The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings pushed the Flin Flon Bombers to the brink of elimination Tuesday night. Ethan Dekay scored a hat trick as the Red Wings skated to a 4-1 win on home ice at Crescent Point Place to go up 3-0 in their best-of-seven semifinal series.
"Couldn't have done it without my teammates, and my linemates," Dekay said after the game.
"It was a little sloppy," Red Wings head coach Cody Mapes said of his team's performance. "But at the end of the day, we did some things that we believe are going to give us success here throughout the series."
Angelo Zol had another really strong game in net for the Red Wings. He stopped 45 of the 46 shots he faced, with 21 of those in the third period.
"The boys played great," commented Zol. "They're blocking shots and moving bodies for me, and they made my job pretty easy tonight."
The Red Wings opened the scoring with 9:29 to go in the first period, when Dekay scored his first of the playoffs. He was assisted on the goal by Simon Martin and Dallen Oxelgren.
Weyburn would then pull away early in the second with a pair of goals in three minutes. The first goal would come 1:45 into the period when Jaxson Ruthven notched his second of the postseason. Jerome Maharaj and Blake Betson had the helpers on the goal.
Then, Dekay scored his second of the game 46 seconds later, assisted by Braigh LeGrandeur.
The 1403 in attendance would get louder and louder as the game went on, with the only time they were close to being silenced being the goal that spoiled Zol's shutout bid. Leighton Carruthers scored for Flin Flon with 3:10 remaining in regulation to make it 3-1.
Dekay wasn't finished scoring, though. He would fire a shot from his own blue line into an empty Flin Flon goal with 2:03 on the clock to make it 4-1.
With a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven SJHL semifinal series, the Red Wings will look to close out the series Wednesday night at Crescent Point Place.
"The crowds have been unbelievable here the last couple of months," said Mapes. "A game like that, they get an exciting game - an important win. Hopefully, all those people can come back tomorrow and we can give them the same thing."
The puck drops on Game 4 in the series at 7 p.m. If you can't make it down to Crescent Point Place to watch the game, you can listen on Great Plains Ford Red Wing Radio, Country 106.7. Dylan Fiessel will have the call starting with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.