Mils, Broncos and Bombers Win!

There were three games tonight in the SJHL and three of the hottest teams in the league were winners tonight.

In Melville, the Millionaires got two goals from Daniel Hope to lead them to a 3-1 victory over the Notre Dame Hounds. Shane Stanicky also scored for the Millionaires while Dion Campbell, Kale Dolinski and Jarret Fisher all chipping in with assists. Chris Bratina, his first as a Hound, scored for Notre Dame with the assist going to Brendon Dault. Kyle Cantlon picked up yet another win as he made 22 saves for the Mils. Mark Currie was busy again tonight in his second start for the Hounds stopping 37 of 40 shots faced. As Currie's luck would have it, the Hounds have slowed down their scoring pace since his arrival. If the Hounds score goals, it looks like Currie will be there to make the saves for them. The Mils improve to 9-1-0-0 with the win. The Hounds are now 2-12-0-0. The two teams go at it again on Friday night in Wilcox.

In Humboldt, the Broncos scored two goals in a 39 second span of the second period and that was the difference as they defeated the Yorkton Terriers 2-1. Jordan Schindel and Laurent Benjamin, who also had an assist, scored for the Broncos. Russ Nielsen, Brady Wacker and Mitchell Stretch also added assists for Humboldt. Derek Serdachny scored the Terriers lone goal on a third period power play from Bryan Hull and Carter Smith. Taylor Nelson, as usual, did not face a lot of rubber but got the win as he made 19 saves. Lynden Sammartino was pulled after allowing the two quick goals in the second period. He stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced. Joel Danyluk made his first SJHL appearance from that point on and stopped all 7 shots he faced. The Broncos improve to 9-2-0-0 and now have a five point cushion over Nipawin and Flin Flon. The Terriers are now 4-5-1-2 and remain in fourth place in the Sherwood Conference.

In Melfort, the Flin Flon Bombers won their fifth straight game aided by a big third period as they dumped the Mustangs 6-3. Pierre - Luc Boucher had two goals and an assist to pace the Bombers. Dennis Kubat and Reid MacLeod each had a goal and two assists as the top line combined for nine points. Dustyn Clegg and Tommy Castonguay also scored for the Bombers. Myles Masse chipped in with a pair of assists from the back end. Taylor Watt had two goals and an assist for Melfort in the loss. Matt Hill had the other Mustang goal. Mike Kirby added two assists. After Donavon Chow was called for tripping in the third period, one of the Melfort coaches (not sure which as I am just going from scoresheet) was given a bench minor and game misconduct. As Darrell Mann is a repeat offender I would suspect he will be hearing from Laury Ryan tomorrow. Carsen Chubak picked up the win for the Bombers as he made 21 saves. David Ritz had another rough outing for Melfort as he stopped only 15 of 21 shots faced. The Bombers improved to 6-3-0-1 and are now tied with Nipawin for second in the Itech. The Mustangs drop to 5-5-0-0 and sit in sole possession of fourth place in the division.

Wednesday's Three Stars:
1. Pierre - Luc Boucher - Flin Flon Bombers (2 goals, 1 assist)
2. Laurent Benjamin - Humboldt Broncos (2 points, game winner)
3. Daniel Hope - Melville Millionaires (2 goals, game winner)

The league is idle on Thursday night but Friday will be busy as there are five games on tap. The Wings host Estevan, Melville travels to Notre Dame, Melfort is at Yorkton, Kindersley is in Flin Flon and the Battlefords Stars travel to Nipawin.

Interesting stat of the day - Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price made his NHL debut tonight versus the Pittsburgh Penguins and got the win. What is ironic about that? Patrick Roy made his NHL debut 22 years ago tonight and won (also against Pittsburgh). Even freakier, in 1971, hall of famer Ken Dryden made his first NHL start against the Pittsburgh Penguins and was victorious. That is some kind of weird karma going on there.

Tomorrow is cut down day in the WHL for 20 year olds. The Saskatoon Blades are carrying five 20 year olds so two have to be moved or released. The two most likely to be released are defenseman Curtis Patterson and forward Michael Kaye who are both from Saskatoon. Rumor has it that both players are listed by Weyburn so it will be interesting to see if one or both end up here.

- Brad M.