Kindersley Klippers prep for crucial game two

By Jordan Parker

The Senior Men’s Kindersley Klippers are ready to battle in game two of the Provincial Senior B Championships.

After an unfortunate 9-8 loss in the first game, Kindersley are trying to bounce back this Saturday against the Outlook Ice Hawks.

“It’s obviously not the result we wanted,” said Coach Chris Forsman. “It’s a tough game, and we’d never played them before. They’re a team that came exactly as advertised. They can shoot and they can score, and we figured that out.”

Forsman says there are a few things they’ll need to work on as a team if they want to beat Outlook.

“We are going to have to work on being more disciplined. We took a few penalties we shouldn’t have, and it cost us,” he said.

“We also need to work on being better offensively. Last game was very back-and-forth. This time we’ll be able to be at home, and play the match-up game.”

One of the big things Forsman is looking forward to is playing championship hockey in front of the Kindersley crowd.

“Senior hockey is about community. This is the last stop before playing competitive hockey,” he said. “It’s a long tradition of playing here, since the 1940s or 50s in Kindersley.”

He said that the crowd can energize everyone, and it’s especially fun to play at home in front of people.

“Playing in the championship definitely gets towns excited, especially small towns. In Outlook for game one, there was a full rink,” he said.

With a big series of games comes a whole lot of small-town pride, and the Mayors of Outlook and Kindersley have begun a friendly bet.

Outlook’s Mayor Weiterman and Kindersley’s Mayor Rod Perkins made a bet on game two on March 26, 2022. The losing Mayor will wear the winning team’s jersey for day one of the upcoming SUMA convention.

“I heard about that on the radio, and it’s so good that they’re into it. SUMA is a big meeting in Regina, and I bet it’s the first time they’ve gotten to do it in a few years. It makes things fun,” he said.

In addition to wearing a jersey, the loser must proclaim, “The winning team defeated all others, including my team, and I bow to their town in awe.”

With everyone getting in on things, it’ll be an interesting event on Saturday night.

“We have practice tonight and we’re going to go through a few things. We’ll talk about what we liked and didn’t like. All games are different,” he said. “They could be some surprises, and anything could happen.”