Kindersley Sr. Klippers executives honour four Klippers alumni by retiring their numbers during a ceremony before the team’s home opener on Nov. 24 against the Biggar Nationals. Left to right, Travis Longmire, Gary McManus, Wally Jackson, Ed Young, Don Jackson, team president Clayton Artymovich, and general manager Brady Newmeyer. The late Chuck Newmeyer’s number was previously retired by the team, so the four new alumni have been added to the list.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The Kindersley Sr. Klippers remain undefeated after five games this season, and the team has opened its home schedule with a big win over the Biggar Nationals.
Kindersley played two games last week including a mid-week affair on Nov. 21 in Unity and the home opener against Biggar on Nov. 24 at the Co-op Arena. The Sr. Klippers held a special ceremony before Saturday’s game to honour four former players.
The team has retired five numbers in honour of the team’s alumni players. The retired numbers belong to Don Jackson (#12), Wally Jackson (#14), Gary McManus (#6), Ed Young (#10) and Chuck Newmeyer (#1). Their names and numbers are on a banner that has been hung in the Co-op Arena.
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What’s more, Sr. Klippers alum Ron Cannon dropped the puck for the ceremonial face off. A large home crowd was treated to a big win and a shutout on Saturday. Kindersley won by a score of 5-0 to earn a second win over Biggar this season.
Johnny Calkins and Brody Ryberg each had two goals on Saturday while Kyle Donaldson netted the other goal. Jesse Ismond continued his hot start to the season picking up four assists in the win. Goalie Luke Sproule stopped 43 shots for his first shutout of the season.
The Sr. Klippers also defeated the Unity Miners a week ago today, but it was a much different outcome than the Biggar game. Kindersley won by a score of 8-5 in Unity. Calkins got a hat trick to lead the Sr. Klippers, and he recorded an assist in a four-point performance.
Donaldson scored a pair of goals in Unity while Troy Boisjoli, Ismond and Ryberg had a goal each in the 8-5 win. Sproule stopped 22 of 27 shots to pick up the win. Ismond and Donaldson each had three points in the game.
The team is now 5-0 this season and tied atop the Sask West Hockey League standings with the Wilkie Outlaws (5-0) at 10 points. Biggar is in sole possession of third with seven points and a record of 3-2-1 to start the season. Wilkie and Kindersley do not lock horns until Dec. 15 in Wilkie.
Matt Glencross, head coach of the Sr. Klippers, said it was nice to win a pair of games last week. He noted that even though it was an ugly win in Unity, it was nice to get the win on the road against the Miners.
The coach said Miners goalie Dax Desmarias played really well in the first period, so Unity managed to “weather the storm.” The teams scored two goals each in the first and third, but Kindersley scored four times in the second period to get ahead.
Glencross said Sproule played well in the Biggar game. The team killed off a couple of 5-on-3 power plays and he noted that Sproule was the best penalty killer on the ice for the home team. The coach said he made saves at key times and “he deserved the win.”
Ismond had seven points (1G, 6A), Calkins had six points (5G, 1A) and Donaldson had five points (3G, 2A) in the two games this past week. The coach said each of the forwards had a good week, but he believes it was a total team effort.
He said the team got contributions from everyone. Several of the players that are not putting up points are playing good defence, so they are contributing in other ways. Glencross said people cannot overlook the leadership shown by Troy Boisjoli, a guy who plays the game the right way and is a strong defender.
“He’s definitely a huge asset with these young guys and teaching them the ropes of senior hockey,” he said of Boisjoli, recognizing that the veteran has helped to prevent several goals thanks to his work on the ice.
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