SJHL Wednesday Wrap!

It was a battle of cellar dwellars in Notre Dame tonight as the Hounds welcomed the Battlefords North Stars to town. The Hounds trailing 2-1 after two periods, fought back to score two goals in a 36 second span of the third period and managed to hold on and defeat the Stars 3-2. Travis Janke and Tanner Vandesype each had a goal and an assist while Thomas Williams scored the winner for the Hounds. Eddie Gale added a pair of assists for the Hounds while Steven Robinson and Chris Bratina also added helpers. Jason Walker and Nick Dvorak replied for Battlefords. Matt Restoule, Makstr Lacoursiere and Jesse Lebreton all added assists for the Stars. Both goaltenders had decent numbers as Andre-Michel Guay stopped 31 of 33 shots for the Hounds while counterpart Adrien Lemay made 33 stops in the Battlefords net. The Hounds move to within seven points of fifth place Estevan in the Sherwood as they go to 7-15-1-0. The Stars fall to 2-19-1-1 as the long season continues for the inexperienced club.

The La Ronge Ice Wolves erased a three goal deficit in the third period and forced overtime with 12 seconds to go in regulation before falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Melfort Mustangs. Matt Hill got the shootout winner for the Mustangs and added a goal and an assist. Clint Olson and Taylor Watt also had a goal and an assist each while Ryan Gareau scored the other Mustang goals. Kassidy Collins added two assists for Melfort. Jordie Johnston kept up his strong play for the Ice Wolves as he had a three point night (1 goal and 2 assists). Jarrid Dowhay, Bruno-Pier Gosselin and Calvin Fiddler also scored for La Ronge. Ilia Ejov was not real busy and maybe fought the puck a bit as he allowed 4 goals on only 17 shots but nevertheless picked up the win. Jonathan Jobin got his first start in a couple of weeks for the Ice Wolves and stopped 31 Melfort shots. The Mustangs improve to 13-7-0-1 while La Ronge is 11-10-1-1.

Tonight's Three Stars:

* Matt Hill - Melfort Mustangs (shootout winner, two points)
** Andre - Michel Guay - Notre Dame Hounds (31 save victory)
*** Jordie Johnston - Yorkton Terriers (3 point night)

Other SJHL Notes:

The Nipawin Hawks have dealt 20 year old goaltender Danny Gagne to the Winnipeg South Blues of the MJHL for future considerations.

There will be one SJHL game on Thursday night as the Battlefords North Stars complete a three game road trip in Estevan as they battle the slumping Bruins.

For those of you who have not heard yet (Ha Ha):

Historic night in Saskatchewan that deserves mention in this blog - the Saskatchewan Party under the leadership of Brad Wall has formed Government in the Province of Saskatchewan. In Weyburn Big-Muddy, Dustin Duncan maintains his seat which he won last year in a by-election. The NDP, under the leadership of Lorne Calvert become the official oppostion for the first time in over 16 years. Significance of this win of course - the Saskatchewan Roughriders did not win a Grey Cup during the entire 16 year period the NDP were in power. There you have it - had to end on a sports related note.

- Brad M.