Ice Wolves extend lead in Sherwood with sweep of Hawks
With a weekend against the Nipawin Hawks, the La Ronge Ice Wolves extended their lead in the SJHL Sherwood Division.
On Jan. 30, the Ice Wolves sit in first place with a record of 27-14-3-1 and 58 points, three points ahead of second-place Flin Flon Bombers. The Melfort Mustangs are third with a record 23-12-5-2 with 53 points and the Hawks are fourth with a record 21-18-2-1 with 45 points.
The Ice Wolves ended their home win over the Hawks on Saturday, January 28 with a 6-3 win in Nipawin. The game ended 2-2 after the first and the Ice Wolves were leading 5-2 after the second.
Mason Buckert had a hat-trick for La Ronge; Rylan Silzer, Jacob Cossette and Parker Layton added the goals from the other Ice Wolves. Zander Stewart, Reese Malkewich and Maguire Ratzlaff answered for the Hawks.
Topher Chirico made 44 saves for the Ice Wolves; Jackson Fellner made four saves for the Hawks in just over 27 minutes before being replaced by Jayden Kraus, who made seven saves.
The Ice Wolves opened the two legs on Friday 27 January with a 3-2 overtime win over the Hawks at La Ronge. Dylan Handel scored the winning goal for La Ronge after 49 seconds of extra time.
The Hawks led 2-1 after the first and second periods. Kyle Graham and Cossette scored in regulation time for the Ice Wolves. Joel Mabin and Alex Johnson responded in regulation for the Hawks.
Chirico made 46 saves for La Ronge; Fellner made 44 saves for Nipawin.
Nipawin opened their week on Tuesday, January 24 with a 5-2 win over the Terriers in Yorkton. The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, and the Hawks led 4-2 after the second period.
Braxton Buckberger had two goals for Nipawin; Francois-Xavier Bedard, Eric Robbie and Johnson added the other Nipawin goals. Maddux Nollski and Cade Kennedy answered for the terriers.
Fellner made 26 saves for Nipawin; Tysen Smith made 45 saves for Yorkton.
The Ice Wolves opened their week with a 9-2 loss to league leaders Battleford’s North Stars on Tuesday 24 January in Battleford.
Thomas Wright and Walker Jerome scored for the Ice Wolves. Bradley Blake, Alex Izyk and Kian Bell each had two goals for the North Stars. Jake Southgate, Tanner Gold and Keiton Klein added the other Battlefords goals.
Dawson Smith made eight saves for La Ronge in just over 13 minutes before being relieved by Chirico, who made 25 saves. Josh Kotai made 33 saves for the North Stars.
The Mustangs ended their week on Saturday, January 28, with a 4-1 win over the Humboldt Broncos in Melfort. Melfort led 3-0 after the first and 3-1 after the second period.
Clarke Huxley had two goals for the Mustangs; Zac Somers and Ben Tkachuk added Melfort’s other goals. Lucas Ceccarelli answered for the Broncos.
James Venne made 37 saves for Melfort; Benjamin Motew made 23 saves for Humboldt.
Melfort opened his weekend with a 4-3 overtime win over the Red Wings at Weyburn on Friday 27th January. Riley Ashe scored the Mustangs’ winner just over a minute into overtime.
The game was 1-1 after the first period and the Red Wings led 2-1 after the second period. Aiden Wildeman, Leith Olafson and Dawson Leroux scored in regulation time for the Mustangs. Ty Mason, Jackson Hassman and Jakob Kalin responded for Weyburn in regulation.
Venne made 27 saves for Melfort; Dazza Mitchell made 26 saves for Weyburn.
Melfort opened their week with a 5-4 win over the Bombers in Melfort on Tuesday 24th January. The game was tied 2-2 after the first period and the Mustangs led 4-2 after the second period.
Tkachuk had two goals for Melfort; Huxley, Leroux and Somers added the goals from the other Mustangs.
Cole Dupperreault had two goals for the Bombers; Jeremi Tremblay and Alexi Sylvestre added Flin Flon’s other goals.
Venne made 33 saves for Melfort; Harmon Laser-Hume made four saves for the Bombers in just over 21 minutes before being replaced by Kenneth Marquart, who made 12 saves.
Teams have weekdays off due to the SJHL/MJHL Showcase.
The Ice Wolves are in Weyburn to play the Red Wings on Friday, February 3rd and in Melville to play the Millionaires on Saturday, February 4th. Melfort is in Battleford to play the North Stars on Saturday 4th February and in Kindersley to play the Klippers on Sunday 5th February. The Hawks are in Flin Flon to play the Bombers on Saturday, February 4th.
