Wild and Crazy Night in the SJHL!

If you love goals, it was a fun night to watch hockey in the SJHL.

First off in Weyburn, the Red Wings picked up a single point in the standings after a 6-5 shootout loss to the Melville Millionaires. The Red Wings jumped out to an early 2-0 start as Brayden Nargang and Rhett Bly, with his first SJHL goal, scoring 35 seconds apart. Matt Kinnunen brought Melville within one at the 16:22 mark of the first period to make it 2-1 after a period of play. The Millionaires came out flying in the second period as Dion Campbell scored a power play marker just 10 seconds into the period. The Mils then took their first lead of the game only 1:07 later as Bryant Dyke found the back of the net, again on the power play. The Wings tied it up again three minutes later when Torrey Lindsay picked up his fourth goal of the season. The Mils then got consecutive goals from Otto Ruszkoski and Campbell to take a 5-3 lead, before Luke Johnson made it 5-4 with just 37 seconds remaining in the second period. It appeared that Melville was on there way to a regulation time victory before Stephen Simms' shot from the point eluded Kyle Cantlon with just 1:05 to play in the third period making it 5-5 headed for overtime. In the shootout, Campbell and Lindsay scored for their respective teams. Brad Johnston then shot for Melville and was stopped by Kyle McConnell. Scott Doody then shot for the Wings unsuccessfully. Daniel Hope was the third shooter for Melville and made a nice move on McConnell to put the Mils up in the shootout. Josh Bray then went for Weyburn but put the puck high over Kyle Cantlon. Cantlon made 30 saves to pick up the win for Melville. AJ Whiffen had a rough outing for the Wings as he only managed to stop 17 shots in almost two periods of play. Kyle McConnell went the rest of the way for the Wings and was perfect until the shootout. Melville improved to a whopping 7-0 with the win. The Wings are now 5-2-0-1 and continue to sit second in the Sherwood Conference.


Other games:
La Ronge 11 - Jarrid Dowhay, Joel Belair, Bruno-Pier Gosselin (4 points each)
Notre Dame 8 - Tanner Vandesype, Rylan Schwartz, Bryan Hull (3 points each)

Nipawin 7 - Brent Ottmann (5 goals) Torrie Dyck, Blair Toms (3 assists each)
Humboldt 3 - Evan Bryksa (2 goals), Matthew Rintoul (2 points)

Estevan 1 - Guillaume Perusse (32 saves), Kyle Stroh (goal)
Flin Flon 3 - Cameron McKinnon (game winner), Carsen Chubak (first SJHL win)

Three Stars Tonight (league wide)

1. Brent Ottmann - Nipawin Hawks (5 goals)
2. Jarrid Dowhay - La Ronge Ice Wolves (3 goals, 1 assist)
3. Dion Campbell - Melville Millionaires (2 goals, best player on ice tonight for either team)

Honorable Mention - Torrey Lindsay - Weyburn Red Wings (Torrey had a two point night and I thought was the best Red Wing on the ice.

Note: For those who did not realize that were at the game. Late in the second period I believe it was, referee Nathan Wieler had signalled a Melville penalty for high-sticking until he discussed with his linseman and they came to the conclusion that the Millionaire player had high sticked one of his own players, not a Red Wing. That was the reason why the penalty was not called.

- Brad M.