You may have noticed a few changes to the blog yesterday and today. I've gotten a domain name for the site, which means you can now access it by going to klipperreport.com without the blogspot part. The old address will still redirect you to the new one, though.
At the top of the page, you'll notice I've added pages for the team's schedule as well as Klipper articles from The Clarion. The calendar is colour-coded for home and away and you can see the opponent by clicking the date. Both pages are a work in progress. Over the next couple of weeks I'll add more to the Articles page and eventually have all my Klipper stories up there.
With the new domain also comes a new email address. If you want to contact me regarding anything to do with the blog, or the Klippers, you can now reach me at josh@klipperreport.com
For some reason, the blogroll on the left side of the page has disappeared with the move. I'll try to figure this out and get those links back up ASAP.
I'm still exploring what I can do with the new tools, so if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see, or feedback on the changes, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.
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Speaking of Klipper stories, here's the article running in today's Clarion.
Dommett makes early return in Klipper victory
Last-second bounce leads to defeat against Bruins
He was not the saviour, but there was no doubt about the impact of Andrew Dommett in Friday’s win for the Kindersley Klippers.
Captain Klipper made his return from a broken jaw two weeks ahead of schedule and the Klippers got a late goal from Braeden Adamyk to defeat the Weyburn Red Wings 4-2.
It was a much-needed win, coming two days after a last-second fluke handed the Klippers a 5-4 loss to the Estevan Bruins.
The victory gave the Klippers (12-11-2) a three-point cushion on Weyburn (11-12-0-1) for third place in the Sherwood Conference. They are five points behind Estevan.
The Humboldt Broncos visit tonight for a 7:30 p.m. contest before the Klippers hit the road this weekend for games in Melville Friday, Yorkton Saturday and Weyburn on Tuesday.
Dommett, who was injured in the second game of the season in La Ronge, was medically cleared to play on Thursday and made his long-awaited return two months to the day after breaking his jaw.
“Obviously it was a little different than practice, but I felt good out there,” said Dommett, who had not been expected back until December. “I’m going to keep it simple. Right now, I gotta get my hands back and not hold onto the puck too long in the neutral zone.”
The left winger had several chances in his first game back, most notably in the first period when he faked a shot to slip past a defenceman for a partial breakaway, but shot the puck into the chest of goalie Mitch Kilgore.
“I had that one glorious opportunity,” he recalled. “I gotta get more comfortable. I should have maybe deked there; instead, I shot ... eventually I’ll get my hands back and the sense of the game back and go from there.”
Weyburn opened the scoring 58 seconds in when Brock Appleyard beat Klipper starter Alex Peck. But Kindersley responded less than three minutes later when Casey Rogers rang a point shot off the iron and in for his first SJHL goal.
Just shy of the eight-minute mark, Rodney Cowie put a rebound past Peck one second after Taylor Duzan came out of the penalty box following a tripping call.
After failing to generate much offence in the second period, the Klippers drew even with 45 seconds left when Duzan scored his league-leading 21st goal of the season.
“Duzan said he wanted to score 30 this year and he’s well on his way to that,” said head coach Larry Wintoneak.
The Klippers’ strong forecheck paid off at 6:41 of the third when they caught a break on the game-winner.
A Weyburn clearing attempt from behind the net hit Johnny Calkins in the chest inside the blueline. He couldn’t settle down the bouncing puck for a quality scoring chance, but Adamyk gathered the rebound in the corner, skated out the right side and caught Kilgore off-guard with a quick short side wrister.
“I think Addy just hung in there that extra second (on the forecheck),” said Wintoneak. “Pretty good read by those guys.”
Calkins added an empty netter with 10 seconds left.
Winger Jesse Mysiorek, one of the hottest Klippers of late, said his team needed the two points against a divisional rival.
“We came out keeping to our game plan, getting pucks in, working hard, skating, forechecking. Getting that win is great for us.”
He added that getting Dommett back is a shot in the arm for everyone, particularly after a rough stretch over the last few weeks.
“It’s huge for the team, a huge motivation boost for everyone. You can just see it in the room, everyone’s ready to go now,” said Mysiorek. “I think we’ve found our identity with Dommer coming back.”
Wintoneak said he was satisfied with his captain’s first game back and that it will take time for him to get back into top form.
“He created a couple of opportunities, he was good on the wall I thought, he made some good plays to get pucks out for us. Earlier he had a lot of jump and then at the end you could see that his legs were a little bit heavy,” the coach commented.
“We held it together. We missed him immensely, but we played through it. We were .500 without him and now he’s back in the line-up and we’re looking forward to it.”
Dommett will likely have to wear a cage for the rest of the season and with that comes a few adjustments. But he said it won’t change his game.
“I know there’s still a little bit of a risk for re-breaking it, but I’m not going to play how I don’t play,” he said. “I’m going to play every shift the way I normally play, the hard-nosed, gritty, in your face kind of game.”
He will have to get used to the cage obstructing his view of the puck and keep his head up.
Friday’s game was Dommett’s first in Kindersley in more than 10 months, since before the fire in January. His injury came two weeks before the home opener in October.
“It felt wonderful, coming out in warm-ups. It’s our home and I missed it. Coming out for the first period, seeing the fans in the stands, it felt unbelievable,” he reflected.
On Wednesday, the Klippers and Bruins looked to be headed for overtime when a bad bounce intervened, literally.
With the game tied 4-4 and only a few seconds on the clock, the Bruins broke over the Kindersley blueline 2-on-2. Ben Findlay fired either an errant shot or a dump-in about three feet wide of the left post.
Goalie Dustin Nickel had come out to cut off the angle, and as he glided back into his crease, the puck skipped off the end boards, hit him in the back of the leg and trickled over the goal line, with less than one second on the clock.
“Unfortunately those things happen and I’ve been on the other side of it where we won with no time left on the clock,” said Wintoneak. “When you lose like that, it hurts.”
But the Klippers were able to bounce back two nights later.
“We talked about being resilient and it’s a trait of this club,” said the coach. “When we get knocked down, we get back up.”
The Klipper goals came from Jordon Hoffman, D. Jay McGrath, Mysiorek and Duzan. Estevan got two goals from defenceman Ty Ariss on rockets from the point, along with singles from Matt Dochylo and Joel Kot.
With Dommett back in the fold, the Klippers are up to 25 players, including three goalies, and Wintoneak said the roster will be trimmed by two or three by the Dec. 1 deadline.
Forward Tanner Kissick has been nursing an injury and was expected to resume skating on Monday.
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