Friday, March 4, 2011

Klippers-Red Wings series preview

It starts tonight!

There's no feeling like the first game of the playoffs. Here's the series preview that ran in the Clarion on Wednesday.

Klippers, Red Wings set to renew hostilities Friday

A long-standing rivalry will resume on Friday when the Kindersley Klippers and Weyburn Red Wings kick off the 2010-11 SJHL playoffs in Kindersley.

The two teams have had everything from spirited battles to blowouts this season and now lock horns for the right to play in the Sherwood Conference final.

Game 2 is Saturday, with both contests starting at 7:30 p.m.

The Klippers (35-20-3) finished second in the Sherwood, nine points ahead of the Red Wings (30-24-1-3). Both teams have had nearly two weeks off to rest up and heal the various bumps and bruises that come with the stretch run.

“We’ve been playing since Christmas with a lot of hard nicks and bangs on us and this was just the time we needed,” said Weyburn head coach Dwight McMillan.

The Klippers were given four days off before hitting the ice for practice on Sunday night.

Klippers’ coach Rockie Zinger said his team can’t put much stock in their hot play over the final two months now that the playoffs are here, aside from the fact that it gives them home-ice advantage.

“You can’t rest on that. You can’t be satisfied by the fact that we’re a dangerous team going in,” said Zinger. “You’re only as good as your last game. We’ve got a ticket to the dance and it’s time to show what moves we have.”

The Klippers’ depth and firepower up front will be a focal point in the series, McMillan acknowledged.

“Kindersley is very offensive and has a lot of depth. We’re coming in as the underdog. We have to work hard, do the best we can and see what happens,” said the veteran coach. “We know we can’t go nose to nose with them, so we have to try to win in different ways.”

Johnny Calkins finished fourth in league scoring this year with 25 goals and 93 points, including a league-leading 68 assists. The Red Wings’ focus will be on shutting down Calkins and his linemates, Braeden Adamyk (42-40-82) and Andrew Dommett (22-24-46), who missed 24 games with a jaw injury. Weyburn will also need to limit the production of the Klippers’ two other scoring lines, centred by Sanfred King and Jordon Hoffman.

Left winger Jesse Mysiorek, who has missed 12 games with a groin injury, is expected to return to the line-up on Friday. Right winger D. Jay McGrath, sidelined with a knee injury since Jan. 21, will miss the entire playoffs and will need surgery.

Zinger said his blueline sometimes doesn’t get the respect it deserves with so much focus on the power up front.

“Sometimes it gets overlooked that we’re a good defensive club. You gotta remember we’ve got some guys who can shut people down. It doesn’t matter if you win 2-1 or 7-1,” said Zinger.

“We feel our blueline has made great strides since October. They’ve really solidified where we’re at,” he added. “Our blueline is at its best when it keeps it simple, moving the puck up through the neutral zone for our forwards.”

Aside from the usual suspects in Kurt Leedahl, John Sonntag and Sean Flanagan, the coach said 20-year-old Cody Lund has “played some unbelievable hockey” in the last month of the season.

The Klippers’ penalty killing has been strong in recent weeks, ranking fourth in the league at a 80.5 per cent clip, and while the team’s eighth-ranked power play is an area to work on, Zinger credits it more to the strong penalty killing from other teams.

“Our penalty kill has gotten better and better as the year has gone on, so why are we taking anything away from other teams’ penalty killing? Is it that our power play is struggling or is it every team’s penalty killing getting a lot stronger?” he retorted.

Meanwhile, Weyburn owns the top penalty kill in the league at 84 per cent and the third-best power play at 24.4 per cent.

The Red Wings are not the powerhouse of years past, but they do present a challenge, particularly with one of the league’s top goalies in Mitch Kilgore, who was stuck behind two 20-year-olds last season but has blossomed as a SJHL rookie.

“We knew Kilgore was a great goaltender. We’ve had lots of confidence in him going into this year,” said McMillan.

The Outlook native was the difference the last time the two teams met on Feb. 4, stopping 55 shots en route to a 5-4 overtime win for the Wings.

“We have some big bodies up front. They just gotta go to the traffic areas and get him thinking about the big bodies in front of him instead of the little black biscuit he’s supposed to be stopping,” said Zinger.

The focus for the Klippers will be getting the puck deep behind a Red Wings blueline core perceived as slow by some.

“They‘ve got a big defence and if you don’t get pucks in behind them, you’ll make them look better than what they are,” said Zinger. “Our main focus is making their defence work, getting pucks behind them, getting opportunities off the cycle and forcing turnovers.

“They have forwards who work hard. From what we’ve seen of them, they’re a prototypical dump-and-chase team that tries to wear you down,” he added.

T.J. Wees is the main man on the Weyburn blueline, and he gets support from the likes of Tanner McCall - who has been playing forward lately due to injuries - Ryan Whitell, Eatonia native Brentt Becker and Taylor Desserre.

Up front, the player to watch is left winger Brock Appleyard (28-39-67), along with Drew George (21-36-57) and rookies Coltyn Sanderson and Keegan Bruce.

“We have to score by committee. We’re not going to have one guy score a bunch of goals. We have three lines that aren’t prolific scorers but can score,” McMillan said.

Many thought the Red Wings’ playoff hopes had taken a hit when forwards Shawn and Rodney Cowie left the team in late January, but the team played well down the stretch.

“It gives the other guys a chance to play. The attitude and character sometimes comes out. You never know how dressing rooms are going to go.”

Zinger said he looks forward to seeing how his players will respond at playoff time.

“Every playoff, there are always different guys who raise their game. It’ll be interesting to see who those guys are for our club. We’re hoping it’s a new one every night.”

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Here's a look at the two teams by the numbers.

Records
Kindersley: 35-20-3, 2nd in Sherwood
Weyburn: 30-24-1-3, 3rd in Sherwood

Goals For/Against
Kindersley: 240/194
Weyburn: 193/191

Special Teams
Kindersley: PP 19.4% (8th), PK 80.5% (4th)
Weyburn: PP 24.4% (3rd), PK 84% (1st)

Leading Scorers
Kindersley: Calkins (25-68-93), Adamyk (42-40-82), S. King (19-45-64)
Weyburn: Appleyard (28-39-67), George (21-36-57), Bruce (22-26-48)

Home
Kindersley: 21-5-3
Weyburn: 18-11-0-1

Away
Kindersley: 14-15
Weyburn: 12-13-1-2

Overtime/Shootout Record
Kindersley: 5-3
Weyburn: 5-4

Last 10 Games
Kindersley 7-2-1
Weyburn 5-4-1

Head-to-Head
Kindersley 3-2-1
Weyburn 3-3

Leading Scorers Head-to-Head
Kindersley: Adamyk (4-6-10), Calkins (3-5-8), S. King (4-3-7)
Weyburn: Ross (5-1-6), Appleyard (2-4-6), Bruce (4-1-5)

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