The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings moved into first place overall in the SJHL Saturday night, and extended their point streak to 12 games, as they beat the Kindersley Klippers 3-2. The win also swept the weekend for the Wings, as they also won Friday night.
"We found a way," said defenseman Josh Karman. "I mean, at the end of the day, we didn't play our best at times, but we found a way to get a W both days."
"We're finding different ways to win here right now, and tonight was a good goaltending performance and the power play," commented head coach Cody Mapes. "That's been a lot of our success here over the last month or so, and we're slowly getting better with competing and being harder to play against."
Luke Dekay opened the scoring for the night just 1:58 into the game with his fifth of the season. The goal was assisted by Turner McIntyre.
The Klippers would reply with just 19 seconds left in the first when Zakery Anderson beat Dazza Mitchell to tie the game 1-1. It would be one of only two blemishes on the night for Mitchell, who turned aside 47 of the 49 shots he faced.
In the second period, the power play Mapes mentioned clicked for the squad when Cyprus Smith-Davis buried his fifth goal of the season. The tally with 4:40 left in the frame was assisted by Jerome Maharaj and Max Chakrabarti.
Then, Ethan Dekay would score what would stand as the game-winner 6:14 into the third. The goal, which came on the power play, was assisted by Smith-Davis and Maharaj.
Braden Cunningham would bring Kindersley within one at the 7:32 mark of the period, but Mitchell would shut down the rest of the opportunities for the Klippers.
The Red Wings will now return home for a short rest before they take on the Estevan Bruins for the first time in this season's installment of the Highway 39 rivalry.
"I had a good chat with (Estevan head coach) Jason (Tatarnic) the other day, and we were kind of talking about how it feels like forever since we've played," Mapes said. He added the players are excited about it, as the rivalry games tend to bring out the best in the team - especially when it is a packed house at Crescent Point Place.
The sentiment about the excitement was echoed by the players themselves.
"I'm super pumped," said rookie Jase McNichol, who played last season with the U18 AAA Estevan Bears. "They're lower in the division so hopefully we can take them and just put a beating on them."
"We're pumped," agreed Karman. "First one of the year, and it's going to be fun. I mean, we're hot right now, we're playing good, so I think it should be a good game."
The game next Saturday starts at 7 p.m. at Crescent Point Place.