Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The Wilkie Outlaws scored three power play goals Sunday en route to a 6-3 win over the Kindersley Red Lions in game one of their Sask West Hockey League championship series.
Game 2 will be played Wednesday in Wilkie. No other games had been set as of press time.
Brandon Cummings, who scored one of the goals Sunday night, takes the puck looking for an open teammate during action Sunday night in game one of the SWHL finals.
Coach Wayne Samson says that has to change if they have any hope of winning.
“We knew what they were all about. We have seen them lots,” said Samson. “We have to stay out of the box. I think we deserved the penalties we received. We have to stop the stick infractions and keep our mouths shut.
“I thought we played well with them five-on-five, but we just have to stay out of the box,” he added. “I know there is something going around on Twitter about the reffing, but I thought we had two pretty good refs.”
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He gave a couple of examples.
“Brandon Cummings was on a break-away when we get called on a cross-check. That is not acceptable,” said Samson. “We also had a five-on-five opportunity and our best defenceman gets a misconduct. That has to stop. They are a well-disciplined team and that is not going to help us win. We need to keep our composure and just play hockey.”
The Red Lions were assessed seven straight minor penalties in the first and second periods.
The two teams exchanged goals in the first period with Jonny Calkins scoring the second.
It was all Wilkie in the second period, scoring three straight to take a 4-1 lead going into the third.
Brandon Cummings would score early to make it 4-2, but the Outlaws answered that quickly. Jesse Ismond would add another for the Red Lions at the 8:50 mark of the period, but again, Wilkie replied with just over three minutes remaining in the period to put the game to rest.
The Outlaws outshot the Red Lions 37-29 in this game with Luke Sproule putting together another solid game for the Red Lions. Jared Herle was in net for the Outlaws.
The Red Lions were without the services of defenceman Cody Hobbs, who is still out with an injury, and Shayne Neigum, who was injured in the final game of the Macklin series and is out for the rest of the playoffs.
They were also without Jesse Ismond, who was not on the ice for the first period and half of the second due to work commitments.
Adding to this, they will be without Jesse Gramlich and Samson, who were each suspended for one game after Gramlich laid a late hit on a Wilkie player with just six seconds remaining in the game.
“The president decided to show up for one game and we got suspended,” he said. “They didn’t review it or look at the bigger picture.
“They were sending out their fourth line against our top line and were trying to get us to fight – if there is a fight in the final 10 minutes of a game, it is an automatic suspension,” he said.
“I had no reason not to play Gramlich, if they looked at it, he played four or five shifts there, even on the power play. He holds his own and plays well. In fact, he started on the top line for us. I had no reason not to put him out there.
“I never played or coached anyone to hurt someone from the opposing team. That’s just not what I do,” he added.
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