Terriers win; Mils fall in OT in Jan. 4th Local SJHL Recap

The Melville Millionaires earned a point on Friday night but went on to lose in overtime 6-5 to the Weyburn Red Wings.

The Mils' came out with a very quick start as Luke Spadafora would finish off a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from line-mates Josh Borynec & Damian Bentz just 31 seconds into the hockey game,  for his 9th of the season to make it an early 1-0 lead. The Red Wings would tie it up at 1-1 as Drew Anderson would re-direct a point shot from former Melville Millionaire Eric Soar by Colby Entz for his 2nd goal of the year. But it would stay tied for just 12 seconds as Aidan Steinke, who was playing in his 100th career Jr. game would snipe home his 7th to make it 2-1. The Mils wouldn't be finished there in the first as Jaden Shewchuk would be stopped but then would pot home his own rebound, for his 6th of the season to give the visitors a 3-1 lead after 1 period.

The Red Wings would cut their deficit within one just over 7 minutes into the 2nd period finishing off a nice passing play for his 11th to make it 3-2. Just over 6 minutes later, Red Wings defenceman Garrett Szeremley jumped on a rebound and tucked in the equalizer to tie it up at 3-3. But once again the Mils respond to grab their one goal lead back as Josh Borynec found John Elliot in the slot and he made no mistake over the shoulder of Ben Laidlaw to give Melville a lead once again at 4-3. The lead didn't last long again and it was Sean Olson potting his 2nd of the period just 1:29 later to put the game deadlocked at 4-4 after 40 minutes.

In the 3rd, the game stayed tied until the 15:44 mark of the 3rd when Jacob Bourchier's long side angle shot would beat the Wings net minder over the right should, for his 3rd of the season to give the Moneymen a 5-4 lead. The Red Wings wouldn't die again as just 30 seconds later,  Jordan Kazmyra would find defenceman Eric Soar back-door and he would re-direct into the back of the net to make it 5-5 to force the overtime period.

In the overtime, both teams had some great chances including Mils forward Josh Borynec ringing it off the post just over 30 seconds into the extra period. But with just 13 seconds left, Will Cruise would back the Mils defence in and sneak through them and then go forehand, back-hand shelf on Colby Entz to give his team the extra point.

Cody Levesque got the start in goal for Weyburn but was relieved have allowing 3 goals on 9 points before Ben Laidlaw came in and turned aside 35 shots to earn the victory. Mils goaltender Colby Entz made 19 saves in the overtime loss.

The Mils still remain 4 points up on the Red Wings for the final playoff spot in the SJHL standings.

The Mils return to action on Saturday when they host the Flin Flon Bombers at the Horizon Credit Union Center at 7:30 meanwhile the Red Wings on Saturday will be on the road visiting the Yorkton Terriers.

Meanwhile in Yorkton,

Captain Brendan Mark scored twice while goaltender Riley Lamb made 32 saves in his Terrier debut as the Yorkton Terriers defeated the visiting Flin Flon Bombers 5-3 on Friday night.

Branden Klatt, Kishaun Gervais and Cody Bruchkowski also chipped in with singles for the Terriers.

Nate Hooper replied with 2 goals to lead the Bombers


Elsewhere in the SJHL:

Nipawin 2 Melfort 5

Humboldt 3 Battlefords 2 (OT)

La Ronge 6 Kindersley 5 (OT)