Mils Win Fourth Straight

A slightly grainy picture of the final score of last night's Kindersley-Melville game at the Stadium.

If Friday's 5-3 win in Humboldt wasn't the official slump-buster, maybe the 4-1 win over the Kinderlsey Klippers the next night at home was.

Austin Krahenbil got the party started with a laser-beam slapshot from the point on the powerplay, and then Daniel Hope snapped a wrist shot top shelf on Ryan Neiszner, again on the man-advantage, making it 2-0 Mils after the first. All the rest of the scoring was done in the second period, started on another Mils powerplay when Matt Kinnunen put home a rebound. The Klippers got one back just after one of their powerplays ended, when Jordan Braid potted a rebound for his 22nd from linemates Brett Leedahl and Jordan Braid. Michael Jordan rounded out the scoring for Melville at even strength on a great wrist shot top shelf.

Travis Bosch made 32 saves on 33 shots in his league-leading 28th win. Ryan Neiszner also stopped 32 in the loss for the Klippers. Austin Krahenbil led all scorers with 3 points (1-2-3). Melville's off until Wednesday when they visit Estevan, the home of the 14-0 game from just a couple weeks ago. But, I'm quite sure that's a distant memory now.

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Tonight, it's the biggest game of the year for both teams as the Yorkton Terriers host the Klippers. Kindersley's been busy, with this being the end of a 3-in-3 on the road, which has seen them pick up just one point of a possible four so far, and the Klippers are without a win on the road in over a month.

Here's the scenario. Yorkton's third, with a 3-point lead on Kindersley. The Klippers have 3 games in hand. If tonight's game's decided in regulation, the lead for Yorkton could be 5 if they win, or trimmed to just one if the Klippers win. And, of course, the Klippers would still have those 3 games in hand. This might be going out on a limb, but I did the same when Melville hosted Weyburn a few weeks ago and I said, 'the winner of this game will finish first,' and for once I was right. So, I'll say today, 'whoever wins tongiht's game will finish third.' Take it to the bank. After tonight, the Terriers go to Notre Dame and host Battleford... and if they win both of those games, it would force Kindersley to win all five of their remaining games, and they've got another 3-in-3 roadie next week (ND-WEY-EST). They then finish with 2 at home against ND. If the Klippers win tonight, even if the Terriers win their last 2, Kindersley would need 5 pts in their last 5 games to tie... Clear as mud?

Here's what else we know after Friday/Saturday.

- Weyburn's magic number to clinch the Sherwood is down to 2. (2 wins, 2 Melville losses, or a Weyburn win paired with a Melville loss). The Mils can finish with 77 pts if they run the table. Weyburn's currently at 74, and they'd have to finish ahead of Melville, since the Mils have the tie-breaker.

- Melville's pretty much got second locked up. It's not likely they'll catch Weyburn, and they've ALMOST clinched no worse than second. Yorkton can't catch them (7 back with 3 games left), and Kindersley's 10 points back 6 games left. A Kindersley loss tonight would clinch Melville second place.

- I already explained the 3rd-4th race.

- With Estevan's loss to Weyburn on Saturday, the best they can do is tie Kindersley, which means, in all likelihood, they're finishing right where they are in 5th, going to either Kindersley or Yorkton for Game 1 of the Survivor Series on Feb/20.

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In the MJHL, the Wayway Wolverines went 0-for-2 on their weekend trip, falling 5-2 in Winkler last night after a 6-3 loss in Portage the night before. Jason Bowles and Logan Dew got their goals.

And the night after being officially elminated from playoff contention, the Swan Valley Stampeders exploded for 8 goals in an 8-3 win over Beausejour. Myles Stevens led the way with 5 points (2-3-5).

Oh, P.S.... for everyone who thinks the Wayway players who were involved in that 2-vehicle crash are just a bunch of punk hockey players who were "drag-racing," give this a read.

From www.mjhlhockey.ca

Wayway safety policy effective
Saturday, February 07, 2009

The recent crash of two vehicles full of Waywayseecappo Wolverines once again reminded everyone within the Manitoba Junior Hockey League that safety while traveling cannot be taken for granted.

Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, says Wolverines GM/Coach Barry Butler.
“Several of the players have neck stiffness, sore backs, shoulder issues. They're getting treatment in Russell and basically a couple of them are day to day in terms of when they'll return to playing.”

Several of the players have returned to skating, but can only return to game action after receiving a clean bill of health.

Junior hockey is a sport where traveling long distances is the norm, rather than the exception. Due to safety concerns, a number of games in the MJHL had to be postponed due to severe cold temperatures and poor road conditions.

Wayway Wolverines is one organization which focuses heavily on road safety.

“We take safety very, very seriously,” says Butler. “We have a safety policy for our players when they're driving back to Russell from our hockey rink in Wayway.”

While the drive from the two communities is only 15 minutes, winter road conditions can make the drive challenging - as evidenced early Wednesday morning when one vehicle lost control on icy roads and rolled in the ditch. A second vehicle, which had been closely following, lost control and ended up in deep snow off the road.

The Wolverines had played in Dauphin on Tuesday and had arrived back in Wayway in the early hours of Wednesday. As per club policy, all players are required to hang up their equipment and participate in a team meeting: on this night the meeting involved road conditions and the importance of driving to those conditions.

“After traveling on the bus for a long time, players are sleeping they're drowsy ... we want to make sure they're mentally awake before they just jump in their cars and head home.”
As per policy, players must leave in teams of two vehicles. Once all the players' vehicles have departed, either Butler or Jim Fuyarchuk (assistant coach), will follow the entire convoy back to Russell.

“I've had this policy since I've been in Wayway,” said Butler. “It's another safety measure while traveling.”

If not for Butler's safety policy, the situation in Wayway could have been much worse, considering the strong winds and blowing snow. On Wednesday, Fuyarchuk was trailing the group and came upon the crash scene. He quickly assessed the scene and was informed by all the players that no one had suffered a serious injury.

Fuyarchuk then called Butler, who was traveling in another direction taking the bus driver home.

“By this time, some of the guys in the other cars got calls on their cell phones and they were making their way back to help their teammates,” explained Butler. “I was really, really proud of my guys as to how they reacted to the whole situation.”