For Mike Weisgerber and Bryce Fossum playing in Maple Creek on Saturday was just like playing at home.

That was because the two were playing in the rink that was their home for much of their minor hockey careers.

Over 550 people, half the town's population, packed the 50-year-old hockey barn with standing-room areas jammed with people five rows deep, to see their hometown heroes beat the Lebret Eagles 4-2.

Weisgerber is originally from Maple Creek while Fossum grew up one hour further south, in Frontier. To honour the two Red Wings, the mayors of both towns presented Weisgerber and Fossum with town jackets and art prints. Both players were surprised they were honoured with the gifts and ceremonies.

"I'm extremely proud they did this for me," said Weisgerber. It felt really good."

It was a rare occasion for Fossum and Weisgerber to play in front of family and friends.

"I haven't had a chance to see my cousin play for a long time," said Elissa Fossum. "I can see improvements in his play and I can also tell he really liked playing close to home."

"I feel proud to have my son come home to play," said Mike Weisgerber, Sr. "It was a chance for him to show what he's become and how he's done."

Because they were playing in front of their families, Weisgerber and Fossum wanted to play their best.

"I was really up for this game," said Fossum. "Everyone I talked to from home said I played well."

Both teams had to adjust to the very small ice surface in the early moments of the game. On several instances in the first period, both teams were caught with two-line passes which would have been legal on regulation ice.

"The rink was a big factor tonight," said Mike Weisgerber. "You would skate out of the corner and be at the blue line. We should have been shooting from everywhere tonight because there was no room to make plays."

After dominating the scoreless first period, The Red Wings found themselves down 2-0 before the second period was two minutes old. Midway through the period, Jacob Gradwell put the Wings on the scoreboard when he picked up a rebound, skated behind the net and scored on a wraparound. David Lapierre and Peter Hay assisted the goal. Christian Cote then tied the score 40 seconds later on a shot from the right faceoff circle hash marks, while Lebret goalie Billy Thompson was missing his stick. Cote's goal was assisted by linemates Jason Vermeulen and Jon Geiring.

The biggest cheer of the night came when Greg Garner and Tyler Shantz squared off to fight. Both players threw punches for over a minute before being separated by the linesmen.

Weyburn's third and game-winning goal was scored midway through the third period by Teaque Willet-Kelly, an associate player who has suited up in the last three games. Hay and Cote provided the assists.

Despite Lebret's attempts to gain offensive pressure, the Red Wings managed to ice the win with Cote's empty-net goal with one minute remaining in the game.

"Weyburn is a good hockey club who work hard," said Lebret assistant coach Jim Latos. "All the goals they scored were because of breakdowns on our part and hard work on theirs."

Red Wing coach Dwight McMillan was happy to get his team's lone win of the week.

"Both Brad Shambel and Teaque Willet-Kelly played well since coming to the team," McMillan said. "We also forechecked very well in our own end. We worked hard and did not let them get into their game."

The Red Wings remain an injured hockey club, forcing some players into positions they don't often play. Corey Koski played defence for the first time during Saturday's game.

"Koski played very well on defence for us," said McMillan. "Offensively or in front of the net, he played a strong game on the boards. He got the puck out and made simple plays."

Despite taking 54 shots on the Kindersley Klipper's netminder, Michael Garnett, Weyburn had their wings clipped at home by the Klipper's in a close 5-4 decision on Friday night.

Weyburn stayed close to Kindersley throughout the match and despite a flurry of rubber projectiles driven toward the Klipper's net, only Jason Vermeulen managed to put the puck through the pipes, near the end of the opening frame.

Peter Hay and Brian Kerr added a pair in the second period, with the Klippers scoring three times to take a 4-3 lead going into the third period, including a power-play marker.

The play was tight in the third period, with both goalies being stingy and not allowing any goals in until late in the period Weyburn tied the game at 17:35 on a shot by Ryan Rome after swarming the net. The Wings looked like they were going to send the game into overtime when a shot on a break-away on the Weyburn net resulted in Kindersley potting the winning goal with only 17.8 seconds left on the clock.

Weyburn did have a couple of quick chances on net in the dying seconds, but were unable to score the tying goal. While Weyburn fired 54 shots at the Kindersley net, 31 were fired at goalie Terry Denike.

The loss came on the heels of another loss on Wednesday, when the Red Wings visited Yorkton and were defeated by the same score in overtime. The Terriers put three in the net in the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the third period, and made it 4-2 early in the third.

The Wings came back with a short-handed goal by Christian Cote, and then Ryan Rome tied the game with under two minutes to play. The Terriers' Dan Hursh scored the winner at 2:52 of overtime on a penalty shot. Weyburn's other goals came from Cory Koski and Mike Weisgerber earlier in the game.

The Wings were without the services of right-winger Greg Garner for the Yorkton and Kindersley matches, who was handed a two-game suspension from a match penalty he received during a game versus Estevan on Jan. 2. He was penalized for a deliberate attempt to injure, and the SJHL handed the suspension after reviewing videotape of the incident.

Sergei Sinicin's knee and James Laux's shoulder may have healed enough for them to play in the Red Wings' northern road trip to Humboldt, North Battleford and Kindersley starting on Friday, Jan. 14.

All other injured players are not expected to be in playing shape until at least next week.