Red Lions’ historic comeback sends them to the SWHL finals

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

The Kindersley Red Lions completed a historic comeback Sunday, winning three straight games over the Macklin Mohawks, after being down 2-0 to win their best-of-five Sask West Hockey League semifinal series.

The Red Lions completed the turnaround with a 7-4 win on Sunday. They won game four 7-3 last Wednesday in Kindersley; and game three 5-2 in Macklin on Feb. 24. They had dropped their first two games – game two, 4-3 and game one, 6-3.

The Red Lions will now play the Wilkie Outlaws in the SWHL championships beginning this Sunday at 7 p.m. in Kindersley. Games two and three will be played in Wilkie. No other dates had been set as of deadline.

Coach Wayne Samson said that it was just a great series and it came down to leadership.

[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see the Mar. 7 print edition of The Clarion.’]

“Our leadership really stepped up,” he said. “We had that never-say die-attitude.

“Lots of credit has to go to our leadership, especially are captain, Jonny Calkins who really challenged the guys to step it up. I really can’t say enough about him and what he does for the team on and off the ice,” he added. “They answered the call.”

He says that he thought his team really outplayed the Mohawks in their last two games.

“When this group puts it all together, we can play with anybody,” said Samson.

In last Wednesday’s win, Samson said that you could see the Mohawks were getting frustrated.

“I’ve never seen Macklin lose it quite like that,’ he said. “And our guys kept their cool and just played their game. We found a way to get under their skin and get them off their game.”

In Sunday’s series-clincher, The score was 2-2 after the first period with Brandon Cummings and Jesse Ismond scoring the goals for the Red Lions.

The Mohawks took a 3-2 lead early in the second period at the 17:17 mark, but then the Red Lions exploded. Just 23 seconds after that goal, Shayne Neigum would score followed by Jonny Calkins, Ethan Wigley, Jesse Ismond and Tanner McCullough would close off the rally and make it 7-3 with just under five minutes remaining in the period.

The Mohawks would score one more before the end of the period to make it 7-4, but that was all they could muster.

The Red Lions played some shutdown defence to give the Mohawks no chance of getting any more points.

“They really left it all out there on the ice. We talked to the guys between the periods and said that we just have to play defence,” said Samson. “Everyone bought into it and they put a blanket over Macklin. They just played simple defensive hockey, chipping the puck out and getting it out of their zone.

“It is probably the best period of hockey that I have seen these guys play,” he added. “I don’t think there was one odd-man rush in that period. The communication was excellent, the discipline was good and we just put it all together.”

The team was short defenceman Cody Hobbs, who is still nursing a lower body injury, plus two defenceman were handed misconducts in the early part of the first period, leaving the Red Lions with just three natural defencemen.

“A couple of guys stepped back for us and Jessey Pocock stood in for us and did a great job,” said Samson. “It is the little things that you do in a hockey game that make you a winner – things like this. These last three games were all about doing the little things right, winning those battles and stepping into a different position and playing well. That’s what all of the players did during those three games.”

Looking back to game four of this series in Kindersley last Wednesday, the Red Lions just outplayed the Mohawks each and every period.

After the first period, the score was 3-1 for the Red Lions with Patrick Omness, Djay McGrath and Shayne Neigum all finding the back of the net.

They outscored them again in the third with Jesse Ismond and Jonny Calkins scoring and it was 5-2 after the second.

Again in the third, Jesse Ismond and Byron Ismond closed off the scoring to make the final 7-3.

Goaltender Luke Sproule again had a brilliant series.

“Sproule just outplayed Wolfe. He was solid in each and every game. I just can’t say enough about him,” said Samson.

Bring on the Outlaws

The Red Lions will now take on the almost untouchable Wilkie Outlaws, who have lost just five games in the last four seasons.

“Wilkie and Macklin are similar teams, but Wilkie has a bit more firepower,” said Samson. “They are going to come at us for 60 minutes and if you don’t play a full 60 minutes with them, they will beat you.

“We are going to roll our three lines and we just have to work hard,” he added. “We are solid up the middle, our defence has been playing well and our goaltending is very good. We know what we’re up against and we have been clicking. We have to get on the board to gain some confidence and get in their heads a bit. I think we will be okay.”

Game one of this series is Sunday at 7 p.m. at the
Co-op arena.

Provincials

The Red Lions are out of the hunt for a provincial crown, after losing to the Lumsden Monarchs 7-2 on Friday night.

“It was just one of those games, they scored six goals on us and none of them as a result of a good shot,” said Samson. “The puck would bounce off this skate and something else and go in. At one point we were down 4-0. Their goalie played well and I have to tip my hat to them.”

The team was missing a couple of key players, including pickup goaltender Jeff Malcolm, who did not make the trip.

Notes

The SWHL awards have been announced and goaltender Luke Sproule was named the SWHL rookie of the year. It’s a well-deserved award for the young goaltender who has been very steady in the Red Lions net this season.

A couple of other players also received recognition. Captain Jonny Calkins was named to the second all-star team, as was defenceman Shayne Neigum.

[/emember_protected]