For the second night in a row, the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings were in Kindersley to play the Klippers Wednesday. They were looking to avenge their loss Tuesday night, and came out with a jump in their step, keeping Kindersley on their heels in the very early moments of the game. Weyburn would also have the Klippers reeling in the second half of the game. In the end, though, the Klippers would pick up a win for the second night in a row over the Wings, winning 4-3.
“I think the back-to-back hurt us a little bit with the numbers we had,” said head coach Cody Mapes after the game. “In saying that, we gave ourselves a chance.” He added that the final 25 minutes of the game is what he wants to see out of the team, but he would have liked to see it for a full 60 minutes.
The teams would go back and forth through the rest of the first half of the opening frame until the game got close to the halfway mark when something no one could ever recall seeing in a hockey game happened. Dropping down to make a save, the right goal pad of Red Wings netminder Boston Gelowitz fell off during a Klippers power play, resulting in a stoppage of play. He was able to get the pad strapped back on, and the play resumed.
The Klippers would shift the momentum as the period went on, and their flurry of shots on Gelowitz would eventually pay off, as Austin Schaab would get the puck past the netminder with 5:35 to go in the opening period, making it a 1-0 game. The goal was assisted by Tylin Hilbig and Jaxon Georget.
Finding themselves outshot 19-9 after the first 20 minutes, the Wings were looking for a spark to gain momentum when the second period started.
That spark came from the stick of Ty Mason. He took a feed from Ethan Clements and streaked into the Kindersley zone on the left wing. He cut into the faceoff circle and fired the puck off the bar, then off the back of Klippers' goalie Brett Sweet to even things up at the 5:43 mark of the middle period.
The Klippers regained the lead shortly afterwards, though. Kindersley gained the Wings zone on a three-on-one, as Josh Pufahl chipped it up to Georget who fed it across the slot over to Schaab, who scored his second of the game to make it 2-1 8:04 into the second.
The lead was opened up to two goals moments later when Coletyn Boyarski picked up a loose puck off a scramble along the boards going into the Weyburn zone. He would find himself coming in alone on Gelowitz and beat him, making it 3-1 Klippers with 6:34 remaining in the frame.
Then, Kindersley made it a three-goal lead as Andrew Blocker got behind the defencemen, taking a feed from Noah Lindsay and came in uncontested, beating Gelowitz with 5:01 to remain. The goal would also spell the end of the night for Gelowitz, and Jackson Fellner came in to take his place in the crease.
The goaltender change would see the Red Wings put pressure on the Klippers and it paid off. Kirk Mullen scored his fifth of the season when he was crashing the net, stick on the ice. A pass from Davis Chorney was redirected by Mullen past Sweet to make it 4-2 with 48 seconds to go in the period.
Mullen would then score again just 35 seconds later. Weyburn came in on a rush, with Matthew Reidy carrying it on the left wing. He pushed it over to Blake Norris, who then threw it into the slot for Mullen who got it past Sweet to close out the period with Weyburn down 4-3.
The third period would see the Red Wings throw everything they had at the Klippers. After being outshot nearly 2 to 1 in the first period, the Wings had all the momentum in the third. They would finish off the period with 17 shots on goal, and actually outshot Kindersley 29 to 21 over the final 40 minutes. Klippers' goalie Sweet, though, was able to turn aside all of the shots in the final moments of the game to preserve the win. He was especially on top of things during a four-minute powerplay late in the game after Nathan DeGraves was sent to the box for spearing.
While the Red Wings weren’t able to come away from Kindersley with a point over the two games, they will get one more chance to pick up a win over the Klippers on Friday. The two teams meet for the third time in four nights, this time with the game being played in Weyburn.