By GREG NIKKEL, of the Weyburn Review
What a difference one year makes, as the Weyburn Red Wings found out this past week with their season coming to an abrupt end on Sunday night.
One year ago, the Wings were preparing to go into the opening round of the playoffs, and were to eventually win the south division and SJHL league championships, followed by the Anavet Cup, which enabled them to go on to the national championships for the second year in a row. As the end of this season approached, the Wings knew by the middle of last week they were not going to make the playoffs. This is the first time the Wings have missed the playoffs since Lorne Molleken was the home-town coach under owner Tom Webb 11 seasons ago. (Molleken was just named last week as the interim head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL.)
With many of the big scoring guns gone this year, the Weyburn squad struggled from the start of this season as they were plagued with injuries, making it difficult to keep many of the lines together long enough for the players to really click together, said coach Dwight McMillan.
"The biggest thing was continuity. We were either injured or suspended; we just couldn't get any continuity in keeping lines together. We had some of the players out (with injuries) right from the start. We had a number of our forwards out for quite a spell," said the coach.
The last three games of the season held over the weekend, two of them on home ice, were all losses, although two of them were close and could have gone either way. Of the last 10 games in the regular season, the Wings only recorded one win. Their season-ending record was 27 wins, 36 losses and three ties for 57 points, 11 behind Melville.
Another clue to how the team ended up is seen when comparing the win-loss record at home with their record on the road. Their home record was 20-11-2, vastly superior to their road record of 7-25-1. On the year, they scored 227 goals for, while letting in 250 goals by their opponents. The Red Wings also amassed the most penalty minutes of any team in the SJHL, logging 3,082 minutes in the sin bin.
On Friday, the Wings hosted the North Battleford North Stars, who were hunting for the fifth and final playoff spot in the north division, and lost 3-2.
The turning point against the Wings was at the start of the second period, when the North Stars scored twice within 14 seconds, upping their lead to 3-1 by the 29-second mark. It took the Wings until the third period to get one of those goals back, and despite a powerplay in the final two minutes of the game, were not able to tie the game up.
"Giving up the two quick goals at the start of the second period hurt us. Our powerplay didn't go at all. We killed penalties well, but we didn't score on the powerplay. You've got to take advantage of those things and we didn't," said the frustrated coach, spelling out a problem that plagued the team throughout the season. Weyburn's two goals came from Caley Cox and Jason Randle.
On Saturday, the Wings travelled to Melville to take on the Millionaires, and lost out in overtime by a 6-5 score. Travis Tipler had a pair of goals and an assist, Mike Weisgerber had a goal and two assists, and Justin Podovinikoff and Jeff Schaeffer both had a single goal and assist.
Weyburn went ahead 3-2 with a powerplay goal after the first period, as Melville was handed a five-minute major for high-sticking, and the teams traded a goal each in the second frame. Melville won in overtime at 1:58 on a goal by Jared Hanowski. In the season's final game, hosting the Terriers at home on Sunday night, the Wings lost by a score of 6-2, with Dan Jewitt scoring in the first period, and Mike Weisgerber notching the goal in a short-handed effort in the second.
At the very least, the Wings have a good start on next year's squad, as 20 out of 26 players are eligible to return. As is the case every year, experience will be lost as players turn 21 and are no longer eligible to play for the Junior A hockey club. Leaving the team will be Brad Denis, Todd Milliker, Travis Tipler, Jeff Schaeffer, Caley Cox and Dan Jewitt.
Denis is leaving due to the age restriction, having spent his final year in Weyburn as the team captain, and had mixed emotions about the past season.
"Personally, it's been a good season for myself, as I've doubled my points over last year. Some good things came out of this year for me, but team-wise it didn't come out the way I'd like to be," said Denis.
The captain wasn't sure he could pinpoint why the Red Wings didn't do better than ending in sixth place in the south division, but wished the returning players luck in finding a winning combination next year.
"The talent's there; we've got speed and passing ability, but for some reason it's just not going right. We start getting down by one or two goals and some of the guys just seem to quit. Hopefully next year the guys will be able to figure it out," said Denis.
His own future looks reasonably bright, as he noted two or three Eastern colleges are interested in having Denis ply his trade with them. In particular, Norwich University in Vermont and Bemidji in Minnesota have expressed an interest in Denis.
The Red Wings will wrap things up for the players with the team awards banquet, set for Saturday, March 6, at the Elks Hall. Cocktails will be at 6 p.m., supper at 7 and the awards presentations will follow. The cost for tickets is $15 per person or $25 a couple.
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