Interesting tidbit to start the day...

This has nothing to do with the Klippers, but it is related to the blog, in a way.

Since I started the blog in late August, I've been getting semi-regular visits from someone in the Netherlands Antilles, a tiny group of islands just off the coast of Venezuela. Not sure who it is (feel free to leave a comment) but I found it interesting.

I knew the place existed, but I never really heard anything about it in the news. Until now.

I saw this from the BBC this morning:

"The Dutch Caribbean dependency the Netherlands Antilles has ceased to exist with a change of the five islands' constitutional status.

Curacao and St Maarten have become autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, joining Aruba, which gained the status in 1986.

Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba are now autonomous special municipalities of the kingdom.

The Netherlands retains responsibility for defence and foreign policy."

Sorry for the diversion. I'm an international politics junkie and I have to let that side of me out every now and then.

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A few photos from practice today. Down, King, Wasden and Sonntag ganged up on Gerwing near the end. Poor guy.

"I'm %@#$# freezing"

Sonntag and Calkins have something they want to let the rest of us know about?

back for more

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By request, here's an interview with Klipper goalie Justin McDonald after Saturday's loss to La Ronge, his first SJHL start.

UPDATED: McGrath speaks about joining the Klippers

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend and enjoys the leftovers over the next few days. It was a great sports weekend for me, with the Leafs clobbering Ottawa, the Argos pulling out a win over the Riders (I think I hear the pitchforks coming already) and the Eagles hung on to beat San Fran 27-24.

But the show must go on. Today was picture day at the Events Centre, when I take everyone's head shot for the SJHL website. I caught the end of practice. The guys were having a lot of fun out there, trying out all kinds of moves.

I talked to new Klipper D. Jay McGrath about his demotion and what it will be like playing at home again. Here you go:

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I also talked to Andrew Dommett about how his jaw is progressing and what it's been like not being in the line-up. He said the wiring in his jaw is due to come out on Oct. 20, and depending on how well the jaw healed, he may be able to start working out, with full contact practices coming perhaps 3-4 weeks after that. He also had some words for the general public regarding what's being said about the suspension to Justin Ducharme.

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I'll leave you with a few shots of the guys screwing around while getting their pictures taken.

D. Jay McGrath is REALLY excited to be here

John Sonntag is missing his soother

No soother makes widdle Johnny mad

Wolves beat Klippers again

This will be a quick recap.

There were an awful lot of penalties in this game. It was obvious that the Klippers struggled to get any sort of flow going in the first period. When they did get on the PP, they usually negated it either by taking a penalty of their own or not making anything happen. They played their best hockey in the last 10 minutes of the game, and by then it was too late.

Justin McDonald made his first SJHL start and if it weren't for his play in the first, those penalties may have buried the Klips. Yeah, he allowed four goals on the first 24 shots. But he made the big saves when needed, and when the Klippers turned it on in the third, McDonald stopped the La Ronge counter attack to give his offence a chance to tie. He made a couple of big glove saves during the game and a huge pad stop on Doug Lindensmith, on a partial breakaway, to deny him the hat trick in the second period.

There was definitely some bad blood tonight, but it could have been much worse. There was one scary moment when Sean Flanagan was hit from behind by Nolan Souchotte in the corner to the right of Justin McDonald. What made it tough to watch was Souchotte was moving at very high speed when he hit Flanagan. Kurt Leedahl immediately stood up for his partner by fighting Souchotte.

Fortunately, Flanagan got the kinks worked out over the second intermission and returned to the game.

I had a good chat with Travis Eggum after the game. He was tossed during the second period for a hit from behind. I didn't see how it developed because I was writing something down, but he told me he was going for the puck and they got tangled up. It was nice to catch up. Does he ever look different from the Eggum who left Kindersley. I think the mustachio and big hair are official requirements to play for La Ronge.

Bump of the game: Taylor Wasden
Three stars: 1. Doug Lindensmith; 2. Taylor Duzan; 3. Dayton Fossum

Larry Wintoneak said D. Jay McGrath should arrive tonight or early tomorrow (Sunday). He also suggested that Riley Down probably won't be ready to play in Flin Flon, but he isn't sure. He had some things to say about the Flanagan hit as well. If I find time on Sunday, I will post the interview as well as another one with Justin McDonald.

Klippers vs. La Ronge preview

Tonight's game obviously carries negative overtones stemming from the hit on Andrew Dommett in La Ronge Sept. 19. While I do think it will be a chippy affair, with a scrap or four, I also believe Larry Wintoneak is doing all he can to keep his team's focus on the two points.

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone today, so I'll be putting out updates on Twitter tonight and will do that when I can for the rest of the season. Even on a smartphone, maintaining a game blog isn't the easiest thing, so from now on check my Twitter for in-game updates and the blog for previews and recaps.

La Ronge Ice Wolves


Believe it or not, the Wolves have played only two games since that fateful Sunday evening game on opening weekend.

They lost to Humboldt Sept. 24 and last night, they were the victims as Battlefords finally got their first win of the season, 3-2.

La Ronge got a big boost this week when star forward Logan Herauf, acquired from Melville over the off-season, returned from his stint with the NAHL's New Mexico Mustangs.

Doug Lindensmith, Travis Eggum, Marc-Andre Carre are obviously the guys to watch up front, along with secondary scorers Aaron Enns, Philippe Cliche and Richard Cameron.

Dayton Fossum and Phil Belanger are arguably the Wolves' top two defencemen. Ben Bula looked fantastic against the Klippers last month.

In goal, Adam Bartko will get the vast majority of the starts this year and tonight probably won't be an exception.

Kindersley Klippers


Kindersley native D. Jay McGrath was cut by the Everett Silvertips yesterday and assigned to the Klippers (he's an auto-protect). Quite a surprise. Sure, he didn't have a terrific rookie season (53-2-3-5) but by all accounts the club had bigger plans for him this year.

McGrath put up good numbers in midget as a 16-year-old, producing 20 goals and 32 points in 37 games with the Contacts in 2008-09. Where he'll slot onto this team, with three lines rolling, is anyone's guess, and I'm sure Larry will try him in a number of spots to start off. He's a natural centre, but I won't be surprised to see him move to the right side. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds tonight. At only 18, McGrath is a huge asset to the Klippers moving forward and should play a massive role next year after the loss of four 20-year-old forwards.

Other than that, I look to a guy like Johnny Calkins to have a big game tonight. No doubt there's an impulse to avenge his friend and teammate, but if I were a betting man I'd say we'll see Calkins torch the Wolves on the scoreboard.

On the back end, it doesn't look like Riley Down will play tonight, so the same six of Flanagan-Leedahl, Sonntag-Bartel, Tabin-Haaf will suit up.

The Klippers could use a big, strong kid like Downer in a game like this.

Let's talk about football for a second.

I know this is a Klippers blog, but I just got home from a Kindersley Kobras game that local sports fans should hear about.

The Kobras came into today's game against the Martensville Royals at 2-3 on the year, tied for the last playoff spot with Warman, with two games left. Martensville was tied for second at 3-2.

Let's remember, this is a team that hasn't managed more than one win per season in several years. They haven't had a winning season in two decades.

Given how this game played out, you might call it the most important game for the Kobras in those two decades.

It was back and forth for all 48 minutes, with Martensville leading 21-16 at the half.

It was 27-22 for the Royals at the start of the fourth quarter, and it stayed that way for a while. Then, with 6:17 to go, QB Greg Gassner plunged across the plane from two yards out to put the Kobras ahead. They went for two and Gassner just caught a piece of the corner on a gutsy run to make it 30-27.

Martensville attempted a field goal of about 25 yards with three minutes left and missed for a single. That's when the Kobra defence stepped up, and they had to after Kindersley took a 30-yard penalty on a Royals punt return.

With the ball on the Kobra 31, the D stepped up with a sack, followed by a knockdown, followed by a hurry, on three consecutive plays to get the ball back.

Martensville got it back with 31 seconds left, but a Jim Borgal sack with 14 seconds left made their chances slim. On the last play of the game, with the ball at the Martensville 40 or so, the Kobras came up with an interception to pull out the win.

The Kobras host the winless Unity Warriors next week to close out the regular season. Warman faced the undefeated Delisle Rebels today. Don't know what happened there (though I can guess). Warman has Martensville next week. The Kobras are in good position to snag a playoff spot, maybe even higher than fourth.

I'll see if I can get audio up from head coach Al Neufeld shortly. For now, I'm watching my Leafs beat the Habs. Awesome!

UPDATE: Warman lost 39-7 to Delisle. They drop to 2-4.

I mspoke with Al as the rookie quarter was happening, so that's what the interruption is about.

Duzan's goal gives Klippers 3-2 win; Kiley Long cut

To be completely frank, the Klippers didn't deserve to win tonight as far as I'm concerned. They were very sloppy, had all kinds of trouble with passes, shoddy defensive coverage, and even their most steady guys seemed to be a little shaky. It's a trend I've noticed with a lot of their mid-week games over the last couple of years.

Regardless, a turnover at the Klipper blueline gave Taylor Duzan a partial breakaway and he went top cheese on Charles Corsi to put his club ahead 3-2 with 1:49 to go.

Jesse Mireau - who was a thorn in Kindersley's side all night - opened the scoring at 7:29 on a nice little backhander. It was a total individual effort from tight range.

Ryan Benn went the extra mile and managed to get his stick on the puck during a scramble to tie the game just 15 seconds later.

Nearly seven minutes later on the PP, Bo Lenard caught Scott Hellyer off his right post and sneaked a shot past his blocker.

Again the Klippers responded lightning fast, with Justin Gerwing scoring his third of the year 18 seconds later. It was a beaut. A Melfort defenceman attempted a soft outlet pass from behind the net and Gerwing, on the left side of the ice, one-timed it past a surprised Corsi.

That was it until late in the third when Duzan came up big to steal two points from the Mustangs, who always seem to give the Klippers a hard time.

Shots were 35-34 for Melfort.

Bump of the game: John Sonntag
Three stars: 1. Taylor Duzan; 2. Scott Hellyer; 3. Charles Corsi. And an honourable mention to Ryan Benn. He hustled all night and set up some scoring chances. I wanted to squeeze him in there, but I didn't feel the Klippers deserved all three stars based on their performance. Ah, politics. I tell ya.

In other news, left winger Kiley Long was cut this afternoon. He stuck around for the game tonight and will leave tomorrow. Long's father, Rick, scouts for Weyburn, so there's a chance he could wind up there. Long played in two games, both on the Melville/Yorkton road trip two weeks ago. I'm a little disappointed I never got to see him play. He's a nice kid and I wish him all the best.

Riley Down didn't play tonight. He had his shoulder checked out again and he says he won't be playing until next week in Flin Flon now. He was hoping to return tonight or Saturday.

Klippers vs. Melfort

I think I'm feeling the onset of the flu, so I'm not going to take the time to do a game preview for tonight's contest against the Melfort Mustangs. The good news, for fans out of town, is that I will be blogging the game. I'll try to do this for all mid-week home games this season, since I don't have much in the way of newspaper duties for those games, seeing as they're about a week old by the time the Clarion comes out.

EDIT: I've been told the wireless hasn't been set up yet at the WCEC, so no blog tonight. I will, though, start doing this for the mid-week games once the wireless is up.

The Stangs are 4-3-1, second in the Bauer, after handing Battlefords their astounding seventh straight loss last night (c'mon now, Stars, this is getting into Leafs territory).

Weyburn has made a very interesting deal with Neepawa, something I've never seen before. Two sets of brothers are changing hands, and no, it's not the Cowies.