Red Lions’ goaltender Luke Sproule has had a phenomenal season for Kindersley and the team hopes that will continue in the finals.
Crossroads staff
The Kindersley Red Lions will take on the regular-season champions, the Wilkie Outlaws, in the SWHL finals beginning Sunday in a rematch of the 2014-15 finals that the Outlaws won.
The Outlaws defeated the upstart Unity Miners in three straight games in their best-of-five series to advance to the final, winning game one 6-2, game two 4-2 and game three 8-4.
It took a great comeback, but the Red Lions defeated the Macklin Mohawks in five games in their semifinal series to advance.
Kindersley won three straight games to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the series.
They lost game one 6-3 and game two 4-3, before coming back to win, game three 5-2, game four 7-3 and game five, in Macklin, 7-4.
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Game one of the best-of-five final series goes Sunday in Kindersley beginning at 7 p.m. Game two, will be played Wednesday in Wilkie at 8:30 p.m. No other times or dates have been finalized.
The two teams last met in the finals in 2014-15, when Wilkie came out on top in the best-of-five series. Wilkie has since won the last two league titles, over Biggar in 2015-16 and Macklin in 2016-17.
Top point-getters so far in the playoffs include: 1. Brock Harrison and Rory Gregoire of the Wilkie Outlaws, both with 16 points. Top scorers for the Red Lions are Jesse Ismond and Jonny Calkins both with 12 points.
As for goaltenders, Luke Sproule of the Red Lions has a 5-2 record with a 2.99 GAA and a .928 save percentage. Wilkie’s Jared Herle, has a perfect 5-0 record with a 3.04 GAA and a .896 save percentage.
Provincials
There are just two SWHL teams remaining in the hunt for a provincial title.
The Wilkie Outlaws are in the Provincial A North Final after defeating the Hague Royals. They came out on top 4-2 in game one and shut them out in game two 4-0.
The wins move them to the North final to play the Prairie Outlaws in a best-of-three series. Game one was to be played tonight in Waldheim. Game two, is scheduled for March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Wilkie. Game three, if necessary, will be played back in Waldheim March 18.
Also, still playing are the Eatonia Huskies in the provincial C division. After a bye in the first round, they defeated the Gull Lake Greyhounds 4-2 and 5-3 in their two games.
They now advance to the South Finals against the Theodore Buffalos. Game one will be played Saturday in Theodore, followed by game two March 17 at 8 p.m. in Eatonia. Game 3, if necessary, will be played March 18 in Eatonia at 3:30 p.m.
In other action, the Kindersley Red Lions lost game two 7-2 in Lumsden last Friday, eliminating them from further play in provincial A action.
The Biggar Nationals lost their second game to Beechy 8-3 and lost that series 16 goals to 9.
In Senior D action, the Luseland Mallards lost to the Edam 3 Stars, 5-4 in game two, after losing game one, 6-3.
SWHL awards
The following is a list of league award winners that were announced last week:
Harvey Somerville Memorial – Tony Hauck
League MVP – Kelsey Muench
Rookie of the Year – Luke Sproule
Coach of the Year – Cory Hoffman
Best Defensive Forward – Cody McKinnon
Best Defenceman – Derek Keller
Scoring Champion – Kelsey Muench
Most Gentlemanly – Ricky Iron
First All-Star Team – Kelsey Muench, Brock Harrison, Behn Robertson, Derek Keller, Zak Stebner and Lane Michasiw.
Second All-Star Team – Jordan Braid, Jeremy Boyer, Jonny Calkins, Will Rathje, Shayne Neigum and Jared Herle.
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