Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

The Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers are on a six-game winning streak after earning three wins last week on a successful, and really long, road trip.

Kindersley played back-to-back-to-back games over three nights on Dec. 4, 5, and 6. The Klippers started the road trip with a 4-2 win on Dec. 4 against the La Ronge Ice Wolves before moving on to a 3-2 shootout win in Wilcox on Dec. 5 against the Notre Dame Hounds. Kindersley finished the road trip on Dec. 6 with a 5-3 win against the Weyburn Red Wings.

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The three wins brings Kindersley’s record to 20-8-2-1 this season and the team sits in second place in the Global Ag Risk Solutions division two points behind the Humboldt Broncos. The Klippers have 43 points and the Broncos have 45 points, but Kindersley has played three fewer games than Humboldt.

Kindersley’s six-game winning streak has the team in a tie for third overall in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Melfort Mustangs. Humboldt is tied with the Nipawin Hawks for first overall. Melfort has played one less game than Kindersley and Nipawin.

As for the road trip, Kindersley opened the scoring in La Ronge and the goal by Kyle Bosch was the only goal of the first period. La Ronge scored both of its goals on the power play in the first half of the second period to take a 2-1 lead.

Captain Cameron Shorrock tied the game for the Klippers late in the second before Austin Nault and Damon McKenzie scored goals in the third period to put the game away. The team had 54 shots and Justen Close stopped 26 of 28 shots to earn the win.

Josh Fletcher’s unassisted goal in the third period sent the Notre Dame game into overtime, and Ty Enns scored the only goal of the shootout to secure the win for Kindersley. Fletcher scored both of Kindersley’s goals.

The Klippers showed a lot of heart in the third game. Weyburn was winning 3-1 with less than five minutes left to play in the second period, but Nault made it 3-2 with four minutes to play in the second. Three third period goals by Fletcher, Bosch and defenceman Blake Kleiner powered Kindersley to the 5-3 win.

Enns scored the team’s lone goal in the first period versus Weyburn. Close stopped 28 of 31 shots in the Red Wings win and Zach Johnson stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn the shootout win over Notre Dame. The team returns to home ice tonight to play Nipawin at 7:30 p.m.

Coach Clayton Jardine said he did the math and the team covered a total of 2,003 km on its recent road trip, so “it was a long one.” The coach said it felt like a long trip, but three big wins took the sting out of it.

The highlight of the road trip was the comeback win in Weyburn, he said. The Klippers were losing the game by two goals at the end of a long three days on the road and Jardine said the team could have “packed it in” and accepted defeat, but the guys kept playing to come out with a win.

He noted that he has not been prouder of the team all season long than he was after the win in Weyburn. The coach said the team’s recent success could be attributed to a combination of factors, but a healthy lineup has been a big boost.

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