By TERRY PUGH
The Warman U15AA Wildcats wrapped up their regular season on a high note, downing the Weyburn Red Wings 5-4 in Kenaston on Friday, February 28, and beating the Engelheim Prairie Storm 6-2 in Warman on Sunday, March 2.
With the victories, the Wildcats locked up second place in the north division with 50 points (25 wins and four losses), just two points behind the first-place Saskatoon Bandits. They will likely take on the Saskatoon Outlaws in the first round of playoffs this week.
In both games last weekend, the third period proved to be key for the Wildcats. Their strong play in the final frame helped them overcome a 4-1 deficit in Friday’s contest against Weyburn; and they scored three straight goals in Sunday’s game to seal the win against Prairie Storm.
“Our philosophy as a team is to just dig in and trust to the process,” said Wildcats head coach Cam Kayter. “We kind of refer to it as waves on a beach; our lines, when they shift, it’s just one after another. I think over 60 minutes with our speed and skill and tenacity, we just start to overwhelm other teams, and that’s typically why we have success in the third period.”
The team will use that tried-and-true formula in the playoffs, said Kayter.
“It’s all about the details,” he said. “We have to be doing the right things on the right side of the puck on that 200 feet of ice. Good things will happen if we stick to the fundamentals.”
In Friday’s game, Weyburn came out flying and dominated the game on the scoresheet for the first 39 minutes, building up a 4-0 lead. But, Kobe Pellack’s spectacular shorthanded goal with 43 seconds left in the second period started to turn the tide. Arlo Barclay scored early in the final frame (assists from Cole Nakrayko and Logan Olsen), followed by two more in quick succession by Cole Nakrayko (assist from Beau Anholt), and Caleb Philp (assists from Maclain Ethier and Arlo Barclay) to tie the game. Walker Bergen scored the winning goal (assist from Logan Olsen) with five minutes left in regulation to ice the victory. Warman goalies Kason Peters and Ty Keyowski shared goaltending duties in that game.
Sunday’s contest was a different story, with Warman pulling out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period on goals by Kobe Pellack (assists by Tanner Huber and Maclain Ethier) and Cam Aebig (assist by Logan Olsen). Despite gaining the lead, the Wildcats’ play early in the game wasn’t as sharp as it usually is, and Warman goaltender Ty Keyowski saved his teammates’ bacon several times with excellent saves.
The Wildcats increased their lead to 3-0 on a goal by Jesse Scriven early in the second period (assists by Beau Anholt and Logan Olsen), but Prairie Storm responded with two goals of their own midway through the frame to make it 3-2.
In the third period,the Wildcats seemed to find their groove again. Maclain Ethier scored two quick goals (assists from Kobe Pellack on the first one and Kaleb Johns on the second one) to give his team a three-goal cushion. Warman captain Cam Aebig scored (assisted by Beau Anholt) with a little over eight minutes left in regulation to seal the victory. The Wildcats outshot the Prairie Storm 47 to 27 in the contest.
Kayter said the win over the south division-leading Prairie Storm gives the Wildcats a boost of confidence heading into the post-season.
“To finish the season against a top-tier team has really helped us prepare for the playoffs,” said Kayter. “In the third period, the boys really started playing playoff hockey, We have a lot of games coming up, but our kids have been preparing for this all season. We’ll just stick to the game plan and play as a team and we’ll have success.”