The Weyburn Red Wings had a tough road trip up north in the past week, with two losses and one win in visitors rinks.
The road trip included a 7-2 victory over Flin Flon on Wednesday, and two heart-breakers, a 4-3 loss to the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Friday evening, and a loss by the same score to the Melfort Mustangs on Saturday night.
The Red Wings remain in second place in the Viterra Division with 34 points, behind Estevan who holds first with 37 points.
In Melfort, their first goal was in the first period when defenceman Erik Olson scored at the halfway mark with assists from William Cruise and Mike Eskra, tying the game at 1-1.
Eskra potted a goal in the second period at 4:41, with assists from Olson and Garrett Szeremley to briefly take the lead. Melfort tied the game and then took the lead before Weyburn tied it up at 3-3 on a goal by Dexter Robinson, assisted by Jessie Young and Cade Kowalski. Melfort got the lone goal late in the third period to give the Mustangs the win.
Arik Weersink was between the pipes for the loss, facing 35 shots.
In La Ronge, the Red Wings were first on the board on Friday night, as Cruise notched a goal unassisted at 2:53. After the Ice Wolves tied it up, Weyburn’s Ty Brown scored from Eskra and Kowalski on the power play, with La Ronge tying the game back up two minutes later.
The lone goal of the second period was from La Ronge, and they got the winning goal on the power play in the third period. Weyburn’s Robinson scored at the midway point to make the score 4-3, with an assist from Kowalski, but that was all they were able to get.
Weersink was again in the net, and faced 42 shots to 37 shots on the La Ronge net.
In Flin Flon, Weyburn was down two goals before the Wings’ Wyatt Arndt scored his first goal for the team, unassisted, at 14:26 of the first period, followed only eight seconds later by Jeremy Velazquez who tied the game up, with Arndt assisting.
The second period saw a natural hat-trick by Olson, as he scored at 6:31, 12:07 and 17:19, with Eskra contributing assists on two of them, and Kowalski, Dawson Atamanchuk and Jordan Kazymyra providing the other assists.
In the third period, Brown potted two goals in a row, with Olson and Landon Walters assisting at 11:57, and Connor Pyne assisting at 15:38 to complete Weyburn’s scoring on the night.
Weersink was in the net for the win, facing 43 shots to 25 shots on the Flin Flon net.
A highlight for the Red Wings this week was right-winger Jordan Kazymyra, who was named by the SJHL as the MySask 411 Rookie of the Month.
Kazymyra ripped eight goals and four assists in 12 games in the past month, emerging as one of the top offensive threats for the Red Wings. Kazymyra had two stretches of consistent output, scoring four goals and six points in three games played November 4-10 and then again from November 17-21 when he had goals in three straight games. He has 11 goals and eight assists in 22 games this season.
The Red Wings will be in Melville on Dec. 6, to take on the Millionaires starting at 7:30 p.m., and will be at home on Friday, Dec. 8, when they host the Kindersley Klippers at Crescent Point Place, with game-time at 7:30 p.m.
