Brent Salzl scored with less than four minutes to go in the third period to give the Battlefords Beaver Blues a 4-3 win in their home opener at the Battleford Arena against the Perdue Pirates Saturday night. Salzl had two goals and an assist in the victory.
The Beaver Blues (2-0) opened the scoring in the first period. Jeff Weibe scored midway through the period to give Battleford a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Salzl scored his first goal of the game on the power play to extend the lead to two.
In the second, Keaton Silvernagle beat Beaver Blues goaltender Mitch Hawtin with his first of two goals six minutes into the period. The Beaver Blues responded a minute later when Brent Michnik beat Pirates goalie Aidan Kerslake. Perdue answered on the power play. Dakota Hebig scored while Battleford forward Logan Weeseekase was in the box for elbowing.
The Pirates tied the game up in the third period. Silvernagle netted the equalizer and his second goal of the game with 15 minutes to go. Salzl broke the tie for good with 3:40 left to go in the game.
In other SPHL action, the Meota Combines dismantled the Hafford Mustangs. The Combines beat the Mustangs 15-3 Friday night at the Civic Centre. Bo Gervais led the way for Meota with four goals and two assists.
It was a tight game in the first period. Meota opened the scoring early when Aaron Cadrin beat Mustangs netminder Jeremy Hilash. Hafford quickly tied the game receiving a goal from Cody Ryan. Tyson Knight gave the Combines a 2-1 lead at the 15:16 mark of the first and the score held to the end of the period.
Meota scored three times to open the second period. Gervais had two back-to-back goals and Tanner Robinson added the third. Ryan scored his second of the game for the Mustangs to make the score 5-2. Taylor Tatchell extended the lead to four shortly after. Gervais completed his hat trick right before the end of the second.
The floodgates opened for the Combines in the third. After Cody Zyznomirski opened the scoring in the period for the Mustangs, Meota scored eight unanswered goals. Brody Tatchell and Brett Miller scored twice in the third, while Gervais, Cadrin, Travis Cheyne and Levi Pollard all added goals in the period.
Hilash was left in net for the entire game and heard about his performance throughout the game from the fans in attendance.
There were four other games in the SJHL last weekend. Friday night saw the Cut Knife Colts stay undefeated with a 7-2 win in Perdue and the Shellbrook Silvertips blew out the Spiritwood Timberwolves 11-1 at home. The Maymont Settlers beat the Timberwolves 12-5 and the Radisson Wheat Kings edged the Glaslyn North Stars 5-4 on the road Saturday night.
