The Weyburn Red Wings sent the La Ronge Ice Wolves home with their tails between their legs after a Saturday match-up that ended in a score of 8-1.

"We dominated from the opening whistle to the final whistle and we never quit playing hard," said coach Dwight McMillan.

That, and a win against North Battleford Friday night, leaves Weyburn with a record of seven wins, two ties and one loss, for second place in the south division and third overall in the SJHL.

Saturday night the Wings got on the scoreboard early with a goal by Ryan Eberhardt three minutes into the period. La Ronge was able to fend off a power play close to the 13 minute mark but were unable to stop Rhett Ballard and Jon Geiring from scoring a goal each just minutes later.

Fan Darren Klein was impressed with the team's early effort.

"They're playing all out, the whole team's picked up. If they play the way they did in the first ten minutes of this hockey game there should be no problem taking the south division this year," he said.

La Ronge got on the board in the second period with a goal by Kelly Bararuk, but an early goal by Wings forward Jacob Gradwell and late goals tapped in by Jon Geiring and Mike Costley shut down any hope of momentum for the Ice Wolves.

"Weyburn's outworking them. We're just a stronger team," said fan Rob Walker after the second period, with the score standing at 6-1.

Third period play saw Jacob Gradwell and Mike Weisgerber score on the power play, making the final score 8-1, with the Wings outshooting La Ronge 53-30.

Penalties were low during the game with only three minors for Weyburn and five minors for La Ronge.

McMillan credits non-stop effort, good goaltending and other factors with the impressive win.

"We had a line of Greg Garner, Jason Vermieulen and Jon Geiring that played outstanding. They took the role of checking the other teams' big lines, and checked them and outscored them," he said.

Friday night action saw the Red Wings get by North Battleford 4-3 in a fast-paced, hard-hitting game that kept the fans entertained with playoff-level action.

Over 500 fans came out to watch Jon Geiring, Mike Costley, Mike Weisgerber and Jacob Gradwell put single points on the board while goaltender Terry Denike held North Battleford to 3 goals out of 29 shots on net.

Strong goaltending at both ends of the ice also made for a well played game.

The Wings racked up nine minor penalties and three majors, while North Battleford had eight minors and three majors.

The Red Wings will hit the road for their next three games - Friday in North Battleford, Saturday in Kinderseley and Sunday in Humboldt. Their next home game will take place Jan. 1, 2000 against Estevan.