Tyler Traptow of the Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers goes forehand-backhand on Joel Gryzbowski of the Battlefords North Stars to open the scoring at the home opener on Sept. 16 at the West Central Events Centre. The Klippers won a pair of games in a home-and-away series against the North Stars to start the season 2-0.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers are undefeated after their first two games of the 2018-19 season against their division rival from the Battlefords.
The Klippers opened the season with a 3-1 win on Sept. 15 in North Battleford, and then the Klippers won the second game of the home-and-away series on Sept. 16 by a score of 3-2. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team’s next game is on home ice this Friday night against the Melfort Mustangs at 7:30 p.m.
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Defence was the name of the game for the Klippers in their two wins against the North Stars, and goalie Justen Close gave a pair of solid performances to start the season. Close faced only 24 shots in North Battleford, but he turned away 30 of 32 shots in the win at home on Saturday.
A pair of local products had an impact on the score sheet to start the season. Kyle Bosch picked up an assist in each of the first two games, and rookie Damon McKenzie lit the lamp on Friday with his first career goal in the SJHL.
Josh Fletcher and Austin Nault scored the other two goals in North Battleford while Caden Benson and Nate Keeley added helpers. Fletcher scored again the next night in Kindersley, and the other goals came from Benson and Tyler Traptow. Clay Keeley and Will Van der Sloot added helpers in the 3-2 win.
“We had a pretty good weekend,” said Clayton Jardine, the team’s first year head coach, recognizing that he is very pleased with the team’s results and overall the guys played hard to pick up the wins. “I can’t complain.”
He noted that the team has a strong presence in net with Close, who was named the league’s top goalie after the 2017-18 season, and the team has people who can put the puck in the net. It is nice to see production from the offence early on, he said.
Jardine said he plans to rotate four lines all season and he believes scoring will come from all four lines as was the case on the weekend. The coach said he believes depth is going to be a calling card for the team, and it is nice to have four lines and three defensive pairings to rely on.
The coach said Close came up big when called upon, and defencemen Blake Kleiner and Clay Keeley have already shown the ability to log big minutes in important situations. He noted that Kleiner plays well in all situations.
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