Ice Wolves rob Millionaires
Photo courtesy of Daniel Despins Photography
The La Ronge Ice Wolves erased a two-goal deficit and beat the Melville Millionaires 4-3 in a shootout Saturday at the Mel Hegland Uniplex.
“We came out pretty flat in the first 10 minutes, we had to take a timeout and reset,” said Ice Wolves Asst. Coach Kyle Schneider. “We needed the extra point more than them, so hats off to our guys for that gutsy win.”
The Ice Wolves trailed 3-1 heading into the third, but Parker Layton and Cole Thomas tallied early in the third to force extra time.
A shootout was required after neither team ended the game in the extra session. Dylan Handel and Mason Bueckert found the back of the net in the skills competition, while Topher Chirico was perfect in the shootout. Chirico made 41 saves for the victory. Meantime, Parker Layton had the other La Ronge goal in the second stanza.
Bradley Banach, Hudson Norris and Matt Kjemhus scored for Melville, while Will Dyke turned away 34 shots in a losing cause.
“It was a gutsy win,” said La Ronge forward Cole Thomas. “I think we gave everyone a scare in the first 10 minutes, but we pulled it together – I think we played a solid 50 minutes after that.”
With the win, the Ice Wolves improved to 15-26-4 on the season, which still has them 11th in the SJHL standings. La Ronge is five points behind the Weyburn Red Wings for the last playoff spot.
The Ice Wolves will look for their second straight win Tuesday in Wilcox when they kick off a four-game road trip against the Notre Dame Hounds.