The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings are back in first place in the Viterra Division after picking up a crucial win at home last night. They topped the La Ronge Ice Wolves 3-2 in a shootout at Crescent Point Place, moving one point up on the Yorkton Terriers.
“As long as Killer (Kevin Kaminski) is their coach, they are going to work hard, they are going to block shots, they are going to be a gritty, gritty team,” Red Wings head coach Cody Mapes said of the Ice Wolves. “You only get what you earn against them. It obviously came right down to the end, and it was good to see Luke (Dekay) finish it off.”
The Red Wings opened the scoring in the first period when Lucas Schraeder scored his first Junior A goal. His shot would take a few bounces but ended up behind La Ronge netminder Graham Brown 4:31 into the game.
“We were joking with Schraeder the other day about it,” Mapes commented about the goal, which was assisted by Blake Betson and Josh Karman. “It was good to see him get one through traffic tonight.”
Weyburn would then extend the lead to 2-0 when Josh Sale got the puck over the goal line during a goalmouth scramble with 26 seconds to play in the first. His goal was assisted by Ethan Dekay and Josh Karman.
La Ronge would respond in the second period, starting with a goal by Brett Boucher 3:48 into the period. Then, Taite Donkin would beat Angelo Zol to tie things up with 2:24 to play in the second.
“We’ve talked lots about our consistency, and just being the same all the time,” Mapes said of his team’s effort in the second period. “We don’t want to change the way we play...at times we do change the way we play. We get away from things that give us success. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re a little more consistent here.”
Neither side would get a goal in the third period, despite Weyburn outshooting La Ronge 13-5 in the frame. This would lead to overtime, and while Weyburn would get a short power play that carried over from the third, the extra period wouldn’t solve anything. This would lead to a shootout where it needed six rounds to determine a winner.
La Ronge would get goals from Boucher and Cole Thomas, with Weyburn’s Max Chakrabarti, Jaxson Ruthven, and Luke Dekay all scoring in the shootout.
The Red Wings, who have now won five games in a row, will look to make it six this coming Friday. They travel to Melville to take on the Millionaires in a crucial Viterra Division match-up. From there, they return home Saturday for a rematch with the Ice Wolves who will be closing out a four-game, five-night southern road swing.