By TERRY PUGH
The Warman U15AA Wildcats gained a step on the league-leading Saskatoon Bandits while also fending off a challenge from the North West Stars in a pair of games last weekend.
The Wildcats downed the visiting Stars 4-3 in overtime on Friday, November 22. They went on to hand the Saskatoon Bandits their first loss of the season on Saturday, November 23, beating the previously-undefeated team 10-6.
The wins helped Warman (9-3-0-0) maintain its grip on third place in the Saskatchewan U15AA Hockey League standings for the time being, but there’s a serious logjam among the top teams – only six points separate the first-place Bandits (11-1-0-0) and the fifth-place Stars (7-3-1-1). Warman (18 points) is sandwiched between the second-place Saskatoon Generals (9-2-0-1) and the fourth-place Saskatoon Outlaws (8-3-1-0)
Warman is scheduled to take on the Generals in Saskatoon on Tuesday, November 26.
In Friday’s game, the Stars drew first blood midway through the opening frame on a goal by Gage Cornish.
The second period though, belonged to the Wildcats. Beau Anholt scored early on, with assists from Maclain Ethier and Jesse Scriven, to even things up.
The turning point came halfway through the frame, when Warman captain Cam Aebig scored on a penalty shot to give his team a 2-1 lead. As the period drew to a close, Warman defenseman Walker Bergen added to that lead after taking a nice pass from teammate Logan Olsen and firing a blast on a power play to make it 3-1.
The Stars rallied in the third period and tied things up on goals by Crosby Cole and Kacy Tuberfield to force overtime.
Warman’s Cullen Stephenson banged in his own rebound to score in overtime and give his team the win.
Warman goaltender Kason Peters faced 35 shots while North West goalie Noah Perkins was peppered with 42 shots.
In Saturday’s game against the Bandits, Warman started off on a sour note, killing off a two-minute ‘delay of game’ penalty before the puck even dropped. While the Wildcats killed off the penalty, they still gave up the first goal of the game when the Bandits’ Lincon Evans scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
But, a goal midway through the opening frame by Maclain Ethier, with an assist from Jett Prpich, tied the game. The Bandits’ Nixxon Arcand-Vandale responded quickly to restore the visitors lead, but, Warman’s Jesse Scriven tied it up against less than a minute later.
Late in the first period, Warman’s Caleb Philp, with assists by Cullen Stephenson and Kobe Pellack, scored to give Warman its first lead of the game.
And once again, the second period proved to be Warman’s most productive 20-minute stretch. They scored five unanswered goals to make it 8-2 going into the second intermission. Scorers were Beau Anholt (2), Cam Aebig (2), and Cole Nakrayko.
Warman defenseman Logan Olsen scored early in the third period to give the Wildcats a seemingly-insurmountable 9-2 margin.
But, the Bandits finally woke up after that, scoring four straight goals (Lincon Evans, Dilin Coulter-Suttie (2), Joshua Koehler) to make it 9-6. Suddenly, what had been a rout was now a nail-biter.
Warman goalie Ty Kewoski, though, kept his team on an even keel with several great saves.
The drama intensified as the final minute ticked down and the Bandits were pressing hard,.Warman was handed a late penalty, making it a 6 on 4 situation. With 43 seconds left in regulation, Warman’s Nakrayko took advantage of a Bandits’ miscue at the blue line and lofted the puck to centre ice. The disc landed in the neutral zone and drifted lazily down the ice before nestling itself into the back of the open net a half-second before the nearest Saskatoon player could get to it.-