Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

The Kindersley Red Lions lost 6-3 to the Mohawks in the opening game of the second round of Sask West Hockey League playoffs in Macklin on Sunday.

Game two will be played tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Kindersley.

Coach Wayne Samson said that the team was sucked into the Macklin-style of play.

“We just kinda got caught up playing their style,” he said. “They talk a lot and get in our heads and we got sucked in again. In my mind they are cowards, and you can quote me on that. They talk the talk but don’t walk the walk at all.

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“We have to stay disciplined and we have to stay out of the box. I’ve been preaching this since day one, we can’t win if we spend most of our time killing off penalties,” he added. “Our best players are also our best penalty killers and we can’t have them playing the entire game.”

The Red Lions started off well, with Brandon Cummings giving the team a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play, but Macklin was able to come back in the second with two straight to take a 2-1 lead.

In the third, they would score two more to make it 4-1, before Scott Brownlee stopped the bleeding temporarily, and make it 4-2. However, the Mohawks would score two more to make it 6-2. Jessey Pocock would close out the scoring to make the final 6-3.

The Mohawks peppered 64 shots at Red Lions goaltender Luke Sproule, while the Red Lions managed just 28 shots on Mohawks’ goaltender Stephen Wolff.

Going into game two, Samson re-emphasized that they have to just go out and play their game and not get sucked in to taking penalties.

“I think we will have some fresh faces out there for this game. We have lots of depth and these guys may be a little more disciplined,” he said. “We know we can beat them, we just have to go out there and play our game and be disciplined and we know our fans will be behind us, which helps a ton.”

Provincials

The Red Lions will take on the Lumsden Monarchs in the second round of the provincial playoffs.

The Monarchs defeated the Milestone Flyers Sunday in game three of their first round of playoffs, winning by a score of 5-4.
Lumsden had a record of 12-6 and finished second in the Highway Hockey League this season. The Monarchs have a couple familiar faces to Kindersley fans, in the line-up, Braedean Adamyk and John Sonntag.

“It will be nice to see these guys again,” said Samson. “But when the puck drops it’s business as usual. It’s going to be a fun series to coach and fun to watch.”

Game one will be played here in Kindersley this Friday at 8:30 p.m. Game 2 is set for March 2 back in Lumsden. Game 3, if necessary, will be played March 4.

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