Kelsey Dell stellar in net despite lopsided score

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2024 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a log jam among the top-six schools in the Westman High School Hockey League after two local teams were defeated during a Sunday doubleheader at Flynn Arena.

The fifth-place Hamiota/Rivers/Elton/Strathclair Huskies (18-7-0) edged the first-place Vincent Massey Vikings (22-4-0) 4-3, while the third-place Neepawa Tigers (21-4-0) defeated the 11th-place Crocus Plainsmen (10-12-0) 10-4.

“(The Huskies) have beaten us twice in the past two weeks,” said Vikings coach Brent Blaine. “Give them full credit, they are a talented team and gave us nothing on offence after keeping the shooting lanes closed, blocking lots of shots, outshooting us … and their power-play hurt us with three power-play goals against us. That was the difference in the final score.”

Huskies forward Brett Melnyk’s two goals came on the power play, while single markers went to Jack Oakden and Chael Rozdeba.

The Huskies outshot the Vikings 35-34, with Gavin Pomeroy earning the win, while Casey Berry took the loss in the Vikings net.

Landen Dreolini, Josh Romaniuk and Carter Dittmer scored for Vincent Massey. Blaine said his team’s eight minor penalties hurt the Vikings, with the Huskies capitalizing on their chances, scoring three times.

In his post-game assessment of the game following a talk with his team after the loss, Blaine acknowledged it was not his team’s best game, with the undisciplined penalties and inability to find the net with shots, something the Vikings usually dominate teams in the league thanks to having two of the top snipers in Romanik (25 games, 28g, 45a, 74p) and Dittmer (third, 24 games 42g, 25a, 72p).

Prior to the Christmas break, the two Vikings snipers were one-two in league scoring. The scoring race has been taken over by Connor Martin of Nesbitt, who plays for the Killarney/Wawanesa Warriors. In 24 games, he’s scored 39 goals and added 43 assists, giving him a 10-point lead on Romanik.

Despite the loss, Blaine is positive his team will rebound for a pivotal meeting today when Vincent Massey travels to Killarney for a 2:30 p.m. tilt against the third-place Tigers (21-4-0).

“(The players) have to have a short-term memory after this loss,” he offered. “The sun will still come up Monday, we’ll have a practice then face Neepawa Tuesday.”

He added, “Looking at this game tonight, Hamiota has four solid lines, they forechecked us hard, and key was keeping the shooting lanes closed on us.”

With the win, the Huskies are just three points back of the Vikings who share first-place with the Dauphin Clippers (20-4-0).

Meanwhile, the Neepawa Tigers used a three-goal effort from Cohen Kulbacki, plus fired 59 shots at Crocus goalie Kelsey Dell en route to 10-4 victory.

While Dell was continually peppered in net, making first and second saves on a tenacious Tigers offence, it came down to Neepewa crashing the crease and usually finding the back of the net off loose pucks.

“Kelsey played an excellent game. She lit it up with the saves she made” said coach Darren Galatiuk afterwards. “She’s a good goalie. (The team) has to credit her for keeping us in the game when we were up.”

Crocus actually led 3-2 after 20 minutes, scoring the go-ahead goal with .06 seconds on the clock. All three goals came on the power play.

However, it was all Neepewa in the middle frame, having outshot the Plainsmen 22-8 after the first, then keeping Dell busy with another 26 shots, while netminder Austin Michaluk only saw 15 shots after two periods. The Tigers outscored the host team 5-1 in the second.

“I know it might sound like a broken record, but in our pre-game meeting I told the players they need to get more shots and bodies at the net. (The Tigers) simply outplayed us.

“Neepawa is a deep team and difficult to play against. When we do put the puck and bodies to the net, we are successful. Our fourth goal is an example of that.”

Crocus was paced on offence by a hat-trick from Gilbert Teneycke, while co-captain Merrick Smart wristed a long shot from the point through a screen to open the scoring for the Plainsmen.

Ian Foster and Rylan Bray each scored twice for the Tigers, while single markers went to Zach Plett, Tyler Cook and Tarek Lapointe.

Special teams worked for both teams, with Crocus scoring its three first-period goals on the power play, while the Tigers recorded four of their 10 goals with a man advantage.

Despite the loss, Galatiuk is still looking for the Plainsmen to move up from 11th to enter the top eight for playoffs.

“There are still points we can win if we play out game,” he said, noting the Plainsmen are back in action on Feb. 9 when his team is on the road to face the 10th-place GCB Wildcats (10-13-0) in Glenboro at 7:30 p.m. “I still think we can move up ito the top-eight … anything can happen if we play our game. Which means we need to take more shots on net.”

» jxavier@brandonsun.com

» X: @julesxavier59