Klippers win another one for the ages against Stars

I never thought I'd say this, but miraculous comebacks are almost becoming ho-hum in games between the Kindersley Klippers and Battlefords North Stars.

It happened again tonight as the roller coaster stopped at the top for the Klippers in a 6-5 win.

Braeden Adamyk, D. Jay McGrath and Taylor Duzan each scored twice and the Klips buried four times in a span of 8:10 in the third to come back from a 5-2 deficit.

Adamyk and Johnny Calkins were reunited in the second period along with McGrath on their wing, and the combo clicked almost immediately. Calkins was a force, setting up three goals and many other chances and nearly potting a couple himself.

Adamyk wasn't terrific in the first 40 minutes, but he broke out of his slump at the perfect time with the tying and winning goals, both of them on feeds from Calkins. To me, the biggest positive to take out of this game - aside from the two points - is that Adamyk and Calkins looked like themselves again. And while no one could replace Andrew Dommett on that line, McGrath sure did a great job.

I thought Kurt Leedahl was outstanding at both ends, breaking up plays defensively, doing a great job on the PK and kick-starting the rush. He really stepped up in the absence of Sean Flanagan, as did rooks Jeff Bartel and David Haaf, who were paired together.

The Stars had their share of stars too. Graham Hildebrand was simply phenomenal in the first period and also made some big saves in the second. The Klippers fired 21 shots at him in the first and their only goal came on a Duzan PP deflection. Hildebrand robbed Calkins and Tanner Exner on what looked like sure goals.

Blake Tatchell caused problems for Kindersley all night, scoring twice and being a dynamic presence all over the ice. His line with Colin Phaneuf and Keith Grondin hit the mesh three times, although they were also scored on three times and were benched by Ken Pearson late in the third.

Brody Luhning was extremely dangerous from the blueline, scoring twice - one of them was later credited to Travis Cech - and giving the Stars a steady presence in their own end as well.

As much of a rah-rah win as this was for the Klippers, there's always room for improvement. I walked into the coach's office after the game and the first thing Rockie Zinger said was "we gave up five goals."

Interviews with Rockie and several players will be up shortly, so keep checking back.

Here's what Rockie had to say in an interview with myself and Brenden Ullrich:

Here's Braeden Adamyk on getting off the schneid and playing with Calkins and McGrath (and you should note, most of the interruptions in the player interviews can be blamed on McGrath):

And here's McGrath talking about his night. It took some prodding but I got him to admit that his first goal was a hell of a shot.

Johnny Calkins on his performance and what the win does for the team's confidence. He was my first star but there was a miscommunication somewhere and a different set of stars were put on the game sheet.

Here is goalie Alex Peck (he told me he prefers Alex, even when home in Quebec) talking about tonight's game and his experience in Kindersley so far. This was my first chance to speak with Alex and he strikes me as a nice guy with a great grasp of English.

Kurt Leedahl talks about his night and again, we hear the message that there was never any panic in the Klipper room. You can blame John Sonntag for butting in this time...

As you can tell, the mood around the room was pretty light and that's great to see after a tough stretch the last few weeks.