Shayne Neigum of the Sr. Klippers hits the five hole on Macklin Mohawks goalie Nathan Hargrave to win the game by a score of 5-4 in a shootout on Jan. 6 in Kindersley.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
A long undefeated streak for the Kindersley Sr. Klippers remains in tact after two close games and a disallowed goal in overtime on the weekend.
The Sr. Klippers are 14-0, so they have yet to be beaten in the 2018-19 season. The team’s 28 points is good enough for first place and a six-point lead atop the standings in the Sask West Hockey League. The 14-game unbeaten streak nearly ended on the weekend.
Kindersley beat the Unity Miners by a score of 7-6 in Unity on Jan. 5 and the team scored the winning goal with 64 seconds left in the game, but the team went to a shootout at home on Jan. 6 when the Macklin Mohawks were in town.
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The Mohawks scored a goal on the power play early in the overtime period, but the goal was disallowed and the Sr. Klippers killed off the rest of the Macklin power play. Shayne Neigum and Nick Josephs scored in the shootout to give Kindersley a 5-4 win and keep the unbeaten streak alive.
Kindersley gave up leads in both games on the weekend. The Sr. Klippers were beating Unity by a score of 6-2 after 40 minutes, but the Miners scored four straight goals in the third to tie the game with about five minutes to go.
Johnny Calkins scored the game-winning goal with barely more than a minute left in regulation, and it capped off a hat trick and five-point night for Calkins. Neigum scored twice while Kyle Donaldson and Jesse Ismond added goals in the 7-6 win. Ismond added four assists in the game.
Kindersley was beating Macklin 4-1 on Sunday after a power play goal by Donaldson five minutes into the third period, but the Mohawks scored three times in the final 15 minutes to send the game into overtime. Josephs, Neigum and Byron Ismond also scored in the 5-4 win.
The Sr. Klippers also played two games to close out 2018. Kindersley defeated the Wilkie Outlaws by a score of 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 28 in Wilkie, and the team went on to defeat the Luseland Mallards on Dec. 29 by a score of 8-2 in Kindersley.
Donaldson scored in Wilkie with only five seconds left in overtime to win the game for Kindersley, and he added an assist on Jesse Ismond’s goal in the first period. Wilkie scored its goal in the second period to force overtime.
The story of the Luseland win in Kindersley was a depleted bench for the visitors. The Mallards only had seven skaters for the game, so the team ran out of steam for the third period. Luseland kept it close for two periods and the score was 3-1 for Kindersley after 40 minutes.
Kindersley scored five goals to make the score 8-1 with two minutes left in the game, and Luseland added a late goal. Troy Boisjoli and Donaldson each had a pair of goals and Calkins, Byron Ismond, Nick Neurauter and Jessey Pockock also lit the lamp.
Coach Matt Glencross was not on the bench for the Luseland game, but he was for the wins against Wilkie, Unity and Macklin. He said the team could expect close games because teams are motivated to end the team’s 14-game streak.
“We’ve kind of got a target on our back,” he said, recognizing that every team is aware of the streak. “Someone wants to be that team to beat us for the first time. Everyone’s bringing their ‘A’ game when they come to play us now.”
The Outlaws are not an easy team to beat in the first place, but the Sr. Klippers made it harder on themselves by taking eight straight penalties in the game. Kindersley spent a lot of the second and third period down a skater.
Glencross said the team’s penalty killing was excellent, but the real story of the game was the play of the goalies. Kindersley’s Luke Sproule stopped 47 of 48 shots to get the win and Wilkie’s Jared Herle stopped 28 of 30 shots. According to Glencross, both goalies made several outstanding saves.
He noted that Unity has played tough against Kindersley this season, and the Sr. Klippers have needed extra time in both games against Macklin. All in all, seven of the team’s 14 wins have been by one goal. The coach said the streak is nice and the future is bright.
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