings back into first place in the Viterra Division and second overall in the SJHL.
Kindersley would come out firing at the beginning of the game, taking advantage of a Weyburn squad that had bussed up during the day for the game.
"I think you could see in the first, probably 13 minutes of the game, it looked like we travelled all day," said Red Wings head coach Cody Mapes after the game. "Then, we just talked about (how) we've had a couple of games like this before. We just talked about getting better one shift at a time."
The Red Wings did just that, although Mapes did feel they started to take their foot off the gas after going up 5-2 in the third period.
"That's something that we got to learn here, that you can't let teams hand around," Mapes added. "At the end of the day, we were able to shut it down and get the win, but you don't want to give teams a chance to push things over time."
Kindersley would get the game going 1:59 in when Braden Cunningham scored on Weyburn's Angelo Zol to make it 1-0. The Wings would reply before the end of the period, though.
With 3:16 remaining on the clock in the opening frame, Luke Dekay netted his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Blake Betson and Lucas Schmid.
"We just needed to dial it in, hit bodies, and we ended up scoring a couple of goals," Dekay commented after the game.
Kindersley would regain the lead before the end of the first period, on a goal by Brock Evans with 1:54 to play, but that would be all the offense the Klippers would muster for nearly 27 minutes.
Dallen Oxelgren would score his first of the season, assisted by Braigh LeGrandeur, 3:33 into the first period to even the game up.
"I felt good," Oxelgren said of his first goal of the campaign.
Then, Weyburn took the lead 5:06 into the second on Turner McIntyre's second of the season. The goal, scored on the power play, was assisted by Jerome Maharaj and Ethan Dekay.
Liam Fitzgerald then rounded out the scoring in the second period with 7:22 left on the clock. His sixth of the year was assisted by Jonah Bierd and Josh Karman.
Just 2:32 into the third period, Jaxson Ruthven would score the goal that would stand as the game-winner, with Ashtyn Shields scoring his first point as a Red Wing with an assist. Luke Dekay had the other assist on the goal.
The Klippers would then respond with a pair of goals over the course of the third period, with Zakery Anderson and Mason Eggen both scoring. However, Zol would keep the puck out for the remainder of the game and preserve the 5-4 win.
The Red Wings will now get set for the Klippers again on Saturday night as they finish the two-game road trip to the west-central city.
"We've got to have a good day of rest, and just make sure we start on time," Mapes said of preparations for the next game. "You're not going to get away with giving top four teams a free 20 minutes."
You can catch all the action in Saturday's game on Great Plains Ford Red Wing Radio Country 106.7. Dylan Fiessel will have the call, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m.