After falling to the Flin Flon Bombers twice over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Kindersley Jr. Klippers will look to right the ship with a pair of games at the West Central Events Centre this weekend.
- Jr. Klippers fall to Bombers in game one of weekend series
- Jr. Klippers blanked for second game in a row in Flin Flon
Head Coach and General Manager of the Jr. Klippers Ken Plaquin, feels the team has played better than their record would suggest.
"I honestly believe we should have been and could have been a five hundred team right now, we've just had some bad luck as far as scoring goals goes," Plaquin said.
The team features 12 rookies, including every goaltender on the roster. Plaquin spoke positively about one of the team's first-year skaters in Lucky Lake's Jaydon Jessiman, and also on the superb play of one of their rookie netminders Logan Falk last weekend in Flin Flon.
"We've got a lot of young guys, and he (Jessiman) is one of them, and I think they are going to be really good for us, it is just a matter of time. Logan Falk was awesome, he already is good, and I think he is going to be fantastic."
Looking forward to this weekend's matchups with Estevan and Melfort, Plaquin said the team learned a lot from Flin Flon, and that should translate into some solid play.
“They're (Estevan and Melfort) both very good teams. I think we learned a ton playing in Flin Flon, who to me looked like they were in playoff form already in a lot of ways and they're high-end team with a lot of skill. But I think we've learned a lot from that which we can translate into how we play against Estevan and Melfort.”
The team is off to a bit of a slow start sitting with just one win in their first seven games, but Plaquin believes if they continue to work hard, things will go their way.
“If the hockey gods shine on us a little bit, I think we could score some goals, which will give us a great opportunity to hopefully win both of those games.”
The Jr. Klippers are also celebrating Alumni Weekend, as all kinds of things will be going on at the West Central Events Centre. This includes a social after Friday night’s game against the Bruins, and then a full day of fun on Saturday. Things start off with lunch at the Curling Rink from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
We talked to Jr. Klippers Governor Kyle Adamson, and he talked about some new threads the team will showcase this weekend for the anniversary celebration.
“We're going to debut some new jerseys, a little throwback. Joel McDonald and I over at Source for Sports, along with Patrick Johnston, put together a new throwback that we kind of melded some of the old Klippers uniforms all into one, so they're pretty sweet. We've taken that logo that we've created, put it on some amazing new merchandise and my wife Lexie has been doing an absolute unbelievable job there. The store is full, there is lots of stuff, whether it’s Christmas, birthdays or just being a Klippers fan, it’s full. Make sure you swing by.”
They will also be holding a silent auction for the jerseys.
“We are going to auction off six of these jerseys and the highest bidder gets their pick of numbers. So, six of them are going to go. Whoever pays the most money, gets their pick of whatever number they want so, that should be interesting. That'll be the first six of these jerseys that get sold and we're looking forward to seeing everybody out and you're going to love these things (jerseys), they are amazing,” Adamson added.
And people will have a chance to go home with full pockets, as Energy Dodge will be sponsoring a $2500 guaranteed 50/50 for tonight's game against Estevan, and G-Mac's Ag Team will be sponsoring tomorrow's guaranteed $2500 50/50 against the Melfort Mustangs.
Kindersley's Tylin Hilbig (left) and Ethan Hilbig (right) are two of the current hometown players on this year's Jr. Klippers team Throughout their time in Kindersley, the Jr. Klippers franchise has tried to put an onus on keeping local talent at home.
Pictured above, Tylin and Ethan Hilbig are the current local stars. One search showed that 28 Kindersley born players have donned the Klippers uniform in their franchise history, even though that number can be greatly improved by looking around the West Central region.
Hometown players bring more fans to the game, and former Jr. Klipper and Kindersley native from the 2000's Curtis Graham shared his thoughts about what the latest crop of local Klippers continues to provide.
"It's nice to have a couple of local boys here, like the Hilbigs," said Graham, "It's always good to have a couple of locals on the team to help bring a few extra fans out. I wasn't a real good player when I was out there, but I think I sold a few tickets just from my mom and my dad having to attend the game," he laughed while recalling his time as a 200 PIM player and fan favourite.
Graham is happy to see Alumni Weekend finally here, eager to catchup with some of his former teammates. He's not expecting the weekend to be short on stories with so many generations of old friends getting back together.
"Lots of us haven't talked in a long time. I'm sure there will be a lot of old stories being brought up, essentially talking about the old times," said Graham, "The boys winning the championship in '04 will probably be a pretty big conversation piece, especially with a tough couple of years recently. Hopefully we get another one here soon!"
Kindersley fans might have some nostalgia of their own hearing Graham recall some of the old friend's he's looking forward to seeing.
"There's lots of guys I have told to come. Brodie Zuk is coming down, and Gio Flamminio. Couple of the guys I played with, Gio was at the start and Brodie at the end, and they were really good players," shared Graham before continuing, "Couple of the legends like Winks (Chris Winkler) will be there. Nathan Deobald, he was the goalie in '04."
Graham was just one former Klipper happy to do his part getting past teammates back to town and is now ready to soak in the experience.
"I just had to make the phone calls, there are a couple of them who have to travel quite a distance to get here."
It's set to be a great weekend for all, and you can view all of the festivities through the poster below courtesy of the Kindersley Klippers Facebook page:
Thu, May 2, 9:30 AM
