QVHHL Update - January 17th, 2022

We are about 2/3 of the way through the regular season. Provincials are about to start and we are just a few weeks away from playoffs...

On Friday evening we had two games. In Balcarres the Broncs scored twice in the first period with two goals from Jared Martin to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. The visiting Milestone Flyers would score late in the second period on a power play goal from Austin Bourhis and it was 2-1 going into the third period. The Flyers would score midway through the last frame on a goal from Teegan Moore. A few minutes later the Broncs would respond with two goals in eight seconds...a power play goal from Tyler Mueller and then the hat trick goal from Bourhis and the final would be 4-2. David Spooner would pick up the win in net for the Broncs and Thomas Spence was in net for the Flyers. The Broncs were assessed 7 minor penalties and the Flyers had 6 minor penalties and 2 misconducts. The second game of the evening had the first place Spitfires in Odessa to play the Bruins. Kyle Stroh scored the only goal of the first period to give the Spitfires a 1-0 lead going into the second period. Sanford King scored the only goal of the second period and it was tied 1-1 going into the third period. In the third we had lots of scoring. King would score his second goal of the game to give the Spitfires a 2-1 lead. That goal was quickly answered when Stroh scored his second goal of the game. Sanford King would score midway through the period to complete the natural hat trick and give the Spitfires a 3-2 lead. With 2;55 left in the third period Kyle Stroh would match King;s feat with his third goal of the game to tie things up 3-3. Just 23 seconds later Tyler King would score and the Bruins were up 4-3. Lane Harbor would then score for the Spitfires with 55 seconds left in the period to pull the Spits back into a tie. With 37 seconds left in the period Zak Zborosky would pot the winner for the Bruins to make the final 5-4. Garrett Bloomquist picked up the win in the Bruin's net and Mitch Kilgore picked up his first loss of the year in the Spitfire's net. The Bruins had one minor penalty and the Spitfires had two.

On Saturday evening we had three games played. In Balcarres the Broncs scored the only goal of the first period when Cory Kosloski scored to give the Broncs a 1-0 lead on the Southey Marlins going into the second period. Tyler Mueller would score early in the second period to give the Broncs a 2-0 lead. Later in the second period Mason Mullaney would score on the power play for the Marlins and then Arthur Miller scored and it was 2-2 going into the third period. Early in the third period Kosloski would score his second goal of the game and the Broncs would regain the lead. Shortly after that goal Pat Thompson would score for the Marlins and this game ended up 3-3 after regulation play. Nothing was decided in overtime and in the shootout Cody Ellingson would be credited with the winner and the Broncs had a 4-3 win. Dean Brothen picked up the SO win in the Broncs net and Dallin Sorenson had the SO loss in the Marlins net. There were a few penalties in this game with the Broncs being assessed 6 minor penalties, 1 fighting major, 1 game misconduct and 1 misconduct penalty. The Marlins had 3 minor penalties, 1 fighting major, 1 game misconduct and 1 misconduct. Of note, the Southey Marlins are either going through a bit of hard luck or are getting close to getting over the hump. The Marlins have played four games in January and all have been one goal losses to the top four teams in the standings with one game being in OT and one in SO.

In Bethune the Bulldogs were playing their first game since December 18th as their last 3 games have been postponed. The Grenfell Spitfires scored twice in the first period and had a 2-1 lead going into the second period and then proceeded to score 5 times in the second to take a 7-1 lead going into the third period. The final would be 8-3 for the Spitfires. Sanford King would score his second hat trick of the weekend for the Spitfires. King is now tied with teammate Lane Harbor with 16 goals to lead the league in that category. Also scoring for the Spitfires would be Allen Kilback with two goals and goals from Tyler Krauser, Lane Harbor and Ian Pekrul. Mark Lustig, Cam Reich and Jake Ulmer scored for the Bulldogs. Benjie Taypotate stopped 29 shots and picked up the win in the Grenfell net and Duncan Paddock was in the Bethune net and faced 50 shots. The Spitfires had 3 minor penalties and the Bulldogs had 1. The final game Saturday evening was in Milestone where the Flyers played the Lumsden Monarchs, Austin Yano would score on the power play to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead and Owen Schnell would quickly score for the Monarchs to tie the game up. A goal Dylan Giblett late in the period would give the Flyers a 2-1 lead going into the second period. Kyle Johnson would score the only goal of the second period and it was 2-2 going into the third period. In the third, Chance Olsen would score early for the Flyers and 3 minutes later Kevin DuFour would score and the game was tied 3-3. Two minutes after that goal Logan Gorsalitz would score for the Flyers to give them a 4-3 lead. There would be no scoring in the last 12 minutes and the final would be 4-3 Flyers. Thomas Spnce picked up the win in net for the Flyers and Dawson McCauley was in net for the Monarchs. The Flyers had 1 minor penalty and the Monarchs had 2. On Sunday we had one game played. The Odessa/Vibank Bruins were in Lumsden to play the Monarchs. Almost all of the action came in the first period. Despite outshooting the Monarchs 17-13 in the first frame, the Monarchs held a 5-2 lead. The Monarchs got a hat trick from Kevin DuFour and goals from Liam Brennan and Torrey Lindsay while Linden Lang and Justin Schaeffer scored for the Bruins. There would be no more scoring until their was 15 seconds left in the game and Kyle Johnson would score to make the final 6-2 for the Monarchs. Dawson McCauley picked up the win in the Lumsden net stopping 39 shots. McCauley now leads all goalies with 720 minutes played. Shane Bloomquist played the first period in net for the Bruins and Garrett Bloomquist played the last two periods stopping 27 shots. Lumsden was assessed 5 penalties and the Bruins 4.

Kyle Johnson and Kevin DuFour from the Monarchs now lead the scoring race. Both players have 14 goals and 14 assists. They are followed by Sanfred King and Lane Harbor from the Spitfires who both have 16 goals and 10 assists. Logan Gorsalitz from the Flyers rounds out the top five with 24 points. Mitch Kilgore from Grenfell leads all goalies with 7 wins and a 2.75 GAA. Riley Ross from the Flyers has a 2.99 GAA . Dallin Sorenson from the Marlins has played one game and has a 2.77 GAA. The Grenfell Spitfires continue to lead the league with their power play at a 35.5% success rate. They are followed by Balcarres at 25% and then Milestone at 23.8%. The top penalty kill unit would be the Milestone Flyers with a 84% kill rate. They are followed by the Spitfires at 83.9% and then the Broncs at 82.9%. 

Provincials are up. We have a page on our site to keep you current on this. Although the number of teams are down, it is good to have Provincials back since we stopped short in March of 2020. We see 7 teams in 'A', 13 in 'B', 10 in 'C' and 10 in 'D'. We have 4 teams participating in 'A' and 2 in 'B '. Drake plays Balcarres in round one of Provincial 'A'. The Lumsden Monarchs and Southey Marlins play a series in Round 2 and the Milestone Flyers play round two aginst the winner of the Drake/Balcarres series. In 'B', Grenfell plays Rocanville in round one and the Bruins will play the winner of that series in round 2. Dates and Times are now posted.

This Friday the Southey Marlins (3-7-2) are at the Odessa/Vibank Bruins (5-5-1) at 8:30 p.m. On Saturday evening we have the battle for first place in the league as the Flyers (9-3-0) will be in Grenfell to play the Spitfires (9-2-0). Also Saturday evening the Bruins are in Balcarres to play the Broncs (7-3-0) and the Bethune Bulldogs (0-10-0) are in Southey to play the Marlins. On Sunday at 4:00 p.m. the Balcarres Broncs will be in Lumsden to play the Monarchs. @MondayNooner is teaming up with @AccessNowSports for our first TV broadcast of the year. This game will be taped and shown on January 30th at 7 p.m. on Access and the App. Thank you for your support on this to these senior hockey partners!

Please get out to a game near you. Please stay safe!

Gerry