Klippers’ wings clipped by Humboldt Broncos

By Jordan Parker

The SJHL Kindersley Klippers hit a bump in their road to the playoffs after a 7-1 loss to the Humboldt Broncos last weekend.

Following an incredible 3-2 victory on February 19, 2022 against them, the Klippers were then trounced two days later.

“There are no excuses. It was close going into the third, then things got out of hand,” said Assistant Coach Mitch Topinka. “We got five straight penalties, and they made us pay.”

The Klippers were down 3-1 going into the third period, but couldn’t come back from four straight goals, three of which were on the powerplay.

“For a lot of the game, we worked very well. The effort was there. But we had some bad bounces, and the discipline issues cropped back up,” he said

Though he didn’t blame the reffing for the outcome, he was frustrated by some calls that night.

“Some of the things calls haven’t been since before Christmas. They came out of nowhere, and the guys aren’t used to them,” he said. Included in the third period calls were hooking, tripping, boarding, holding and cross-checking calls.

“We faced a bit of adversity, and we cracked under the pressure. These last two weeks, we’re going to need a big push.”

The team was outshot 44-17 during their Saturday win, and 34-19 on Monday, as the Broncos pushed themselves to a victory.

“We had our opportunities going into Saturday, but we were a bit passive. We had too much respect for them. Defensively, we were playing great. But there were a few letdowns. We knew it’d be a shooting gallery up by one, but we did a good job blocking shots,” he said.

“On Monday, we were letting them get so many high-quality opportunities. The penalty trouble just cost us. We keep telling the guys to shoot and get into the dirty areas, and that needs to kick in now.”

They have sixth games ahead before the end of the regular season, and they’re only one point ahead of Notre Dame in eighth, the final playoff spot.

“They have a few games in hand. It will be a dogfight, and we know we need to come out with our best hockey to get to the dance,” he said.

“It’s a tough schedule going ahead, and some games are for the taking. But we’ll also need some luck in the upcoming week.”

As the Melfort game looms on Wednesday, March 2, Topinka says the team is going to have to stay on-task.

“They play physical, so we’ll have to do the same without getting carried away. We just need to continue to work our systems. We need pucks on net. When we play at our best, we can beat anyone,” he said.

Assistant Captain Noah Lindsay knows they have to be better to get into the playoffs.

“Penalties hurt us for sure the past couple days. A talking point from Head Coach Ken Plaquin was that we can’t allow the refs’ decisions to affect the way we play,” he said.

“He said we need to focus on what we can control, and don’t let our minds stray off what we need to do next shift.”

He said Humboldt is a good time that will come at you hard, and they needed to be more ready.

“When you play against a team that takes away your time and space so efficiently, it can get hard to generate quality offensive chances,” he said.

But Lindsay sees ways they can work together to fight through the last few games and make the playoffs.

“With so few games left this season, it’s important we play the rest as a team. We need to keep each other accountable and encourage everyone to give their all in the final push,” he said.

“We all want to make the playoffs more than anything, and we can only make that happen together.”