President's Update - January 7th, 2020

First place Raymore Rockets split with top two teams from QVHL....This past Friday evening saw the Raymore Rockets host the Milestone Flyers. Logan Gorsalitz scored a shorthanded goal in the first period and the Flyers led going into the second period. A goal by Ryley Storzuk ties the game in the second period. Brayden Cockwill would score twice in the period for Milestone and the Flyers led 3-1 after two periods. KC Brooks, Cody Hegion and Ian Williams would score in the third period to make the final 6-2 for the Flyers.  Tyrell Shulko scored the other Raymore goal. This game had 84 minutes of penalties. Riley Ross stopped 25 shots in the Milestone net to pick up the win. Dean Brothen stopped 24 shots in the Raymore net. The next evening the Rockets travelled to Grenfell to play the Spitfires. In the first period the Spitfires got goals from Lane Harbor and Nathan Boyer and the Rockets got a goal from Michael Jordan and it was 2-1 for Grenfell going into the second period. Michael Jordan would score early in the second period but Mark Schneider would score quickly after that and it was 3-2 for the Spitfires. The Rockets would then score three in a row off the sticks of Tyrell Shulko, Damien Bentz and a power play goal from Tyler Mueller. Tanner Kyle would score on the power play with just six seconds left in the second period and the Rockets led 5-4 going into the third period. There was no scoring in the third period. There was 88 minutes of penalties in this game. Dean Brothen picked up the win in the Raymore net. Mitch Galore was in the Grenfell net. The Rockets are now 3-1-0 in interlocking play. The penalty statistics per game have changed significantly for the Rockets during interlocking play. In their first eight games of the year the Rockets averaged 11.25 minutes of penalties a game and each game they were in averaged  20.75 minutes of penalties called per game. In the Rocket's four Interlocking games the Rockets have seen their average penalties per game go to 34 minutes per game and each game they were in total penalties called averaged 76.5 minutes per game.

It was a clean sweep for the QVHL on Friday evening. There were two other interlocking games. In Balcarres the Bethune Bulldogs lost to the Broncs 6-4. Paul Albers led the way for the Broncs with two goals, including a power play goal, and an assist. Justin Bernhardt, Cody Ellingson, Cory Unser and Brayden Frank with the game winning goal also scored for the Broncs. Shane Bakke, Gray Lund, Mark Lustig and Brett Mennear scored for the Bulldogs. David Spooner picked up the win in the Balcarres goal. Ryan Holfeld was in the Bethune net. The Bulldogs were assessed five minor penalties and the Broncs four. The Bulldogs are now 2-1-0 in interlocking play.The other game saw the Balgonie Bison pick up their first interlocking win with a 6-4 victory over the Lumsden Monarchs. Cohen Yano put Balgonie into an early lead but Braeden Adamyk and Brody Luhning with a late period power play goal had the Monarchs up 2-1 going into the second period. In the second period Balgonie took the lead with goals from Shane Scheschuk and Taylor Hoedel. A late period goal by Andrew Perrault had the game tied going into the third period. The Monarchs got into some penalty trouble in the third period and Balgonie took advantage scoring three power play goals. Zak Zborosky scored twice and Shane Scheschuk scored into the empty net to make the final score 6-4. Cam Pateman stopped 40 shots in the Balgonie net to pick up the win. Will Hood stopped 19 shots in the Lumsden net. The Monarchs had six minor penalties and the Bison had four. Also on Friday evening the Southey Marlins defeated the Strasbourg Maroons 15-3. It has been a tough month for the Maroons losing their starting goalies and now on to their fifth and sixth goalies dressed this year. Cody Hall with three goals, Derek Frater with two, Pat Thompson-Gale with two and Mason Mullaney with two goals including a power play goal led the way for the Marlins. Dylan Mohr, Colby Brandt, Lindsay Thompson and Travis Orr also scored for the Marlins. The Strasbourg Maroons scored all three of their goals on the power play. Keelan Saworski scored twice and Tanner Exner scored once. Strasbourg had two minor penalties and Southey had four. Sean Fleming pick up the win in the Southey net and Tiegan Slough was in the Strasbourg net.

The Lumsden Monarchs defeated the Odessa/Vibank Bruins on Saturday evening at home 3-2 in overtime. This game featured some great goaltending. David Perkin picked up the win in the Lumsden net with 17 stops. Shane Bloomquist from the Bruins stopped 44 shots in the Bruins net. Kyle Stroh and Linden Lang scored for the Bruins. Lumsden got scoring from Andrew Perrault, Kyle Johnson with a short handed goal and Brody Luhning with the game winning power play goal. The Bruins had four minor penalties and the Monarchs had five. Lumsden is now 1-2-1 in interlocking play. There were two other interlocking games on Saturday evening. The Milestone Flyers scored just ten seconds into the first period and never looked back as they defeated the Southey Marlins 6-2 in Milestone. Ian Williams with two goals and Brayden Cockwill with two goals including a power play marker led the way for the Flyers. Paul Sonntag and Brandon Halbgewachs also scored for Milestone. Southey got a power play goal from Lindsay Thompson and a goal from Dylan Mohr. Riley Ross picked up the win in the Milestone net and Shaun Fleming was in the Southey net. Southey had two minor penalties and a fighting major with a game misconduct. Milestone had three minor penalties and a fighting major and a game misconduct. Southey is now 0-3-0 in interlocking play. Also on Saturday evening the Balgonie Bison went into Strasbourg and defeated the Maroons 13-3. The game was tied 1-1 after one. Balgonie would score five times in the second period and had a 6-1 lead going into the third period. Cohen Yano  with a natural hat trick and Logan Herchak with a hat trick led the way for Balgonie. Zak Zborosky, Matt Coupal and Kyle Eberle each scored twice. Shane Scheschuk also scored for Balgonie. Mike Arnold scored twice for the Maroons and Denny Slough also scored. Cam Pateman stopped 15 shots in the Balgonie net to pick up the win. Therien Ballantine and Tiegan Slough both had time in the Strasbourg net. Just 3 minor penalties in this game with Strasbourg having two. There were no special teams goals in this game. Strasbourg is 0-3-0 in interlocking play.

There were two suspensions handed out this weekend. There had been only one suspension so far this year in the league. In separate incidents, Cody Straker from the Rockets and Dryden Hubick from the Marlins each received a one game suspension for the same infraction of taking a game misconduct in the last ten minutes of a game. 

Provincial draws should be out this week and we will update you when those show up.

Damien Bentz continues to lead the scoring race with 25 points. Kyle Johnson from the Monarchs is next with 24 points and Tyrell Shulko and Tyler Mueller from the Rockets round out the top three with  23 points each. Kevin Orther leads all goalies with a 2.88 GAA and Will Hood from the Monarchs is next with a 2.96 GAA. Dean Brothen and Kevin Orthner lead all goalies with five wins each. Ryan Holfeld leads all goalies with 425 minutes played. The Strasbourg Maroons have scored six power play goals in their last four games and they have a league low 22 opportunities on the power play but now lead the league with a 27.3% success rate on the power play.The Rockets are second at 23.2% and the Southey Marlins are third at 21.6%. On the penalty killing side, the Raymore Rockets are at 90.2% followed by Lumsden at 81.3% and Bethune at 80.6%. The Strasbourg Maroons are the least penalized team in the league at 6.7minutes per game. The Bethune Bulldogs are next at 8.7 minutes per game. Southey at 13.4, Lumsden at 14.4 and Raymore at 16.6 minutes per game follow. Please note all statistics shown include interlocking games.

This weekend's action starts Friday evening three 8:00 p.m. interlocking games. The Lumsden Monarchs (6-4-2) play their second game against the Spitfires (9-1-0) in Grenfell, Balcarres Broncs (6-4-0) are in Raymore to play the Rockets (10-2-0) and Odessa/Vibank Bruins (0-11-1) are in Southey to play the Marlins (4-8-0). On Saturday evening the Southey Marlins have their second game against the Broncs in Balcarres at 8:00 p.m., the Milestone Flyers (9-1-0) are in Bethune to play the Bulldogs (7-4-0) at 8:00 p.m., the Grenfell Spitfires visit the Maroons (0-11-0) in Strasbourg at 8:00 p.m. and in an all HHL tilt it is the rubber match between the Raymore Rockets and the Lumsden Monarchs at 8:30 p.m. in Lumsden. We have a Sunday evening game in Strasbourg as the Bethune Bulldogs play the Maroons at 6:00 p.m.

The Bethune Bulldogs present comedian Kelly Taylor and band Sundog this Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. at St. Peter's Hall at 100 Argyle Street in Regina. There will be a cash bar and a 50/50. Tickets are $35 each. Tickets available from any Bulldog or by emailing russnielsen18@gmail.com

There's lots of hockey and we appreciate all of you coming to our games to see the best senior hockey. Please follow us on Twitter to keep current on the scores https://twitter.com/HighwayHockey or the Pensky File https://twitter.com/GeraldT or you can just check the front page of our website as the Twitter feed is there for you to follow the live updated scores.

Thank you for supporting the Highway Hockey league and the Qu'Appelle Valley Hockey League and we will see you at a rink near you!

Gerry