Ty Mason scored the game-winning goal with less than two minutes to play in Wednesday night’s game in Notre Dame, as the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings skated to their second win in a row, beating the Hounds 4-2. The two points for the Red Wings also had playoff implications for the Hounds, who are now all be ensured to finish in eighth place and will open the postseason in a best of seven match-up with the Estevan Bruins.
The Red Wings had goals from four different players in the win, which saw the team recording their second victory on the larger ice surface at the Duncan McNeill Arena this season. The win also saw a full effort from the whole team for the full 60 minutes.
“We like this group and they're making some big strides here lately,” said Red Wings head coach Cody Mapes after the game. “It’s good to see the boys rewarded here for it.”
The Red Wings had found themselves down after the opening period when Notre Dame’s Connor Nolan scored his 20th of the season. The puck had appeared to have been knocked down by a high stick both of the referees on the ice ruled that it was a good goal, much to the displeasure of Mapes.
The goal would prove to be the only one for the first 41:42 of the game, as Jackson Fellner in the Weyburn net and Ryley Osland in the Notre Dame net then stood tall until the third period. Fellner would make 24 saves over the first two periods, and Osland 20.
In the third period, Notre Dame jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 1:42 in. Nolen Coventry would score a goal that it looked like he had no idea he was about to score, as a rebound off the pad of Fellner went off the leg of Coventry and in, putting the Hounds up.
The Red Wings would reply with a goal just over a minute later. Cooper Chisholm would lunge at a rebound after the initial shot by Simon Pollock and pushed the puck past Osland at the 3:07 mark, putting Weyburn on the board.
Then, Mi-Kwan Tallman scored his third of the season at the 7:31 mark. His power play goal was assisted by Sebastian Hamming and Mason.
Mason’s game-winner came with 1:27 to play in the game. He would bring the puck from along the boards to the left of Osland, and fended off two Hounds to put himself into position. The shot would find the twine, and the Red Wings would take the lead. The goal was asissted by Colby Feist and Austyn Hansen.
Matthew Reidy would then put the game away with an empty-netter with 50 seconds to play. The goal, assisted by Jackson Hassman and Blake Norris, was the first of the season for the forward who just days earlier was named the Most Inspirational Red Wing at the team’s awards banquet.
“He earned that one for sure,” Mapes said of the goal by Reidy. “He did a great job on Tallman’s goal, in front of the net on the power play. There are so many things he does that go unnoticed.”
In the crease for the Red Wings, Fellner turned aside 39 of the 41 shots he faced. The win was his first since January 4th against the Yorkton Terriers and his first start since February 19th in Estevan.
The Red Wings will now close out the regular season on Thursday as they travel to Yorkton to take on the Terriers. Weyburn will once again be looking to play spoiler, as Yorkton needs to pick up three points in their final two games of the season to leapfrog the La Ronge Ice Wolves into 6th place overall in the league.
You can catch all the action on Red Wing Radio, BIG 106, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m.