The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings are off to Radville tonight for a neutral site game against their other Highway 39 rivals, the Notre Dame Hounds.
The Wings are coming into the game after picking up two wins over the Estevan Bruins on the weekend – a 4-3 overtime thriller in Estevan Friday night, and a 6-1 rout of the Bruins at Crescent Point Place Saturday. The wins saw some standout performances from the Weyburn squad, with Lucas Jeffreys being named Defenseman of the Week after notching four points, and Dazza Mitchell was named Goaltender of the Week after posting the two wins. Forward Ty Mason also had a stellar weekend, picking up five points in the two games.
The game in Radville will be the second match-up of the season between the Wings and the Hounds, with Weyburn picking up a 6-3 win at Crescent Point Place in their first game of the season back on December 16th. That game saw five different players find the back of the net, while Matt Schoephoerster turned aside 29 shots to earn the win.
The smaller arena will provide a slightly different atmosphere for the game. For Jeffreys, this will be the first time he has played a neutral site game like this.
“I think it will be awesome,” he told Discover Weyburn. “Both teams aren’t staying at their own homes, so I think it will be good to go there and take it too them.”
For Mitchell, the smaller arena brings back memories from last season, when the Wings had to complete a game at the Kinsmen Arena in Yorkton after an issue with the ice at the Westland Arena.
“It’s a completely different atmosphere,” Mitchell said. “When there’s just a couple people in there it gets really loud. A lot colder, a lot louder in there, but it should be fun.”
The Red Wings enter the game one point up on the Hounds for the eighth and final playoff spot in the SJHL. The Hounds also hold three games in hand.
You can catch all the action in the game tonight at the Radville Recreation Centre, and you can also listen live on Red Wing Radio BIG106. The puck drops on the game at 7:00 p.m.