Struble Scores in Season Debut For YT; Stamps Shade Saints

Brent Struble got into the Yorkton Terriers' lineup for the first time this season after a foot injury sustained in camp, and promptly scored his first SJHL goal in the second period of a 4-3 OT loss to the Melfort Mustangs. Matt Chomyc scored Yorkton's other two goals, while Todd Chinova scored twice for the 'Stangs, including the overtime winner. Former Swan Valley Stampeder Chris Ward made 27/30 saves in the Melfort cage, and even picked up an assist in the win.

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Ryan Marshall's back. After being held pointless in his return from the WJAC Wednesday in OCN, the 18-year-old scored twice, his 17th and 18th of the season (3rd most in MJHL), leading the Swan Valley Stampeders to a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Saints, to start off their road trip with two big points. Chris Reimer also scored, his 15th of the season (5g in last 4 games, 12p in last 7). Paul Bonar and Brent Wilson, who are behind only Dauphin's Steven Shamanski for points by a defenseman in the league, each got on the board again with assists.

The Stamps held the first place Saints to just 23 shots, and Caden Unger stopped 21 of them for his third straight win, and Swan Valley's 4th straight overall. With Dauphin beating Portage last (FRI) night, the Stamps and Terriers are now tied for 2nd with 30 points each (Stamps are 15-and-10). I think everyone else might as well just start cheering for Dauphin to beat other Sherwood opponents, because let's face it, the Kings are 22-2-1, and even if they play .500 hockey the rest of the season (and they won't, but just for argument's sake), they'd still finish with 40 wins, which is usually enough for 1st place. I predicted they'd win 50+, and it looks like 55 might not even be out of reach.

And as I'm sure you've seen by now on the MJHL site, the Wayway Wolverines weekend games in Selkirk and Winkler are also postponed, which means the Wolverines now have 4 games they need to make up. Let's hope it doesn't come down to last year's schedule, when they Wolves were forced to play 7 games in 8 nights to finish the season before a tough playoff matchup with Portage.

Interesting fact: All MJHL teams except for the bottom team in each division (Wayway & Steinbach) are at .500 or better. Great for the league, but will make it tough for teams like Wayway to get back in the race. My fingers are crossed though!