After just squeezing their way into the playoffs, the Weyburn Red Wings played a best-of-three survivor series against the Flin Flon Bombers, and were swept in two straight games.
The series started off in Weyburn on Friday night. It was certainly not the first period the Red Wings were hoping for with four Bombers goals, one of which was shorthanded. Nonetheless, the Red Wings showed up in the second period ready to give the Bombers a run for their money.
For starters, a lineup change put Ben Laidlaw between the pipes for the remainder of the game. One minute and 23 seconds into the frame, Jacob Piller used a rebounded shot by Jevon Schwean to slip the puck between the legs of the Bombers’ goaltender. The Bombers answered back quickly to make it 5-1, but Piller was far from giving in. At 10:09, Piller and Drew Anderson exchanged a little back and forth action in front of the net before Piller fired a shot from his knee to complete the play.
Only 42 seconds later, Carson Scheschuk brought up the puck into the opposing end, and made a connection with Piller who found Dawson McKenzie across the ice. With a man quickly approaching on him, McKenzie sauced the puck to the wide-open Piller who directed it into the netting and claimed a hat trick.
It was 5-3 heading into the third and the Red Wings were hopeful to decrease that two-goal gap. Instead, however, the goal gap grew with a Bombers power play goal and a questionable empty netter nearing the end of the game. Thus ended the first game of the series with a 7-3 victory for the Bombers.
On Sunday night, the two teams met up in Flin Flon for game two. Just like the game before, the first period was not kind to the Wings as they trailed 2-0. Thankfully for the Red Wings, they were able to catch a break in the second when the Bombers were handed a two-minute interference penalty. A minute into the power play, McKenzie scored an unassisted goal against his former team. This was McKenzie’s fifth goal as a Red Wing and 14th of the season.
Later on, the Wings were thrown into some hot water with overlapping penalties against them. After fending off the Bombers five-on-three for a while, the Wings gained back a fourth man which was just enough for Connor Pyne to break away and score a shorthanded goal.
Now 2-2 heading in the third, a lot was on the line for both teams. The Bombers broke the tie early on, but it wasn’t until the fourth Bombers goal that things noticeably fell apart. The fourth goal was controversial with it first being called off, but then after a discussion between the refs, the goal was allowed. This understandingly dampened the spirits of the Wings and before the final buzzer went, the Bombers put two more up on the scoreboard making it 6-2. For more about the Red Wings games, see the Weyburn Review's March 13 issue.
