Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The Kindersley Red Lions seem to have gelled, winning back-to-back games on the weekend.
The Sask West Hockey League senior A team got off to a slow start this season. But after the previous weekend off and a few more practices, the team is on the upswing.
The team earned a 4-0 victory in Eatonia on Saturday night, after beating up on Unity 5-1 on Friday night. They were scheduled to host Luseland Sunday but a flu bug hit the Mallards’ locker room and they were short of players.
To open the season, the Red Lions lost 9-4 at home on Nov. 3 to Wilkie and 9-8 in overtime in Macklin on Nov. 4.
Coach Wayne Samson said the team put in a couple of great performances on the weekend.
“It was a couple of good games for us,” he said. “We were able to have four good practices to work on our defensive zone coverage and our penalty kill. Results don’t lie. Our defence did a great job and our best players were our best players on those two nights.”
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“The leadership out there was fantastic. The guys were out there working hard killing penalties and blocking shots – leading by example,” added Samson. “It was a great team effort by the boys. There is a lot of hunger each and every night to go out there and win.”
On Saturday, goaltender Luke Sproule stopped all 24 shots to get the shutout.
The Red Lions picked up goals from Jon Haughn in the first period and Jessey Pocock in the second period to take a 2-0 lead going into the third.
Jonny Calkins and Jordan Getz found the back of the net in the final frame to cap off the scoring.
In net for the Huskies was Lane Michasiw, who stopped 19 of 23 shots he faced.
The game featured several bouts. Jesse Gramlich and Ken Patzack went toe-to-toe in the first; Tanner McCullough and Adam Antkowiak battled it out in the second; and in the third, Jesse Ismond and Darren Bews went at each other.
In Unity on Friday, it was a bit of a calmer game. The Red Lions scored three unanswered in the first to open up a commanding 3-0 lead. Goals came off the sticks of Jonny Calkins (with two) and Jesse Ismond.
The Miners’ Dustin McAleer added their only goal before the end of the period, to make it 3-1 going into the second.
Kyle Cummings would score in the second and Levi Clark would cap off the scoring in the third to make the final 5-1.
Sproule was again in net for the Red Lions and faced 39 shots in the win. Ryan Rewerts faced 26 shots in the loss for the Miners.
Samson said that it’s great to see Sproule do so well and it’s great to have Jesse Gramlich in the lineup.
“Sproule is a great young goaltender for us,” he said. “We have some great goaltending this year with him, Cam Reid and Travis Vogel – a great situation for us to be in.
“It’s also great to have Jesse back. He definitely adds some toughness, but he’s also a good hockey player who goes hard out there,” said Samson. “He didn’t play last year because he wasn’t on the team’s initial list of 25 players due to work. He wasn’t suspended or kicked out of the league as rumours have it.
“He isn’t just out there to throw fists, he can score as well,” added Samson.
The Red Lions now have a record of 2-1-1. They’ll try and improve on their record this weekend as they hit the road to face Kerrobert (1-3) on Friday and Luseland (0-3) on Saturday.
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