Things started off well for the Kindersley Jr. Klippers Wednesday night at Northern Lights Palace in Melfort. Lucky Lake's Jaydon Jessiman grabbed the puck at the left faceoff dot and fired it towards the net. The puck hit the post and went off the back bar and came out. After a brief discussion between the officials, it was determined to be a good goal, much to the chagrin of Mustangs captain Ben Tkachuk.
It fired up the University of Saskatchewan committed player and he came down and scored just 27 seconds later. But while coming back for the flyby at the bench, he gave it to the referee at centre ice and gestured towards his own goal, mimicking his goal was in and the other one was not. This cost Tkachuk a 10 minute misconduct.
The Mustangs would score again before the end of the period, with Kevin Minnoch getting his 13th of the season, and 3rd in two games against Kindersley at the Palace.
The second started off with Cody Jaman absolutely stoning the Mustangs for the first 10 minutes or so, to keep the game close. Then Kindersley got a nice rush from Rosetown's Kayden Ostrom, as he skated down the right wing side and beat Mustangs goaltender James Venne on the far left side, top corner, to tie the score.
Kindersley then got another break on a close play the offensive blueline. Liam Bell passed it on the right wing side to Aidan Bangs and he was ruled just onside. Bangs skated in and beat Venne on a carbon copy of Ostrom's goal going high on the blocker side of Venne.
This would be all for the Mustangs goalie, as he was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 13 shots. Joel Favreau would enter the cage for Melfort.
The Mustangs threw everything they had at Cody Jaman, but the Rookie of the Year candidate for the SJHL stood tall in the nets, making countless big saves.
Then at the 6:08 mark of period three, Melfort finally tied it up, on a shot from the point from Leyton Holoien. The puck ricocheted off the pants of David Rioux's and into the net. The goal was Rioux's 8th of the season.
Melfort kept pressing for the winner in regulation, but Jaman and the Klippers defense stood tall. This was especially so, when Klippers captain Brayden Koch tied up Zach Somers just enough at the side of the net so Jaman could come over and make a diving toe save to keep it out.
The teams headed to overtime, and it looked like the game was destined for a shootout. But with just under 30 seconds to play, Ryan Duguay made a nice rush on the 3-on-3 overtime, went up the left wing side and fed Aidyn Hutchinson for a flyby tap in, and the Mustangs exploded off the bench to celebrate the goal. Hutchinson now has 10 goals on the season.
Kindersley got a moral victory in this one, as because they earned a point, they took home the Fouillards Cup 2-1-1. Cody Jaman cemented his place into Rookie of the Year voting with another spectacular performance in the net, making 44 saves in the OT loss.
The Klippers will now have a couple days off to rest before the Weyburn Red Wings come to town Saturday, for the first of two games at the WCEC. Game time Saturday is 7:30 pm.
Tue, Apr 23, 7:00 PM
