The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings ended up splitting the weekend home and home with a 5-1 loss on Saturday against the Melville Millionaires. Red Wings got on the board first in Saturday’s matinee matchup with Cyprus Smith-Davis capping off the pretty passing play from Liam Fitzgerald and Max Chakrabarti for his 15th goal of the season at 16:50 of the first period.
It didn’t take long for the Millionaires to respond, and they would end up scoring 5 unanswered goals. Just 1:39 later, Melville captain Matt Kjemhus answered with a powerplay marker, his 6th of the year, assisted by Noah Belles-Isles and goaltender Nick Genette at 17:50 in the first.
The Millionaires continued their home dominance, with Kjemhus scoring his second of the game at 4:12 in the second period for his 7th of the season, assisted by Brendan Olson and Jadon Iyogun.
Just under 2 minutes later, at 6:01 in the second period, Brendan Olson would expand the Millionaires lead with his 11th of the year, assisted by Jadon Iyogun and Boston Harkness to make it 3-1. Olson would then go back-to-back later on in the second, at 18:32 for his 12th of the year and second of the game on the powerplay, assisted by Edward Knitting to make it 4-1 to end the second.
In the third period, at 12:06, William Forsberg would wrap up the scoring with his 7th of the year on the powerplay, assisted by Gaborik Carlson and Raine Hodge to make the 5-1 final. Special teams were the difference in this game, with the Millionaires going 3-9 on the powerplay with the Red Wings going 0-6. 76 total penalty minutes were issued in the matchup.
Millionaires' goalie Nick Genette made 24 saves on 25 shots for his 14th win of the season, while Red Wings’ goaltender Ty Matonovich stopped 35 of 40 in his first loss of the year.
The Red Wings will look to bounce back on Tuesday with a game against the Humboldt Broncos. This game is the return of former Red Wings goaltender Dazza Mitchell to Crescent Point Place, it’s a rematch of last year’s first round of playoffs and could be a potential first round matchup this year. The puck drops at 7:00 P.M. at Crescent Point Place