Kindersley Klippers suffer weekend setback

By Jordan Parker

After a significant turnaround, the Klippers dropped two of three games over the weekend.

It began with an 8-1 trouncing on Friday, February 11 by the first-place Estevan Bruins, followed by a rebounding 4-2 win against Weymouth before they lost 4-2 to Notre Dame on Sunday.

Assistant Coach Mitch Topinka says it wasn’t the weekend the team hoped for or expected.

“Friday we were truly hoping for a different outcome. It just seemed like the guys packed it in and accepted the loss before it even happened,” he said.

“There were some bounces that easily could have gone our way, but didn’t You have to hope you get those good bounces, and we really didn’t. The score wasn’t reflective of the game, but we also didn’t deserve to win.”

Saturday’s game was a different story. The team had a slow start, but then came back with four unanswered goals to win it.

“It was a bit of a pull-your-hair-out moment. This time of year we can’t afford games like that. Then we had a slow start Sunday, and ended up down. We battled back, but it was too big a hill,” he said.

They could have come out of the Notre Dame game five points ahead, but now find themselves battling just one point apart for the last playoff spot.

“It’s a bit disappointing. The team needs fire in their bellies. Once again we had a heck of a time with bad bounces,” he said. “It just wasn’t a great weekend overall. We need to pull up our socks a little higher.”

In three games over the weekend, the Kindersley squad managed just one goal on 14 powerplays, the lone time they struck being against Estevan, during a game where they had eight man-advantage chances.

“They have a great penalty kill, but you need to bury those. I’ve been saying all year that they need that killer instinct. They just don’t have it,” he said.

“When you go up against the first-place team in their own barn, and you have eight powerplays, you need to put it away.”

The Estevan game also saw players Tylin Hilbig and captain Jaxon Georget sent into the dressing room in the final four minutes.

“Nothing against the officials, but there are calls that could have been made and this would have been done and over with. But Georget got a cheap shot, and things went on,” said Topinka.

“Tylin had enough and stepped in. There was a big scrum in front of the bench. Ty took two guys, Georgey had one, and everyone else pair off.”

Forward Tylin Hilbig just wasn’t happy with the way the game was being played.

“One of their players took a baseball swing at Nathan DeGraves, and Jaxon and I stuck up for him. There was a little scrum, but that happens,” he said.

“It was a tough weekend. We had bad starts to all three games, and that hurt us. We need to start games on time.”

He says the powerplay – which he plays on – just has to do better in big situations.

“It’s gotten better, but we need to shoot more. We need to bang home rebounds. That’s when you score most. It’s when you’re shooting a lot,” he said.

“We were so in our own heads against Estevan. We knew they’d be hard to beat, but we didn’t come ready to compete.”

Topinka said the team is always out-of-the-gate slow, and it’s been costing them.

“For the first ten minutes of every game, they just get outshot. It could be 13-2 on the shot counter because they don’t start on time. They usually turn it around after that,” he said.

“There isn’t much consistency there. But the guys are going to need to have a lot of focus down the stretch to achieve what they want.”