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Redhawks complete regular season
Over the weekend of Jan. 28 – 29, the Carstairs Redhawks completed their first regular season in the Chinook Hockey League with two games in Lloydminster against the first-place Border Kings.
The Redhawks faced a daunting task, as only 14 players were available for the trip. League-leading scorer Bobby Coles and backup goalie turned forward Kyle Siedel sustained injuries in the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s game, keeping them out of action for the remainder of the weekend.
Despite the short bench, the Redhawks played well against the Kings’ full squad. In Saturday’s game, the Redhawks opened the scoring on the power play. Trevor O’Neil scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Clark Lowry. Brad Cruikshank replied for the Border Kings shortly after, to knot the score at 1-1. Thanks largely to stellar goaltending by the Redhawks’ Jasen Kipling, the score remained 1-1 through the first half of the game.
The Border Kings managed two goals in the latter half of the second period, from Cory Dubyk and Aaron Foster, to take a 3-1 lead into the third. The Redhawks continued to play hard, but the shortage of players caught up with them in the final 12 minutes of the game, when the Kings’ Aaron Phillips, Scott Hood and Aaron Foster scored to make it a 6-1 final in favour of Lloydminster.
Jasen Kipling was selected as the Redhawks’ player of the game, finishing with 56 saves on 62 shots. Mark Persick was the Kings’ player of the game. Carstairs was assessed two minor penalties in the game, while Lloydminster was penalized seven times.
On Sunday, the Redhawks played the entire game with only 11 skaters.
The Border Kings scored three times in the first 10 minutes, on goals by Aaron Star, Jason Goulet, and Cory Dubyk. However, the Redhawks continued to work hard, and were rewarded for their efforts.
With five minutes left in the first period, Andrew MacKenzie scored, assisted by Thomas Allin and Jamie Routledge, to make it a 3-1 game. MacKenzie added his second of the game three minutes later, with a hard slapshot that beat the Kings’ netminder high to the blocker side. Thomas Allin picked up the lone assist. At the end of the first, the Kings held a slim 3-2 lead.
The Redhawks continued to frustrate the Border Kings in the second period, keeping them from getting clean shots on net. The period was scoreless until less than seven minutes remained, when Cory Dubyk gave the Border Kings a 4-2 lead. The Redhawks got that one back two minutes later, when recent addition Bryn Gagnon intercepted a pass and beat the Kings’ netminder to the blocker side.
The Redhawks had a great opportunity to tie the game with just over a minute left, but failed to score. Lloydminster picked up the puck and Brody Foster scored to make it a 5-3 game in favour of the Kings. In the third period, the Redhawks’ short bench caught up with them, and the Border Kings Ian McAllister and Aaron Phillips added goals. The final score was 7-3. Andrew MacKenzie was selected as Carstairs’ player of the game, while Cory Dubyk was picked from Lloydminster. Jasen Kipling made 44 saves in net for the Redhawks, while Jody Lehman finished with 17 saves in net for the Kings.
The Redhawks now move on to the Senior Men’s AA Provincial playoffs against the Innisfail Eagles. This is a best-of-seven series to determine the Chinook Hockey League’s representative in the Senior Men’s AA Provincial tournament to be held in Dewberry, March 30th-April 1st.
The playoff schedule is:
Sunday, Feb. 12 in Carstairs at 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18 in Carstairs at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 24 in Innisfail at 8:30 p.m.
Friday, March 2 in Innisfail at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 4 in Carstairs at 1:30 p.m. (if needed)
Friday, March 9 in Innisfail at 8:30 p.m. (if needed)
Saturday, March 10 in Carstairs at 7:30 p.m. (if needed)
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