Klippers give "Ruud" welcome to Wings!

The Weyburn Red Wings welcomed one of the new additions to the lineup tonight as Erick Ruud jumped on the bus and headed into Kindersley with the Wings after flying in. Unfortunately the Wings were handed one of their worst losses in recent memory as the Kindersley Klippers annihilated the Wings 10-1.

Jordan Braid, in his first game as a Klipper after joining the team from the WHL's Saskatoon Blades yesterday got the hat trick and added an assist. Kirk Pearce scored twice and assisted on three Klippers goals. Matt Sawa had a big six point night as he had a goal and five assists. Brett Leedahl picked up a goal and three assists. Ryan Sawka added 2 goals and an assist. Casey Rempel also had a goal for Kindersley. Blueliners Scott Linnell and Steven Turner each added two assists. The Red Wings lone goal was scored by Eric Calibaba with assists going to Scott Doody and Mick Pawlyshyn. According to play by play man Kevin Smith, Erick Ruud had an assist in his Red Wing debut which means he would take that point over Doody or Pawlyshyn but no confirmation on that at the time of writing (not that it really matters in a 10-1 loss). Matt Weninger made the start for the Klippers and stopped 29 of 30 shots. AJ Whiffen started for the Wings and allowed three goals on 18 shots in the first period. He started the second period but was pulled after allowing a goal on the first shot he faced in the second period. Tanner Erickson would come in for the rest of the game and stopped 25 of 31 shots he faced. Although I will not be as generous as Kevin Smith and give a game star to one of the Red Wings, I will say one positive that can come from this game is that the guys get another kick at the Klippers in just two sleeps. Hopefully the Wings will be ready for that one. One note - Justin Crockatt should make his Red Wing debut tomorrow night in the Battlefords as he is expected to meet the team in North Battleford. One other positive from tonight was that the Red Wings won the fights. Kudos to Michael Seib, Shawn Courtney and Luke Johnson although winning fights I know does not give you two points in the standings. I have nothing more to say about this disastrous game. File the tape in the garbage and lets move on.

The Red Wings did get some help tonight from the Flin Flon Bombers as they downed the Melville Millionaires 5-2 in Melville. Mike Reagan and the Bombers will have to be happy as they won a road game in a building that is tough to win in when you are the visitor. Pierre-Luc Boucher scored twice and had an assist to lead the way for the Bombers. Dominic Martel, Cole Wilson and Barrett Penner also scored for the Bombers. David Dykstra, Mitch Dougall, Michael Young, Myles Masse and Scott Day all added assists for the Bombers. Kale Dolinski had a goal and an assist for Melville. Scott Hennings also scored for the Millionaires who got a pair of assists from Brad Johnston as well as a helper from Derek Edwards. Calvin Bartel got the win for Flin Flon as he made 17 saves. Kyle Cantlon was much busier stopping 36 of 40 shots fired his way. The Millionaires fall to third in the Sherwood with Kindersley's win tonight. The Bombers move within a point of the third place La Ronge Ice Wovles in the Itech and have four games in hand.

Speaking of those Ice Wolves, they had another battle on their hands tonight as they battled the Humboldt Broncos. For the second consecutive meeting between the two clubs, the Broncos would pull out the 2-1 victory. Matt Kirzinger got the Broncos on the board at the 5:20 mark of the second period with assists going to Scott Schroeder and Shawn Hunter. The score would remain 1-0 until the 16:51 mark of the third as sniper Jordie Johnston picked up his 32nd goal of the season from Ken Neufeld short-handed. However, just 27 seconds later, the Broncos would regain their lead as Tanner Vandesype got the game winner from Matt Rintoul and Jordan Schindel. Taylor Nelson was not overly busy but stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced. Jonathan Jobin takes the loss despite only allowing two goals on 27 shots.

It was also a slow scoring affair in Melfort as the Mustangs welcomed the Nipawin Hawks to town. Tommy Brown got the Stangs on the board just 37 seconds into the second from Taylor Watt and Brady Gordon on the power play. The Mustangs would go up 2-0 just over four minutes later on yet another power play. Clint Olson got the goal from Watt and Nick Kalnicki. It appeared that Ilia Ejov would get the shutout until the Hawks spoiled the bid with just six seconds left to play. Torrie Dyck (who else) got the goal from Brent Ottmann and Jordon Miller. Ejov stopped 20 shots for the win while Hawks goaltender Dan DiCamillo made 27 stops for his club.

It was a battle of cellar dwellars in North Battleford tonight and it was a big night for the Stars as they overcame a 4-2 deficit to down the Notre Dame Hounds 5-4 in a shootout. Colton Graf scored twice for the Stars while also picking up a goal in the shootout. Defenseman Kirk Moore had a goal and two assists for the Stars while Nickolaus Dvorak added a goal and an assist. Shawn McNulty had two assists for the Stars. Joel Budd and Brody Malek also had single helpers.

Rylan Schwartz had a hat trick to lead the way for the Hounds. Roy Farrer had the other Notre Dame goal. Kyle Ireland added three assists for the Hounds with single helpers going to Travis Montgomery, Alex Abramov, Blayne Stevenson and Andrew Bzdel. Adrien Lemay got the win for the Stars as he made 24 saves. Mark Currie took the shootout loss as he stopped 35 of 39 shots before allowing shootout goals to Graf and Jesse Lebreton.

Tonights Three Stars:

1. Matt Sawa - Kindersley Klippers (1 goal, 5 assists for Klippers captain)
2. Colton Graf - Battlefords North Stars (2 goals and shootout clincher for the Stars young forward.)
3. Jonathan Braid - Kindersley Klippers (3 goals, 1 assist not a bad SJHL debut for Mr. Braid.)

Reminder - Wings are in the Battlefords tomorrow night and should be an angry and hungry crew. They can't afford another night off. Do not let the Stars record fool you, they have some good young players that can bite you in the rear if you are not on your game for a full sixty.

Have a good night everyone!

- Brad M.