QVHHL Update - January 31st, 2022

Who is hot and who is not?...How about the Southey Marlins who lead the league in one point games with eight and are now starting to win some of those games with a four game winning streak on the go. How about the Milestone Flyers now in first place on a three game win streak. The Balcarres Broncs have moved into a second place tie with the Spitfires having won four of their last five games. On the other side of the spectrum the Lumsden Monarchs have lost four of their last five games and the Grenfell Spitfires lost three straight in the last week. The Bruins are holding their own and the Bethune Bulldogs are still looking for their first win and hoping to get some of their players back. We have less than two weeks left in the season and we are trying to get everyone's games in, it will be close and we have a race for all playoff spots. What the regular season didn't bring you the playoff season can...it will be a new start for some and a continuation for others. 

The Southey Marlins defeated the Grenfell Spitfires 5-4 last Tuesday evening in Grenfell. The Marlins had a three goal leading early in the second period with two goals from Arthur Miller and Chaston Sare before the Spitfires would score three straight before the period ended with goals from Kale Haylock, Justin Nychuk and a goal from Sanfred King with just six seconds left in the period. The game was now 3-3 going into the third period. In the third Trey Lefebre scored early to get the Marlins back on top but less than a minute later Jayson Issac scored and we were tied up again. Midway through the third period Arthur Miller would complete the hat trick and the Marlins were up 5-4 and held on to the lead until the end. Kevin Orthner picked up the win in the Southey net and Mitch Kilgore was in the Grenfell net. Each team had five minor penalties. On Friday evening these teams would meet in the season rubber match in Southey. Derek Frater would score on the power play eight minutes in but Josh Lees would quickly score and these teams were tied 1-1 going into the second period. Sanfred King would score the only goal of the second period and it was 2-1 Grenfell going into the third. In the third period early period goals from Josh Grimm and Arthur Miller put the Marlins up 3-2. With 1:34 left in the period Lane Harbor would score and send this game to overtime. Three minutes into OT Mason Mullaney would score and the Marlins would win 4-3. Kevin Orther would pick up the win in net for Southey and Mitch Kilgore was in the Grenfell net. grenfell was assessed seven minor penalties and a misconduct and Southey had four minor penalties, a double minor and a misconduct.

Also on Friday evening the Odessa/Vibank Bruins defeated the Bethune Bulldogs 8-2. Logan Herchak led the way for the Bruins with four goals. Marshall Wilton would score twice and Kyle Stroh and Thalon Kress would also score. Russ Nielson and Cam Reich scored for the Bulldogs. Garrett Bloomquist picked up the win in net for the Bruins and Arlen Kirshniryk was in net for the Bulldogs. The Bruins had three minor penalties and the Bulldogs had two.

On Saturday evening we had two games played. In Milestone the Flyers scored twice in the first period and again in the thrid period before the Spitfires would score. A late power play goal in the third period for the Flyers would give them a 4-1 win. Morgan Gallais, Cody Hegion, Shane Cole and Austin Bourhis with a power play goal scored for Milestone. Sanfred King scored the lone Spitfires goal. Thomas Spence picked up the win in net for Milestone and Mitch Kilgore was in net for Grenfell. The Spitfires had eight minor penalties, one major penalty, one ggame misconduct and one misconduct. The Flyers had nine minor penalties, one major penalty and three game misconducts. There were suspensions in this game. From the Flyers Brady Brown was assessed a two game suspension and one game suspensions went to Jacob Cardiff and Austin Bourhis. Also on Saturday evening the Southey Marlins were in Lumsden to play the Monarchs. The Marlins scored the only goal of the first period off of Arthur Miller's stick and led the shot parade 19-7. In the second period Pat Thomnpson-Gale scored earlyh to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead. The Monarchs hit the board quickly after that on a goal from Braeden Adamyk. The Monarchs would then tie the game late in the period on a goal from Kevin DuFour. There were no penalties in the first two periods...and then my partner in the box mentioned that to me. Well you know what happened both teams took a penalty ion the first minute of the period,  Nothing resulted from those power plays.  Midway through the third period Landon Walters would socre on the power play and the MArlins were back up 3-2. Keegan Jackstiet would then score and quickly Devan Harrison would score on the power play and the final score was 5-2 for the Marlins. Kevin Orthner stopped 25 shots in the Southey net for the win and Dawson Mccauley sstoipped 37 shots in the Lumsden net, Lumsden had three minor penalties and Southey had one.

On Sunday the Milestone Flyers hosted the Balcarres Broncs. The Broncs played the previous evening in Drake and lost 5-2 in Provincial 'A' action. In the first period Shelby Gray would score and the Flyers had a 1-0 lead going into the second period. Brad Reaney would score the only goal of the seond period and it was a short handed goal and the Flyers were up 2-0 going into the third period. In the third Cory kosloski would score unassisted midway through the period to get the Broncs on the board. With 1:29 left in the game Jaxon Tait would score on the power play and this game headed to overtime. Nothing happened in overtime Nathan Deck was credited with the winning goal duyring the shootout and the Flyers took control of first place in our league. Thomas Spence picked up the win in net for the Flyers and Mitch Kilgore took the SO loss in the Grenfell net. The Flyers were assesed nine minor penalties along with a major and game misconduct. The Spitfires four minor penalties along with a major and a game misconduct.

Our scoring race has changed up a bit...Arthur Miller from the Southey Marlins now leads the league with 17 goals and 15 assists for 32 points. Right on his tail is Sanfred King and Lane Harbor from the Spitfires with 31 points. King leads the league with 19 goals. Kevin DuFour from the Monarchs is next with 30 points and rounding out the top five is Kyle Johnson from the Monarchs with 29 points. Chaston Sare from the Marlins leads the league with 17 assists.Lane Harbor and  Kale Haylock from the Spitfires lead all scorers with four power play goals each. Logan Gorsalitz from the Flyers leads all scorers with four game winning goals. Brayden Cockwill from the Flyers leads all scorers with two short handed goals. Our scoring champ will actually have his name on two trophies this year thanks to our partial amalgamatiuon...in the Highway League our scoring champion trophy is named the Tyson Sievert Trophy.  We have a new leader on the goaltending side with Thomas Spence from the Flyers leading with 7 wins and a 2.77 GAA. Teammate Riley Ross has 4 wins and a 2.99 GAA. The Flyers lead the Team Goaltending race with a 2.83 GAA. Grenfell is next with a 3,42 GAA. Mitch Kilgore from the Spitfires is tied with Spence with 7 wins. Dawson Mccauley from the Monarchs leads all goalies with 840 minutes played.

In team statistics, the Balcarres Broncs lead the league with a power play churining out at a 24% success rate. Grenfell is next at 22.9%. The top penalty kill team are the Milestone Flyers at 86.2%. The Flyers lead the league with four shorthanded goals. The Southey Marlins lead the league with six short handed goals scored against them.

On Tuesday evening we have a couple of make up games being played. In Grenfell the Spitfires (9-4-1) host the Balcarres Broncs ( 9-3-1) at 8:15 and the Lumsden Monarchs (6-8-0) host the Bethune Bulldogs (0-12-0) at 8:30 p.m. On Friday evening the Monarchs are in Milestone to play the first place Flyers (11-3-0) at 8:30 p.m. Also on Friday evening the Southey Marlins (7-8-2) are on the road for their final regular season game against the Odessa/Vibank Bruins (7-6-1) at 8:30. A make up game has been added to the schedule and is being played on Groundhog Day in Milestone where the Flyers will be hosting the Bruins at 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday evening we have one league game as the Bethune Bulldogs host the Milestone Flyers at 8 p.m. We have two Provincial games on Saturday with Grenfell hosting the Rocanville Tigers in game one of their best of three Provincial 'B' series. The Balcarres Broncs host the Drake Canucks in game two of their Provincial 'A' series at 8:00 p.m. down 1-0 in the series. If the Broncs win then there will be a game three Sunday evening in Drake at 7:00 p.m. The Southey/Lumsden Provincial Series starts on February 11th in Lumsden and Odessa/Vibank awaits the winner of the Grenfell/Rocanville series.

I hope you are up to date and I thank you for supporting senior hockey. We are almost done trhe season and we've almost made it...playoffs are on the horizon and Provincials have started and we have some meaningful regular season games in the next week. All therefor you to enjoy so please get out to a game near you! Please stay safe.

Gerry