Sask West This Week: The race is on for playoff positions in the SWHL
By Phil Heilman
The end of the regular season is near in the Sask West Hockey League (SWHL) and it is turning into a race for playoff seeding. The Kindersley Sr Klippers sit in 1st with a 9-2-1 record, followed by the Hafford Hawks with a 9-2 record. In third is the Wilkie Outlaws with an 8-2-1 record, followed by the Edam 3 Stars with a 5-4-1 record. In fifth is the Macklin Mohawks with a 5-6 record, in sixth is the Biggar Nationals with a 2-6-2 record, and the Unity Miners with a 0-9-2 record.
On Saturday night, the Edam 3 Stars headed southwest for a tilt against the Macklin Mohawks, and it was the visitors coming away with a big 5-1 win.
Keegan Tiringer opened the scoring at the 11:30 mark, and added his second of the night just 5 minutes later. Brady Deobald would add his 1st of the year for a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Tyler Robertson would score on the power play to cut the lead to 3-1, but Tiringer would score again just 4 minutes later for a 4-1 lead after 40. Tiringer wasn't happy with the hattrick, adding his 4th of the evening (and 16th of the year!) to round out scoring.
Taryn Kotchorek secured the win, stopping 33 of 34 shots, while Trevor Martin stopped 24 of 29 shots in the loss.
Also on Saturday night, the Wilkie Outlaws headed north for an important battle against the Hafford Hawks, with the Hawks taking the 5-4 overtime victory.
The scoring party started early with Will Rathje’s 2nd of the year, followed by Kyler Lorenz’s 3rd of the year for a 2-0 lead just 3 minutes in. Mike Sittler scored just 5 minutes after that before Kyle Rivett cut the lead down to 3-1. Rory Gregoire would add to the lead and send the teams to the locker rooms with the scoreboard reading 4-1 after the 1st period. The lone goal of the 2nd frame came from Jeremy Boyer, cutting the lead to 4-2. The comeback was on in the 3rd, with Rivett netting his second of the game. Kyle Litchenwald would complete the comeback on the power play at the 11:02 mark of the 3rd. This sent the game into overtime, with Boyer sending the fans home happy with his 7th of the year.
Jared Herle took the tough luck OTL, stopping 37 of 42 shots, while Joel Gryzbowski stopped 39 of 43 shots in the win.
Another Saturday night tilt saw the Unity Miners hosting the Biggar Nationals, with the Nationals coming with the 5-4 overtime victory.
Derek Nicholls and Taylor Bucsis were the duo of scores in the 1st period, allowing the visitors to have a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. In the middle frame, Justin Gerein would cut the lead to 2-1, but Brett Novak on the powerplay would restore that 2-goal lead. The rally caps were on in the third for the Miners faithful, and it worked as Garrin Scheer would score with 3:04 left in the 3rd, and Daniel Hilsendager tying the game up at 4 with just 55 seconds left on the clock. It was all for not though as Brett Novak would score at 2:35 of the extra period to secure the win.
Brett Matlock stopped 29 of 33 shots in the win, while Brett Vanderveer stopped 23 of 28 shots in the overtime loss.
On Friday night, the Macklin Mohawks opened the doors to the Credit Union Legacy Centre for the Unity Miners, and proceeded to thump them in a 9-3 victory.
Foster Steinhubel scored at the 14:15 mark to open the scoring, but Breden Lacoursiere would tie it up at 1. Carson Pickett wanted the lead, scoring his 5th of the year with just 23 seconds left on the clock for a 2-1 Mohawks lead after 20 minutes. The dam burst a bit in the 2nd period as Foster (on the power play) & Hunter Steinhubel, as well as Tyler Robertson all scoring in a 3-minute span. Pickett's second of the game would give Macklin a commanding 6-1 lead before Lacoursiere's second of the night (on the power play) would cut the lead to 6-2 after 40 minutes. Brayden Schultz would again cut the lead down to 3, but it was as close as they would get as Spencer Bast, Jesse Gartner and Robertson would extend the lead and round out scoring.
Ryan Rewerts took the loss, stopping 5 of 10 shots in 33:49 of playing time before being pulled for Brett Vanderveer, who stopped 21 of 25 shots in 26:11 of relief. Trevor Martin took the win, stopping 31 of 22 shots in 52:11 of playing time. Owen Bosch came in for 7:49 of relief time in the 2nd, and stopped 7 of 8 shots.
Also on Friday night, The Kindersley Sr Klippers hosted the Edam 3 Stars. Kindersley took the win in a 2-1 shootout victory.
Troy Boisjoli scored early in the 1st on the powerplay for the 1-0 lead. That held all the way until the 7:22 mark of the 2nd before Cody Danberg tied it up at 1. The 3rd period and overtime solved nothing. Cody Danberg, Keegan Tiringer and Joel Blaquiere would all be stopped in the skills competition. Markus Boguslavsky would be stopped, but Kyle Donaldson would not, securing the victory on the lone shootout goal.
Taryn Kotchorek stopped 38 of 39 shots in the “tie” (Shootout losses are tough to count so it is recognized as a tie). Logan Drackett took the shootout win, stopping 52 of 53 shots.
The past weekend really shook out the standings, but still some things need to be decided in the final weekend of the SWHL. Edam needs one point in their final two games to secure 4th place. Hafford needs a win of any kind to leapfrog Kindersley for 1st place, however an extra time loss would tie them for 1st and require a tiebreaker. For Wilkie’s chances, in short form, a win would tie them with Kindersley for either 1st or 2nd, which would require more tiebreaking. Macklin has a slim chance at 4th, which requires them winning their game and Edam losing both theirs in regulation. The chance for chaos is slim but quite real.
Looking at the final weekend, Biggar travels to Edam on Friday night for an 8:30 pm puck drop. On Saturday, Hafford hosts Macklin at 6:30 pm, while Unity travels to Edam for an 8 pm start. Wilkie travels to Biggar for a Sunday afternoon tilt at the Jube, with puck drop happening at 2 pm.