Macklin Mohawks goalie Stephen Wolff makes a save during his team’s 3-1 win in Kindersley as Red Lions Jon Haughn and Tanner McCullough look for a rebound that did not come.
Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The Kindersley Red Lions split their home games on the weekend against Macklin and Kerrobert and sit in fourth in the Sask. West Hockey League with a 4-3-1 record.
The Red Lions closed off the weekend with a 7-4 win over the Kerrobert Tigers on Saturday after losing to the Macklin Mohawks 3-1 on Friday night.
They face a couple of tough teams this weekend. They take on the undefeated Wilkie Outlaws in Wilkie on Friday night and are in Eatonia on Saturday to take on the hard-working Huskies.
In Saturday’s game, the Red Lions were able to roll four lines against a depleted Tigers lineup.
“They were missing a few bodies and we were able to roll four lines against them, which you want to do,” said coach Wayne Samson. “If you’re up that many players, you just want to tire them out.
“Our guys played well and we were able to get a lot of pucks to the net and stay out of the box, which is what we had to do,” he added. “All of our lines played well, including our fourth line of Jordan Getz, Jesse Gramlich and Scott Brownlee.”
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The Red Lions outshot the Tigers 47-38=. Picking up the win in net for the Red Lions was Luke Sproule, who stopped 34 of 38 shots. Grant Smith recorded the loss for the Tigers.
Scoring for the Red Lions were DJay McGrath (2), Jon Haughn, Levi Clark, Tanner McCullough, Jonny Calkins, and Jesse Gramlich.
On Friday night, the Red Lions ran into a hot goaltender, according to Samson.
“We came out strong in the first period, but their goaltender, Stephen Wolff, played very good and they were able to weather the storm,” he said.
The Red Lions outshot the Mohawks 13-4 in the first period but the score was 0-0 after one.
In the second, the Mohawks scored twice, with Alexander Neufeld and Cody McKinnon recording goals. Again, the Red Lions would outshoot the Mohawks, this time 14-9.
In the third, Shayne Neigum got the Red Lions to within one, but the Mohawks added one more before the end of the period to record the win.
“The guys played very well and I don’t really have anything negative to say, which is rare when a team loses,” said Samson. “We ran into a hot goaltender and we just didn’t get any bounces our way. Sometimes you just get by a team that is playing better than you and that was the case Friday night.”
Sproule stopped 23 of 26 shots in a losing cause, while Wolff stopped 37 of 38 shots for the Mohawks.
The Red Lions were without the services of Jesse Ismond for the two games. He’s nursing a sore ankle. But Samson says he hopes to see him back this weekend.
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