The Weyburn Red Wings have begun their SJHL regular season with a pair of wins over the Yorkton Terriers this past weekend.

With a team full of new players, many in the locker room felt that getting off to a good start this season was key.

"It is really important that we got off to a quick start and set the tone for the month of September," said centreman Michael Seib.

Weyburn opened the regular season with a 5-4 shootout win over the Yorkton Terriers on Friday in Yorkton.

After Yorkton opened the scoring on the powerplay in the first period, Luke Johnson scored at 15:38 to tie the game 1-1 with assists from Stephen Simms and Seib. The two teams continued to exchange goals in the second period with Yorkton drawing first blood.

The Red Wings answered at 10:21 of the second with Joel Langevin scoring with assists by Jared Smale and Torrey Lindsay on the powerplay.

"We had gotten to a slow start in the first period, but were able to pick it up in the second period," said centreman Craig Cornelson

Only 13 seconds into the third period, the Wings took their first lead of the game on a goal by Eric Calibaba, assisted by Smale. Lindsay added another goal at 11:16 to give Weyburn a 4-2 lead with assists from Smale and Calibaba. That lead disintegrated before the end of the period as the Terriers found a way to tie the game.

Overtime solved nothing, so the game went to a shootout. Langevin was the first shooter and beat Terriers goaltender Lynden Sammartino. Red Wings goaltender Kyle McConnell then stopped Yorkton shooter Kyle Block.

Smale scored to give Weyburn a 2-0 advantage and McConnell stopped the final Yorkton shooter to secure the win. Weyburn outshot Yorkton 35-30.

"We played a good checking road game," said head coach Dwight McMillan. "It is tough to get a victory there, even in overtime or a shootout, so we'll take the two points."

Saturday was the Red Wings home opener at the Colosseum, where they walked away with a 2-1 victory over Yorkton in front of a packed house of 1,086 fans.

"It is a lot of energy to feed off of when you have 1,000 fans cheering for you," said Seib

Weyburn took the early lead at 14:46 of the first period with a goal by Preston Shupe, assisted by Scott Doody and Ethan Gardner. The Red Wings made it 2-0 at 3:40 of the third period off of a goal by Cornelson, assisted by Langevin and Kyle Haines. McConnell stopped 28 of 29 shots in the victory.

"We were still riding high from our win the night before," said Seib.

Following the weekend games, the players feel that they are starting to gel together well and they get to know their new teammates on and off of the ice.

"We are coming together and I think we are making good progress," said Cornelson..

On Tuesday, the Wings were in Humboldt to take on the Broncos. Because of publication deadlines, results were not available by presstime.

Last week the Red Wings announced a tentative roster for the 2007-2008 season. Making the team are A.J. Whiffen, Kyle McConnell, Tanner Erickson, Mick Pawlyshyn, Stephen Simms, Nick Needham, Andrew Perrault, Ethan Gardner, Connor Krukowski, Jared Whincup, Jared Smale, Scott Doody, Torrey Lindsay, Ryan Toporowski, Dylan Lawrence, Luke Johnson, Ian Lazar, David Wagner, Josh Bray, Craig Cornelson, Alex Horsburgh, Joel Langevin, Carter Selinger, Rhett Bly and Kyle Johnson.

Wearing letters will be assistant captains Eric Calibaba, Preston Shupe and Michael Seib. The captain of this year's team will be Kyle Haines.

Weyburn will continue on the four-game road swing on tonight, Sept. 19, in Melfort against the Mustangs.

The Red Wings will then head to Saskatoon to begin the September Showcase with games against the Flin Flon Bombers on Saturday, Sept. 22 and against the Battlefords North Stars on Sunday, Sept. 23.