Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Kindersley Klippers have struggled most of the season to string wins together.
Last week was an example. They were shut out 5-0 in North Battleford last Tuesday before losing in a shootout 3-2 against Estevan on Wednesday, then closing out the week with a 3-1 win at home against the Melville Millionaires.
“We had a tough month of December, but we were better in January with a 5-3-2 record. We hope to be better in February, then even better in March,” said coach Geoff Grimwood. “We ended the week off well and started the month with a win, we definitely would like to build on that. We need to string some wins together.”
Entering the week, the Klippers have a record of 18 wins, 17 losses, 3 overtime losses and 5 shootout losses for 41 points.
Keillan Olson celebrates after scoring the Klippers’ first goal in their 3-1 victory over the Melville Millionaires on Friday.
They hope to improve on that this week as they host La Ronge in Unity tonight, before hosting Notre Dame Friday and La Ronge Saturday.
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Here’s a look at last week’s action, starting with Melville:
• After a scoreless first period, the Klippers came out hard and outshot the Millionaires 20-9. Keillan Olson started off the scoring early in the period, followed by goals from Tate Page and Tanner Thompson. The Millionaires got on the board as well and the score was 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Both goaltender stood tall in the third and there was no scoring the rest of the way.
“We thought it was a positive end to the week for us and we hope to build on that,” said Grimwood.
• Grimwood said they let the game on Wednesday slip away from them.
After a scoreless first period. The Bruins got on the board first, just 1:51 into the period. But Curtis Peck scored his 10th of the season near the midway point and defenceman Brody Ryberg added another on the power play less than two minutes later to make the score 2-1 heading into the third.
The Bruins scored with just over a minute remaining in the game to send it into overtime, followed by a shootout.
• In Tuesday’s game, it was all Battlefords. The North Stars would outshoot the Klippers 48-19 in the 5-0 victory.
Goaltender Zack Johnson saw his first action in a Klippers uniform on this night and stopped 13 of 14 shots in the third period.
“It wasn’t our finest night,” said Grimwood.
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