Ever heard of scoring 50 goals in 50 games?Ever heard of scoring 50 goals in 50 games?
Mark Hartigan has.
"Oh, I want it," the Weyburn Red Wings captain says, a huge grin spreading across his face. "At the beginning of the season, I thought, 'if it happens, it happens'. Now I want it."
The 50-in-50 milestone is finally within reach for the young Fort St. John product, thanks in part to a Friday night hat trick against the Melville Millionaires at the Weyburn Colosseum, which saw him score his 41st goal in 40 games so far this season. There's plenty of holiday cheer to go around at Red Wing HQ these days; the 9-1 strapping of the Moneymen came on the heels of a 5-4 win at home last Wednesday over the Yorkton Terriers and extended Weyburn's current unbeaten streak to seven games.
"You can't play much better than that," head coach Dwight McMillan said Friday. The Red Wings are now 5-0-2 since Dec. 6, and going into the holidays while you're hot suits McMillan just fine. "It's very important. You know that everything's going good for you I think now we have more home games than away games, so the schedule is in our favour."
Some solid passing and consistent defensive backchecking were responsible for putting the coal in the Millionaires' stockings and ending the calendar year on a high note, he pointed out. "I think we played well tonight. We played good defensively and still scored nine goals."
Three of those nine came from Hartigan, who is currently setting the pace offensively for the team and the league as well. The stats don't lie: the top scorer at last year's Royal Bank Cup in Summerside has scored more goals than any other player in the SJHL (Lebret's Jerry Cunningham is second with 29), leads the league in points (71) and is already about to surpass his 1996-97 regular season totals.
His strategy is a simple one. "I'm just shooting the puck on the net," he explained after Friday's hat trick - but even he isn't sure how he does it sometimes. "That third one, I think it hit off their d-man. I saw [Sean] Tilley on the other side put up his arm."
If things are getting a little hectic out on the ice, it's understandable. The Red Wings are battling to close the gap with the Lebret Eagles, who faltered during the past week by dropping back-to-back games to North Battleford and Beardy's Rage and are now only three points ahead of the defending Hanbidge Cup champs.
Hartigan knows as well as any member of the team that Weyburn needs to keep up the pressure on the division leaders. "I know this might sound corny, but we want to win we want to catch up to Lebret."
For the time being, he and defenceman Shawn Villeneuve - along with netminder Geoff Derouin - will have something else to concentrate on besides opening their Christmas presents. The three Red Wings were named members of the SJHL All Star Select team earlier this month and will be skating in the 1998 Viking Cup tournament in Camrose, Alta., from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4. Teams from the United States, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are among the participants in what will certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the three Weyburn veterans.
"It's exciting. I think it's going to be fun to play with the other guys in the league," Hartigan said. "We're all excited."
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