Whether or not you feel the Weyburn Red Wings deserve to be in the Royal Bank Cup is now irrelevant.

They've already proved it.

The Red Wings concluded the opening weekend of the 2005 RBC Royal Bank Cup as one of its top contenders. After suffering a 2-1 loss in double overtime against the Portage Terriers on Saturday, the Red Wings rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Georgetown Raiders on Sunday evening.

"I think we belong in this tournament. I think we've shown it in the last two games," said coach Dwight McMillan, following Sunday's game against Georgetown.

"I think we proved tonight that we can work hard. We played two and a half games and I think we'll just get better as the week goes along."

As of Monday evening, when every team at the RBC had played two games, Weyburn was tied with Portage and Georgetown with a 1-1 record, trailing the first-place Camrose Kodiaks (2-0). In dead last were the Hawkesbury Hawks with an 0-2 record..

At the packed Saturday night opener against the Terriers, Weyburn and Portage hammered each other for a period before the Red Wings finally broke the scoring draught at 2:52 of the second, scored by Jordan Stevenson from the top of the circle against goalie Stefan Drew. Assists went to Rick Wood and Kirk Medernach.

It was a beautiful goal, and it seemed to bring Weyburn to life. The Wings played a solid hockey game after that, and looked as though they could win the whole thing.

Sadly, it wasn't so. Portage's Colin Slobodian converted a power play with just 2:04 remaining in the game to tie the score, forcing the game into a 10-minute overtime.

Portage seemed to dominate the play initially, as the puck stayed in Weyburn's end for most of the sudden death period. The Wings threw everything at Stefan Drew in the second overtime period, but could not solve him; Portage, however, was able to score the game-winner at 5:04 on a bouncing puck from Kent Merriam.

A disheartening loss like that could have finished the Wings off. However, McMillan said he pointed out to his team at the Sunday morning meeting that they belonged in the tournament; they went into Sunday evening "more relaxed and confident," he said.

Weyburn opened the Georgetown game with an early goal, as Matt Wheeler fired the puck past a screened John Barrow at 1:30 of the first period, assisted by Joe Pace. Georgetown retaliated at 6:55 with a shorthanded goal by John Wheaton to tie the score.

Penalties were a big problem in the second period as discipline broke down, especially on Georgetown's side. That could have spelt disaster for Weyburn's marginal lead, and there were concerns that the Wings might blow it.

"Discipline's a big thing in this tournament," said McMillan. "Every game's a sudden death game, and you can't afford to do something foolish."

However, Weyburn prevailed. The Wings regained the lead as Ryan Grona snapped a top-shelf goal past Barrow at 3:41, assisted by Dan Erlandson. This was followed a few minutes later by Colby Nichol, who converted a two-man power play at 5:49 on assists from Kai Magnussen and Ryan Grona.

Weyburn's 3-1 lead seemed in danger when the Georgetown goalie denied Stevenson on a partial breakaway in the third period, and Frank DeAngelis punched home a rebound at 11:11. A bad hit to Kirk Medernach on the sideboards, aggravating a shoulder problem, didn't help matters.

But the Wings prevailed when Brendon Vertefeuille scored an insurance goal at 14:02, fed by Wood and fellow Weyburn player Brendon Vertefeuille. Though Georgetown managed a third goal at 19:58 by effectively charging it into Weyburn's net, the game was already over at that point.

Nursing a few injuries to key players like Medernach and Ryan Kuntz, Weyburn's next game was against Camrose last night, May 10. Results are not available due to publication deadlines.

Their final game is tonight, May 11, against the winless Hawkesbury Hawks. Weyburn needs only one victory to clinch a spot in the playoffs.