Wings Cash in Against Moneymen!

A big Sherwood conference battle was served up tonight at the Weyburn Colosseum and when the smoke cleared the Weyburn Red Wings skated away with a 5-1 win over the visiting Melville Millionaires.

The Millionaires actually got on the board first as Aaron Decorby scored as the Red Wings could not clear away the front of the net. Levi Lind and Scott Hennings assisted on the goal. Ironically, Decorby was not to be dressed for the game but replaced Daniel Hope who became sick prior to the game. The Wings would tie things up just under four minutes later on a good power play cycle that ended up with a Josh Bray slapshot beating Mils goaltender Joe Rodwell. Stephen Simms and Preston Shupe picked up assists on the power play marker. The Wings would then make use of a penalty kill situation as the dynamic duo of Scott Doody and Erick Ruud broke up ice. Ruud would get the original shot on a breakaway which was stopped by Rodwell but Scott Doody followed up the play and buried the loose rebound passed Rodwell to make it 2-1. Rhett Bly also assisted on the goal. The Wings would go up 3-1 at the 9:09 mark of the second period as they would again capitalize short-handed. This time it was Rhett Bly and Preston Shupe breaking out on a 2 on 1 with Bly feeding the beautiful pass to Shupe who deked out Rodwell for the goal. The Wings would go up 4-1 at the 6:39 mark of the third period as Torrey Lindsay would score into a wide open net on the power play. Shupe and Bray assisted on the goal. Erick Ruud would round out the scoring for the Red Wings with just over five minutes to play with Doody and Kyle Haines getting the assists. Ruud took the original shot through the legs of a Millionaire defenseman before jumping on the juicy rebound to seal the victory for the Wings. The line of Scott Doody (9 points), Erick Ruud (8 points) and Eric Calibaba (5 points) have combined for 22 points in their last three games. AJ Whiffen had another fine start as he made 32 saves to improve his record to 23-6-2-3 with a 2.23 GAA and a remarkable .933 saves percentage with six shutouts. Joe Rodwell made 33 saves in his second appearance as a Millionaire. New fan favorite Justin Crockatt had a pair of fights as he battled Michael Jordan and Curtis Beech. Mick Pawlyshyn also got into the fun as he had a spirited tilt with Matt Kinnunen of the Millionaires. The Red Wings are now at 30-12-2-5 for the season as they regain a seven point advantage over the second place Kindersley Klippers and have a commanding 11 point lead over the third place Millionaires. Dwight McMillan won game #999 tonight and goes for win #1000 on Friday night when the Wings travel to La Ronge to battle Bob Beatty's Ice Wolves.

Speaking of those Ice Wolves, they were also in action tonight as they downed the visiting Yorkton Terriers 5-3. This game was re-scheduled from Saturday night after the Terriers bus hit the ditch just south of La Ronge on Saturday morning as they were heading to La Ronge after their game in Melville on Friday night.
Jarrid Dowhay and Calvin Fiddler each scored twice to pace the Ice Wolves. Adam Moar also scored for the Wolves which stood up as the game winner. Riel Thomson and Jordie Johnston each had two assists with single helpers going to David Lawrence, Ken Neufeld, Bruno - Pier Gosselin, Dustin Stevenson, Brad Harding and Tyler Karst. Derek Serdachny had a goal and an assist for the Terriers. Kirk Bycynski and Greg Coburn also scored for the Terriers. Bryan Hull, Kyle Block and Kevin Stringfellow all added assists. Jonathan Jobin picked up the win for the Ice Wolves as he made 28 saves. Joel Danyluk started the game for the Terriers and allowed all five goals on 34 shots. Lynden Sammartino mopped up for the final fifteen minutes stopping all nine shots he faced. The Ice Wolves opened up a five point advantage over fourth place Flin Flon in the Itech with the win. It is starting to look like Humboldt, Melfort and La Ronge will finish 1-2-3 in the division leaving the Bombers and Nipawin Hawks to battle things out in the survivor series.

- Brad M.