President's Update - February 21st, 2018

League Semi-final matchups set…Strasbourg Maroons defeat Cupar Canucks…The Strasbourg Maroons played the Cupar Canucks in game one of their league playoff series on Valentine's Day in Cupar. The game was tied 1-1 after one period thanks to goals from Mark Cross from the Maroons and Brayden Frank from the Canucks. It was 3-2 after two periods for Cupar. Like the first period the first two goals came from Mark Cross from the Maroons and Brayden Frank from the Canucks. Frank’s goal was on the power play. The goal that put the Canucks in front was on the power play and Cody Hall scored that goal. In the third period Eric Schultz scored early to get the Maroons even.  Matthew Boha would score to Canucks two minutes later and the Canucks were back up. Tye Exner then scored to make the score 4-4.  With 43 seconds left in the game Dylan Marcott scored on the power play and then scored an empty net goal and the final was 6-4 Strasbourg. Rhett Freistadt picked up the win in net for the Maroons. Colby Miller played his first game in net for the Canucks in league play since December. Cupar had four minor penalties and Strasbourg had eight. Game two was played in Strasbourg this past Tuesday evening. The Cupar Canucks bounced back with their own 6-4 road victory. This game was tied 2-2 after one period. Matthew Boha and Travis Orr scored for Cupar. Mike Arnold and Brett Kealy scored for Strasbourg. The Canucks took the lead for good in the second period with Brayden Frank scoring twice to put the Canucks up 4-2. In the third Tanner Exner would get the Maroons within a goal before Dallas Michlik would restore the two goal lead for Cupar. With just under six minutes to go Mike Arnold would score his second goal to again get the Maroons within one but that was all the scoring for Strasbourg. Travis Orr would score his second goal of the game late to make the final 6-4. Colby Miller picked up the win in the Cupar net stopping 40 shots. Dallin Sorenson was in the Strasbourg net and stopped 35 shots. Strasbourg had three minor penalties and Cupar had four. On Wednesday evening the Strasbourg Maroons defeated the Cupar Canucks 5-0 in Cupar and advance to the semi-finals. Congratulations to the Maroons for winning series but also congratulations to the Canucks who had an excellent season finishing third place and who provided a very exciting brand of hockey. Semi-finals will be best of five series with Bethune playing Strasbourg and Lumsden playing Raymore. Times and dates of games will be posted.

Rockets move on to semi-finals and second round of Provincials....The Raymore Rockets defeated the Southey Marlins 5-3 last Thursday evening in Southey and won their playoff series with the Marlins 2-0. In this game the Marlins got a goal from Riley Mohr just 37 seconds into the game to take the early lead. Cody Mapes would score for the Rockets later in the period and it was 1-1 going into the second period. Just 39 seconds into the second period Chad Mazurak scored and the Marlins had a 2-1 lead. Later in the period Taylor Wilton would score and the Marlins would lead 3-1. In the third period Braden Bentz would score just 29 seconds into the period and the Rockets were within one goal. Tyrell Shulko would score 50 seconds later and this game was tied 3-3 before everyone had returned to their seat. With just under two minutes left in the period Josh Jordan would pot the winner and then Shulko would get an empty net goal and the Rockets would win 5-3. The Rockets now move on to league semi-finals. Dean Brothen would pick up the win in net for the Rockets. Ryan Senft played into the third period in net before Landin Moldenhauer would take over for the Marlins. The Marlins had four minor penalties and the Rockets had two. With the Marlins losing out to the Balgonie Bison this past weekend the season is over for the Marlins. The Marlins came back to our league after a three season hiatus and congratulations to the organization and to the community for getting senior hockey back in Southey. You have done a wonderful job and we all look forward to seeing the Marlins back next year.

The Rockets would host Wawota on Saturday evening with a 4-2 lead in their two game total point Provincial 'C' series. This game would end in a 4-4 tie and the Rockets have moved on to the second round of the Provincial 'C' and will now play Theodore from the Triangle Hockey League. Game one is on Saturday in Theodore and game two is on Saturday, March 3rd in Raymore at 8 p.m.

Maroons and Monarchs also move on in Provincials…The Strasbourg Maroons have moved on to the second round of Provincial 'D' after a 7-6 victory in Central Butte on Friday evening and a 10-5 victory on Saturday evening in Strasbourg. The Maroons won the series 17-13 and now play the first place Kyle Elks from the SVHL. Game one of this two game total point series is Sunday in Strasbourg at 5:30 p.m. Game two is in Kyle on Sunday, March 4th at 4:00 p.m. Also on Saturday evening the Grenfell Spitfires defeated the Cupar Canucks 7-0 and won that Provincial 'A' series 2-0. There was one more game Saturday evening in Provincial 'A' as the Milestone Flyers defeated the Lumsden Monarchs 8-4 and forced a game three in Lumsden on Sunday. Like the first game in Lumsden the previous Sunday, the Monarchs were up in shots after two periods. In this game they had taken 31 shots in two periods and Milestone had 14 but unlike the first game they were not up 1-0 but were down 4-1 going into the third period. It really did not look good for the Monarchs but with another 22 shots and three goals from Andrew Perrault and a goal from Brady Aulie in the third period, the Monarchs came through with a 5-4 victory and moved on to round two of Provincial 'A'. Will Hood would come in to the game in the second period and stop eleven shots in the last 29 minutes of the game and pick up the win. Riley Ross stopped 48 shots in the Flyer's net. Lumsden now plays the Kindersley Red Lions from the SWHL. This best of three series starts in Kindersley on Friday and game two will be in Lumsden on Friday, March 2nd at 8:30 p.m. The Bethune Bulldogs AAA team begin the Saskatchewan AAA Provincial Championship against the Rosetown Redwings on Saturday, February 24th in Rosetown at 8:00 p.m. Game two of this series is in Bethune on Saturday, March 10th. Both of these teams will be participating in the 2018 Allan Cup in Rosetown that runs from April 9th - April 14th.

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Gerry Tomkins