The Weyburn Red Wings have traded one pair of brothers for another with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). The Weyburn Red Wings and Neepawa Natives of the MJHL have completed a four-player trade that saw two sets of brothers changing provinces. The Wings picked up 18 year-old forward Blake Kirkham and 20 year-old forward Scott Kirkham of Cranbrook, BC in exchange for 19 year-old forward Daniel Adams and 20 year-old defenceman Dmitri Adams of Franklin, TN. In Scott and Blake Kirkham, Weyburn received a gifted playmaker in Scott and a grinding and defensive forward in Blake.
Melfort 4 Weyburn 3
Weyburn had the manpower and firepower early in Sunday's game at Crescent Point Place but the Wings just couldn't get the job done.
Brock Appleyard lead off the scoring for the Wings at the 10:36 mark of the first period, with assists going to Scott Kirkham and Bruce Keegan. Coltyn Sanderson then put Weyburn ahead, 2-0, while Jesse Ross was credited with an assist on the scoring drive.
Melfort would come roaring back in the second period with three unanswered goals to put the Mustangs ahead 3-2.
Weyburn's Shawn Cowie would find the back of the Mustangs net to knot the game at 3-3, with an assist going to his brother Rodney and TJ Wees.
The third period saw some Weyburn scoring chances but the home team just couldn't get the puck into the Mustangs' net for the remainder of the evening. Melfort however was able to score the go-ahead goal early in the last period.
Battlefords 6 Weyburn 5
Friday night's game also showed that the Wings are very close to busting loose in the SJHL. Most of the club's dropped games were within reach for Weyburn which has lost a handful of games in close contests of late.
Weyburn's Sanderson with help from Lucas Ulmer and Jesse Ross opened the scoring at the 7:30 mark of the first period.
Battleford's Robbie Newton knotted up the game minutes later and the two teams would leave the ice at the end of 20 minutes of play tied 1-1.
Sanderson would strike again for Weyburn at the 2:50 mark of the second period with an assist going to Ross to make it a 2-1 contest in Weyburn's favour.
Battleford would then leap ahead as Colin Phaneuf and Newton would both find the back of Weyburn's net making it a 3-2 contest in the Stars favour.
Weyburn's Rhys Thomas along with Drew George and Sanderson would once again draw the Wings even with a power play goal to make it a 3-3 contest.
It would be the Stars who would pull ahead with two more unanswered goals late in the second period. Keith Grondin would get his own power play goal at the 17:04 mark and Tony Oak would score with ten seconds remaining in the second period to give Battlefords a 5-3 cushion going into the third period.
Phaneuf would add what would be the Stars eventual winning goal before a minute had ticked off the scoreboard in the final period to give them a 6-3 lead to this point.
Weyburn continued to pepper the Battleford's netminder and with less than three minutes remaining in the contest Wings' Keegan Bruce would score unassisted at the 17:13 mark.
Weyburn's Ross would draw the Wings to within one goal at the 18:36 mark of the closing period with an assist going to Sanderson for his help on the drive. The Wings continued to pressure the Stars but the final score would remain 6-5 in Battlefords favour.
The Wings were in action Wednesday night against the Humboldt Broncos but scores were not available at press time.
For a second straight week, the Humboldt Broncos have been rated as the best junior "A" team in Canada by the Canadian Junior "A" Hockey League in its weekly top 20 rankings. The Broncos, who will host the Royal Bank Cup in 2012, have jumped out of the gate with a 9-1-0-1 record. As of Tuesday morning the stats below show how the SJHL teams are ranked:
Bauer
1Humboldt Broncos11910
2Melfort Mustangs13741
3Flin Flon Bombers12651
4LaRonge Ice Wolves9630
5Nipawin Hawks9441
6Battlefords North Stars1237
Sherwood
1Yorkton Terriers14741
2Estevan Bruins11740
3Kindersley Klippers10640
4Weyburn Red Wings12570
5Notre Dame Hounds10450
6Melville Millionaires11370
