The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings were looking to keep their winning streak alive Wednesday night as they entertained the Viterra Division-leading Yorkton Terriers at Crescent Point Place. Despite Yorkton having the majority of the chances early in the game, the Red Wings weathered the storm and skated to a 7-4 victory.
“I thought to start the game, (Angelo) Zol made sure that we were able to get settled in, and he had to make a few saves,” head coach Cody Mapes said after the game. 'A few saves' was 23 in total in that first period, and he would face 35 on the night, with 31 saves.
“Zol had to be real good to make sure that we had a chance through that, and once we kind of got settled down, I thought we were all right throughout the night.”
Weyburn would be the ones to open the scoring in the first period when Jaxson Ruthven potted his 15th of the season 8:11 into the frame. Turner McIntyre and Max Chakrabarti had the assists on the power play goal.
The Terriers would respond early in the second period when former Red Wing Keenan Ingram scored 68 seconds in. The scoreboard would be the closest it would be for the game, though, as the Red Wings took over from there.
Ruthven scored his second of the night, unassisted, at 6:15. Then Blake Betson netted his 7th goal of the season at 8:22 with Josh Sale and Luke Dekay assisting on the goal. Liam Fitzgerald then made it 4-1 for the Wings with 5:21 remaining in the second period.
The Terriers would answer back with a power play goal of their own, though. Jeff Hammond scored with 3:13 left in the second to make it 4-2. Cyprus Smith-Davis would reply before the end of the period to restore the three-goal lead as he put his 9th of the season into the back of the net, assisted by Jerome Maharaj.
In the third period, the two teams traded goals throughout the 20 minutes. It started with a goal from Yorkton’s Tyler Palin at the 4:21 mark. Then, at 9:08, Dekay scored a goal of his own. His sixth of the campaign was assisted by Betson and Sale.
Ingram scored his second of the game with 3:32 left to play, giving the Terriers a chance to come back from a 6-4 deficit. Then, penalty troubles for the Terriers as they took three minor penalties in the span of just moments. With a 5-on-3 situation, Ruthven scored his third of the game with 49 seconds left to play to make it a 7-4 final.
“It definitely feels good,” Ruthven said of the hat trick. “I’m more interested in beating a high-level opponent like Yorkton, but it’s always good to contribute.”
Sale, in his third game with the Red Wings since being acquired in a trade with the Humboldt Broncos, finished with two assists.
“I think we just got them right from the start,” Sale commented after the game. “Maybe a little bit of a lull in the second period, but we came back and just won the game. That’s all that matters.”
With the win, the Red Wings are now one point back of the Terriers for the top spot in the Viterra Division. They will look to get the win to leapfrog into first place this Saturday when they host the Notre Dame Hounds at Crescent Point Place.
“We can’t take Notre Dame lightly,” Sale noted about the upcoming opponent. “We’ve got some good players, and we’ve just got to be physical with them, play fast, and we should be fine.”
The puck drops for the game Saturday at 7 p.m.