Penalty Kill Key To Wings Win!

The Weyburn Red Wings started a mini two game road trip to the Itech Conference tonight as they headed to Nipawin to battle the new look Hawks. Connor Krukowski scored his first of the season at 16:32 of the first period to put the Wings up 1-0. Brayden Nargang and Josh Bray assisted on the goal. The Wings went up 2-0 at the 13:35 mark of the second period with a power play goal by Michael Seib. Preston Shupe and Torrey Lindsay had the helpers on the goal. The Hawks seemed to wake up after that as just over two minutes later, Steve Mason cut the score to 2-1 from Keldon Sanderson and Torrie Dyck. Than with just 26 seconds to go in the second period, the Hawks tied things up as defenseman Taylor Thiessen snuck up in the play to pick up the goal on the power play. Cody Wutzke and Mike Rey assisted on the goal. The two teams played a scoreless third and five minute overtime period before the shootout decided the winner. Luke Johnson, the Wings fifth shooter, ended things as he put the puck past Hawks goaltender Derek Kleinsteuber. AJ Whiffen than stoned Thiessen on the Hawks final chance to seal the win for Weyburn, a 3-2 shootout victory. Whiffen was incredible yet again as he made 40 saves, many when the Wings were playing short-handed - which seemed like a majority of the night. Despite the Wings having to kill off 9 man disadvantages versus the mere two that Nipawin had to deal with, the guys persevered. Kleinsteuber made 25 saves in the Nipawin goal. The Wings have a two point lead over second place Kindersley after picking up win #16 on the season. The Hawks do pick up a point for the shootout loss and are firmly entrenched for the time being in fifth in the Itech.

In Kindersley, the Klippers, as I just mentioned, moved into second place ahead of Melville as they downed the Yorkton Terriers 2-0. Ryan Sawka and Jeremy Beller scored for the Klippers while Matt Sawa, Kirk Pearce, Tyler Hodges and Jayde Dunser all added assists. Matt Weninger made 26 saves to pick up the shutout for the Klippers as he continues to battle Ryan Nieszner for minutes in Kindersley. Lynden Sammartino played well despite the loss as he turned aside 36 shots. The Terriers are having trouble scoring goals as of late and are hoping for the speedy recovery of Bryan Hull to help in that regard. The Terriers sit two points back of third place Melville.

It was a first place battle in the Itech Conference tonight and when all was said and done, the Melfort Mustangs and Humboldt Broncos are now tied for first as the Mustangs defeated the Broncos 2-1 in a shootout tonight. Gary Childerhose scored the shootout winner for the Mustangs. Cam Oliphant scored the Mustangs goal in regulation time from Matt Hill. Josh Garneau scored the Broncos lone goal from Scott Schroeder. Ilia Ejov made 28 saves as he led the Mustangs to victory. Taylor Nelson made 20 saves in the Humboldt goal.

Tonight's Three Stars:

* Matt Weninger - Kindersley Klippers (shutout over Terriers)
** AJ Whiffen - Weyburn Red Wings (40 save performance to lead Wings past Nipawin)
*** Ilia Ejov - Melfort Mustangs (28 saves in win over Humboldt)

The La Ronge @ Flin Flon game was postponed due to problems with the La Ronge bus. No makeup has been announced as of yet.

Reminder: Wings are in Melfort to battle the Mustangs tomorrow night. You can catch the game on Red Wing radio AM1190 with Kevin Smith.

Go Riders! Go Wings!

- Brad M.