Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The Kindersley Red Lions still have a mathematical chance of getting into second place in the Sask West Hockey League.
The Red Lions have two games remaining and sit in third place in the senior league with 22 points. Macklin is second with one game remaining and 25 points.
The Red Lions play at home against Kerrobert on Friday and in Luseland on Saturday to close out the season.
The Mohawks close out their season in Biggar on Friday after losing to Biggar at home in Macklin 9-6 in their latest game Saturday.
Last weekend, the Red Lions didn’t help their pursuit any, losing 6-4 to the Kerrobert Tigers in Kerrobert on Friday.
The Red Lions were without a few of their big guns including Jesse Ismond and Shayne Neigum.
“Yes, we were a little short-staffed in this one, but we can’t use that as an excuse,” said coach Wayne Samson. “We have had great leadership all season and our captain Jonny Calkins came out and had a great game. He kept the guys positive and pumped up.
“We were down 5-1 after two periods of play, but he pushed the guys to the limit and we came back and gave ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “I was very impressed by everyone’s play. They put up a real good fight.”
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The Tigers scored the first two goals before Calkins would get the Red Lions on the board late in the opening frame.
The Tigers scored three unanswered in the second to make the score 5-1 going into the final 20 minutes.
However, Calkins scored just 14 seconds into the third period and Cody Hobbs and Patrick Omness added a couple to bring the team within one with just under eight minutes to go.
But that was as close as they would get.
The Tigers’ Jorden Braid scored his third of the game with four minutes remaining to put the game away.
Shots on goal were 36-28 in favour of the Red Lions, with Luke Sproule in net for the Red Lions and Connor Kidd picking up the win for the Tigers.
League playoffs
The playoff format this year is one vs. eight, two vs. seven, three vs. six and four vs. five, best-of-three first round. Semifinals are the best of five and the finals are also the best of five, unless both teams wish to extend it to best of seven.
Provincials
The dates for the best-of-three provincial A series against the Shaunavon Badgers have been finalized.
The Red Lions will host the Badgers in game one on Feb. 4, before heading to Shaunavon for game two on Feb. 9 and, if necessary, they will play game three back in Shaunavon on Feb. 11.
Samson says that he can’t wait to get this one started.
The Red Lions have picked up a few players to help in their run, such as former Junior Klippers Josh Sim and Andrew Dommett, along with former Klipper coach and Red Lion player Chris Forsman.
They will be joined by goaltender Jeff Malcolm of Lethbridge, who played with the Quesnel Millionaires of the BCHL, Yale University and, since 2013-14, has split time with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL.
Also joining the team will be players Trevor Statchuk and Dylan Smith, who played some college hockey.
“I’ve watched a lot of senior hockey and this lineup will probably the best talent-wise that I have ever seen,” said Samson.
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