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2012 SEMHL Champions

Maroons win SEMHL Championships with a 6-1 win over Plum Coulee Xpress.   Dale Butland and Matt Dyck named Playoff MVP's.

 

 

Tuesday, March 27 - SEMHL Finals - Game 5  Maroons v.s. Xpress @ Winkler Centennial Arena.

The Altona Maroons came into Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead and started the game off, right where they left off from Game 4 outworking the Plum Coulee Xpress and outshooting their opponents.  Less then a min. into the game the Maroons would go on a powerplay but the Xpress backed by goalie Jayme Janzen would keep things scoreless.  Later,  Just 4 min. into the game Maroons Captain Jon Froese would open the scoring on a play set up by Shea Hamilton.  Nearing the midway point of the first period and just after a Maroons powerplay Ryan Dyck would set up Matt Dyck and Matt would send a nice pass to Josh Froese who would streak in towards Janzen and lift a quick wrist shot high over the shoulder of Janzen making it 2-0.   The large contingent of Maroons fans in Winkler got behind their team and the Maroons were taking control of the game early on.  Keeping shifts short, the Maroons were able to gain entry into the Xpress zone and send good quality of shots on net, meanwhile when the Xpress gained the Maroons end Carey Dyck would firmly turn away the shots with his defenceman working hard to get in front of shooting lanes and turn the puck back out of the zone as quickly as possible.  The Maroons Brent Toews would take a holding penalty late in the period and although the Xpress would generate some solid scoring chances the Maroons would get back to even strength, unscathed and head off the ice after 20 min. with a 2-0 lead.  The Maroons would outshoot the Xpress 14-7 in the first period.

Shea Hamilton avoiding an open ice hit from Xpress defender Adam Porte. Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

In the 2nd period the Maroons would keep coming at the Xpress and just under 5 min. in and on a powerplay, Josh Froese would feed Dale Butland a pass on the point and  and Butland's one-timer blast would find the back of the net making it 3-0 in favour of the Maroons.  On the very next shift as the Xpress worked their way into the Maroons end, Butland would be assesed a cross-checking penalty.  The Xpress would work their powerplay, but would be unable to capitalize on the man advantage.  With just under 11 min. in the middle period the Xpress would head to the penalty box again, putting the Maroons powerplay unit to go to work again.  On the powerplay Josh Froese would cycle the puck down low behind Janzen's net with Brent Toews and as Toews came towards the front of the net with a shot Janzen would meet him with a save, but the rebound would bounce out to Jon Froese who would capitalize on the opportunity and bury it for a 4-0 lead.  27 sec. later Matt Dyck would give Devon Leblanc a quick pass at the bottom of the face off circle to the left side of the net and Leblanc would send a bullet past Janzen to the top of the net making it 5-0.    With the game now half over the Maroons were safely in the drivers seat and kept coming at the Xpress with several more quality scoring chances.  Both teams would leave the ice for the 2nd intermission with the Maroons now outshooting the Xpress 31-21.

Carey Dyck making a blocker save on Xpress forward Brett Harder. Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

In the 3rd period the Maroons would keep up the pressure and with just over 8 min. to play Nick Fuher's point blast would make it's way through traffic in front of Janzen and to the back of the net for a 6-0 lead.  The Xpress faithful were fairly quiet at this point, but would eventually find a reason to cheer when Brett Harder's shot would beat Carey Dyck through his pads crushing Dyck's chances for a shutout and making it 6-1.  The remaining minutes on the clock would wind down to 0:00 with the Maroons players fleeing their bench and flocking to Dyck and the rest of their teamates to celebrate the win and the SEMHL Championship.

The scoreboard displayed a final shot total of 40 shots for the Maroons on Janzen and 30 shots for the Xpress on Dyck.  Watching the game between 2 referees, I overheard that they felt the shots on net were not quite accurate and could well have been closer to 45-25.  Regardless, Xpress netminder and league Top Goalie award winner Jayme Janzen was outstanding in the series making highlight reel saves in every game of the Championship Finals.  At the other end of the ice 2nd year Maroons goalie Carey Dyck was superb in the Finals starting every game and allowing only 12 goals and making crucial saves in each game giving the Maroons playoff goaltending and out-dueling Janzen in the Game 1 Double Overtime battle and the Game 4 Overtime game.

After a brief but joyous celebration, the Maroons and Xpress lined up on their respective bluelines while SEMHL Commissioner Brian Callum thanked the fans for their great support, CKMW for broadcasting the games and congratulating the Plum Coulee Xpress for a great season and for being tough opponents in the Finals.  Callum then shifted his congrats to the 2012 SEMHL Champions Altona Maroons and announced the SEMHL Playoff co-MVP's forward Matt Dyck and defenceman Dale Butland.  After the obligatory trophy presentation, Callum moved on to asking Maroons Captain and co-captains Jon Froese, Brent Toews and John Mintenko to accept the Elmer Hildebrand SEMHL Championship trophy.  Captain Jon Froese would then hoist the trophy and get mobbed by his teammates, before handing the trophy over to veteran defenceman Kevin Ginter.  Ginter would continue the handing off of the trophy before Shea Hamilton brought it over to President and G.M. Jody Hildebrand. Hildebrand joyfully hoisted the trophy and then passed it off to coach Rob Friesen. Eventually the the team would gather at center ice for a group photo. As the Maroons left the ice fans, parents, spouses, and friends etc. congratulated them for their hard work throughout the playoffs and the team gathered in the dressing room for some brief congratulatory remarks from Hildebrand and Friesen before veterans Jon Froese and Ryan Dyck began the dressing room celebrations.  The celebrations would continue until the bus was complelty filled up with a fired up bunch of teammates who made their way back to their home arena to continue reveling in their Championship success.

Maroons Captain Jon Froese with Assistants John Mintenko and Brent Toews accepting the Elmer Hildebrand SEMHL Championship Trophy from league commissioner Brian Callum.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

For the Maroons the Championship is their 10th in 61 years of hockey in the SEMHL and this seasons squad captured it all after finishing 6th in the regular season standings (2 points out of 3rd place) and were able to knock of the 3rd place Stonewall Flyers, before upsetting the favoured 1st place Morden Redskins and then defeating the 2nd seed Plum Coulee Xpress.

The celebrating will continue for some time as the Maroons determine when team pictures and a wind up date can be set.

Dressing room celebrations!  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

Last, but not least, the Altona Maroons would like to say a HUGE Thank you to their fans who came out in big numbers throughout the playoffs to the home games, and also for the away games in the Semi-Finals in Morden and in the Finals in Winkler (PC). 

Thank you to all fans and supporters!

Josh Froese scores in Overtime and Maroons win Game 4 - 4-3.

Saturday night and the Sunflower Gardens was packed with Senior hockey fans coming out to cheer on the hometown Altona Maroons and the visiting fans for the Plum Coulee Xpress.   The Maroons would come out where they finished off on Thursday in Winkler showing good momentum, but the Xpress also had a lot of jump in their step.  With some solid action at both ends of the ice, both goalies were tested early in the game.  The Maroons would kill off a Kevin Ginter penalty nearing the midway point of the 1st and get a powerplay opportunity shortly after Ginters penalty.  The Maroons would generate a few nice chances but Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen would be sharp and turn away all attempts.  Later in the period with just over 4 min. to play the Xpress would be penalized with a hooking penalty and this time the Maroons powerplay would click when Shea Hamilton would send a pass to Devon Leblanc down low and Leblanc would spot Ryan Dyck in the slot, getting Dyck a quick pass on his blade, Dyck was able to one-time the pass and hit the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.   The goal would spark the Maroons bench to find another gear and with time ticking down on the first period Devon Leblanc would send Matt Dyck a long pass through the neutral zone and Dyck would speed wide around an Xpress defenceman and send a high wrist shot over Janzen for a 2-0 lead with just 13 sec. left in the period.

First period action with Matt Dyck dumping the puck into the Xpress zone.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 2nd period would start with additional pressure from the Maroons, but nearing the midway point of the frame the Maroons would head to the penalty box with 2 minor penalties giving the Xpress a 5 on 3 powerplay. 19 sec. into the 2 man advantage Brett Harder would take a pass from Andrew Kaminsky and beat Carey Dyck cutting the Maroons lead to 2-1.  The Maroons would get one man out of the penalty box, but still be down a player for over a min. and a half and towards the very end of the remaining penalty the Xpress would strike again when Chad Unrau's shot would find the back of the net tying the game 2-2.  The visiting Xpress fans were excited for their team getting back into the game and then just 30 sec. later at the 10:56 mark of the period Phil Letkeman would headman the puck to Jared Barnabe and Barnabe going one on one with an Xpress defender would send a quick wrist shot from the high slot area beating Janzen on his glove side giving the Maroons a 3-2 lead and getting the home crowd fired up again - classic back and forth action. Shortly after the go ahead goal from Barnabe the Maroons would have a powerplay opportunity but the Xpress would fight off the pressure and get back to even strength. Later in the period with just over 4 min. left before the intermission Brent Toews would be assessed a double minor penalty for high sticking.  The Xpress went to work and would get the puck into the Maroons end and Dale Harder would set up Chad Unrau with Unrau beating Dyck to tie the game at 3-3 with 2:37 left on the clock.  After the goal, Matt Dyck was given a 10 min. misc. and the Maroons would try to re-group and stay focused for the balance of the period.  The Maroons would close out the period with pressure in the Xpress end and with just 36 sec. left in the period Devon Leblanc would be on the receiving end of a fairly hefty elbow high to his head and take some time getting his bearings together on the ice.  During the stoppage in play, Xpress star Anders Strome would find himself frustrated with the referee and the ref would respond by handing him a 10 min. misconduct. The period would end with the teams knotted at 3 goals a piece.

Xpress forward Brett Harder (#10) sending a shot on Carey Dyck in the 2nd period.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Going into the 3rd team with the scored evened up both teams had the chance to eventually win the game. The Maroons would put some pressure early on, but the Xpress would also create some scoring chances and the action would continue until the 6:58 mark of the game when Dale Harder would be sent to the penalty box on a tripping call.  The Maroons would come close to scoring with the puck lying close to the goal line but Janzen smothering it to keep the game tied.  After the Xpress fought off the penalty both teams kicked it into desperation mode and the Maroons would close out the period with a few more offensive chances but after 60 min. the game would end tied setting up the series second game going into overtime.

In overtime the Maroons would pressure the Xpress and outplay the visiting team and nearing the midway point of the extra period Dale Butland would keep an Xpress clearing attempt in the Xpress end and get the puck along the boards to Shea Hamilton, Hamilton would work the puck low behind the net and get the puck out to Josh Frose who was off to the side of the net and Froese would send a high shot over Janzen that came down behind Janzen and cross the goal line sending the Maroons players off the bench celebrating the goal and the win in game 4. The win gives the Maroons a series lead of 3-1 and the series now shifts back to Winkler on Tuesday night for a 7:30 start.

Josh Froese off to the side of the frame watching as the puck hits the back of the net behind Jayme Janzen in overtime.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Shots on goal - 1st period 11-11, 2nd period 11-7 in favour of the Xpress, 3 period 13-9 in favour of the Maroons and in roughly 10 min. of the overtime 13-6 in favour of the Maroons.

National Anthem performed by Katrina Schroeder.

50/50 pot of $477.50 claimed by Justin Fehr of Winkler.

400 Club Winners of $200.00 each:

Norman P. Hildebrand #158

Denita Klassen #327

Corinna Siemens #124

Don Penner #56

Ang Enns #8

Devon Leblanc chatting with Golden West Radio reporter Matt Friesen in a post game interview.

 

Maroons outshoot Xpress 54-36 to win Game 3 - 4-2

The Maroons were back in Winkler on Thursday night for game 3 of the SEMHL Finals and they would come out quickly less then a min. in and they found themselves on a powerplay and wasted no time peppering Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen.  Janzen stood tall throughout the Maroons powerplay and it would take until just under the midway point of the period for the Maroons to get on the scoreboard. Matt Dyck would win a face off in the Xpress zone cleanly to Devon Leblanc that Leblanc would riffle on net with Ryan Dyck just getting a piece of it to slip through Janzen's legs for the goal.    The Maroons later kill off a penalty and keep putting pucks on Janzen.  Towards the end of the period the Maroons would kill off another penalty but with just over a min. left before the intermission Brendan Heppner would throw a puck on net that would redirect to an open Anders Strome and Strome would pick up his playoff leading 17th goal to tie the game at 1 a piece.

At times the play in game 3 got a little chippy as seen above as Xpress Forward Anders Strome forces Maroons defenceman Dale Butland into an uncompromising position.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

In the 2nd period the Maroons kept the same quick tempo going after starting the period shortanded and getting back to 5 on 5 action.  With less then 9 min. to play in the period Shea Hamilton would break into the Xpress zone and leave a pass for Jon Froese, Jon would find brother Josh Froese and Josh would beat Janzen with a snap shot to make it 2-1.  Shortly after the Maroons go ahead goal the Xpress would take a minor penalty and during the Maroons powerplay an Xpress defenceman closed his hand on the puck while standing in the crease and the Maroons were rewarded with a penalty shot.  Shea Hamilton would take the penalty shot and Hamilton would come in on Janzen fake going to his backhand and trying to move the puck over to his forehand, but would lose control of the puck and it slid in the corner for a blown opportunity. The Xpress would kill off some more time on the penalty and then the Maroons would head to the box for a 2 min. slashing minor, meaning both teams would play 4 on 4 for a while and after the Xpress minor was over the Xpress were on a powerplay. The Xpress would put some solid shots on Carey Dyck, but the Maroons would work a tight penalty kill.   With less then 5 min. left in the second the teams were back at even strength and both teams were still playing up and down hockey and then with less then a min. to play Ryan Dyck and Matt Dyck would set up Devon Leblanc on the top of the corner circle with Leblanc cleanly beating Janzen with a wrist, giving the Maroons a 3-1 lead.

Josh Froese sending a shot towards Jayme Janzen.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

The 3rd period would be the toughest challenge for the Maroons as the Xpress would come out of the gates with more jump then the Maroons early on.  However, they would also have to kill off 2 penalties before the period was just under 9 min. old.  Shortly after being back at even strength the Maroons would break into the Xpress zone with Jon Froese getting the puck over to Hamilton and Hamilton in tight on Janzen would send a quick shot up under the bar and down into the net for a 4-1 lead.  Shortly after the goal, the Maroons would be forced to play 2 min. shorthanded on a Justin Froese interferecne penalty.  The Maroons would get their job done on the penalty kill and there would be less then 10 min. to play when the Maroons and Xpress players got tangled up a bit after a whistle near Janzen and the Maroons would be given an extra 2 min.  On the ensuing powerplay Anders Strome would put a shot on Carey Dyck that Dyck would try squeazing with his pads but it would trickle through and Dale Harder would swat it home cutting the Maroons lead to 4-2.  The Xpress were applying more pressure now and they would catch a break when at the 5 min. mark Brent Toews would be called for Interference on Janzen while forechecking.  The Xpress would come close on their powerplay, in fact having one goal dissallowed from the referee on a kicking the puck into the net motion from an Xpress forward.  The Maroons would get back to even strength and with under 2 min. to play Marlin Froese would take an Interference penalty giving the Maroons a powerplay in the final min. and a half of the game.  Frustrated with the looming outcome, the Xpress would take one more min. penalty 7 sec. later, pretty much sealing the game for the Maroons and after 60 min. of exciting, fast Senior hockey the Maroons would leave Winkler with a 4-2 win and a 2-1 series lead. 

Final shots on net in favour of the Maroons 54-36.  Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen once again played outstanding, while Carey Dyck in the Maroons net was on top of his game turning away big 3rd period chances for the Xpress and not allowing them back into the game.

#28 Nick Fuher and Carey Dyck defending against the 3rd period surge from the Xpress.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

Game notes: Alex Krahn was inserted into the line-up, while AP call up Haydon Friesen was scratched.  

Coach Rob Friesen was pleased with his teams energy early on and stressed that the guys need to be tough and keep putting shots on their goalie. 

A large crowd was on hand in Winkler for the game and as the series now shifts back to Altona for game 4 on Saturday night, fans should know by now to be on time in order to secure a good seat.  Game time is 8:00 p.m.

One final note, a big Congratulations goes out to the Fighting Amish who won the Red River Valley Recreational League Championship tonight.  The Altona team features numerous Maroons alumni including Bob Toews, Jason Hildebrand, Donovan Bergman, Scott Cherewayko, Geoff Peters, Ian Klippenstein, Jeremy Buhr, Rod Neustaeter, and Brad McEachern as well as Maroons Exec. member Jason Peters.  Congratulations guys!

Xpress Roll past Maroons in Game Two 6-1

A capacity crowd was on hand in Altona for game 2 of the Championship Finals.   The Maroons would start the game with early presure on the Xpress and would test goalie Jayme Janzen with Janzen turning away the Maroons.  The Maroons were hoping that an  With 6 min. left in the period Anders Strome would pounce on a Maroons turnover in the slot in front of Carey Dyck and Strome would let a quick shot go on Dyck that would be stopped but the rebound would come back to Strome and Dyck would have to make another quick save with players crashing in on him, Jordan Janzen would pick up the loose puck and hit the back of the net making it 1-0 for the Express.  The rest of the period would end with the Maroons outshooting the Express 17-7 after 20 min.

Carey Dyck and Craig Neufeld defending against Jordan Peters.  Photo courtesy of Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period Dale Harder would make a nice individual effort beating a Maroons defenceman wide and putting a quick shot on Carey Dyck that Dyck would get a piece of but Jordan Peters was on the spot to tap it in for a 2-0 lead. The Maroons would fight off a minor penalty and then keep pace with the Xpress continuing to get some shots on Janzen.  Attemping to kill off a double min. for spearing to Matt Dyck, Anders Strome would connect with Jordan Peters and Peters would score his 3rd of the game for a 3-0 lead.  The Maroons would get back to even strength but go shorthanded a few min. later.  After killing off the Jon Froese charging penalty, the Maroons and Xpress would skate out the rest of the period and head off for the final intermission.

Maroons coach Rob Friesen would send Shannon Enns to the Maroons net for the start of the 3rd periond and the Maroons would kill off an early boarding penalty, but less then 4 min. in, Brett Harder's wrist shot would beat Enns giving the Xpress a 4-0 lead.   Building on their momentum, almost a min. later Jordan Peters would get credited with his 4th goal of the game making it 5-0.  Less then a min. later the Maroons leading scorer Devon Leblanc's stick got caught up with an Xpress forward and Leblanc was handed a 5 min. High sticking penalty and the automatic Game Misconduct.  The Maroons would kill off a portion of the penalty before Dale Butland sprang Shea Hamilton into the Xpress zone and Hamilton would beat Janzen with a nice shot finally giving the home crowd something to cheer about.  The shot of excitement would be capped less then a min. later when Marlin Froese would set up Chad Unrau with Unrau beating Enns for a 6-1 lead.   Carey Dyck would trade spots with Shannon Enns after the goal and Blaine Neufeld would replace Janzen in net for the Xpress for the balance of the game.  The remaining minutes would be played out and the Xpress would leave the ice with the series tied and game 3 heading back to Winkler.

Shea Hamilton watching his off wing shot beat Janzen for the Maroons lone goal in the 3rd period. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Coach Rob Friesen was frustrated that the team couldn't get back into the game at any point, citing that Janzen did a great job keeping the Maroons off the board early in the game.   Friesen isn't concerend that the series is tied, and is optimistic that his players can and will be better. 

Unfortunaltey, the fantastic crowd that packed into the Sunflower Gardens wasn't treated to a better game and outcome for the Maroons, but it was awesome seeing the place full of people as many of the Maroons loyal followers knew it would be.

50/50 pot of $515.00 was claimed by Jim Loewen of Winkler.

400 Club winners of $200 each were:

Peter & Henry Berg

Bernie Wiebe

Ian Fehrmore

Clayton Dreger

Jim Friesen

 

Maroons win game 1 in Double OT 4-3

Winkler's Centennial Arena was home to Game 1 of the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League Finals and it was the visiting Altona Maroons that would strike first when nearing the midway point of the first period, Matt Dyck would send Devon Leblanc on a partial breakaway and Leblanc's shot would beat Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen.  The goal would lift the Maroons who were already outplaying the Xpress in the early stages of the game as several minutes later Ryan Dyck would spot Craig Neufeld sliding down from the point to the slot and Neufeld would put a shot up high on Janzen for a 2-0 Maroons lead.    Plum Coulee would battle back and with 5 min. left in the period, Derrick Heppner would score on Carey Dyck closing the gap to 2-1.  2 and a half min. later on a powerplay Nick Fuher would set up Shea Hamilton in the mid slot area and Hamilton's shot would sneak over Janzen's shoulder for a 3-1 lead.  After 20 min. and outshooting the Xpress 17-7 the two teams would head off the ice for the intermission.

Maroons Justin Froese attempting to tip a point shot past Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

In the 2nd period the Xpress came out with more energy and began to outplay the Maroons and 7 min. in Chad Unrau would set up Anders Strome and Strome's shot would beat Dyck closing the gap to 3-2 for the Maroons.   Carey Dyck would hold the Maroons in the game as the Xpress were starting to pressure the Maroons throughout the period and after 40 min. of good quick playoff hockey the score would at 3-2 for the Maroons.

#22 Mike Friesen defending against Xpress Captain Dwight Heppner while goalie Carey Dyck tries to peak around Heppner.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

In the 3rd period, just over 6 min. in Strome would score his 2nd of the game to notch it up at 3-3.  Nearing the midway point of the final period both teams would trade exciting powerplay opportunities with each teams goalies coming up with big saves.  As the period wore on the Xpress were closing in on balancing out the shots on net and they would catch a break with just over 8 min. left in the game when Nick Fuher would hold up Steve Doell on a partial breakaway and Doell was rewarded with a penalty shot.  Carey Dyck would make a huge save to keep the game tied and the end to end action would continue.  The Xpress would catch another break when just over a min. left in regulation Shea Hamilton would be called for holding.    The Maroons would fight off the penalty and create a huge shorthanded scoring opportunity before the buzzer would sound and force the game into overtime.

The first overtime wouldn't solve anything as both teams would trade several scoring opportunities but Janzen and Dyck were standing tall and turning shots away.  The Maroons would seem to have the edge in OT in terms of creating opportunities but unable to find a way to get the winner, the time would eventually expire and send the teams off the ice for a much needed break and into a 2nd overtime.

In the 2nd overtime the Maroons players seemed to find another gear and started buzzing the Xpress zone and just over 4 min. into the 5th period, Nick Fuher would send a blast on net that would tip off of Matt Dyck and stun Janzen and the Xpress sending the Maroons players onto the ice congratulating each other for the win in Game 1 of this Best of 7 Final.

The Maroons celebrate after Matt Dyck re-directs Nick Fuher's point blast in the 2nd overtime.  Photo courtesy of Merle Peters.

Coach Rob Friesen was releived to get the win citing that both goalies were doing such a solid job in the overtime periods, that he wasn't sure how long it would take before either team would get the winning goal.  Friesen noted that his squad outplayed the Xpress early, but them back into the game midway through the contest and would like to see his guys keep up the pressure more consistently from shift to shift. 

Game 2 goes Tuesday in Altona and as already mentioned above, all games are being broadcast on 1570 CKMW AM. 

Maroons win Game 6 - 5-2 and advance to Championship Finals

A full house was on hand Saturday night to take in Game 5 of the SEMHL Semi-Finals.  Both teams came out flying and early on the Maroons would be tested when Shea Hamilton would take a holding penalty.  Carey Dyck would make a few Redskins powerplay saves and the Maroons were able to get back to 5 on 5 play.  The Maroons would get on the board first when at the 12 and a half mark of the period Shea Hamilton and Jon Froese would get the puck to Justin Froese and Froese would score on Redskins goalie Darcy Stewart.  The crowd roared and it must have revved up the Maroons because 30 sec. later Nick Fuher would score on Stewart giving the Maroons a 2-0 lead.  The Maroons fed on the energy and continued to pressure the Redskins.  Their work paid off when just under 5 min. left in the first Dion Peterson would take a roughing penalty.  The Maroons went to the powerplay and worked the puck around with several shots on net but Stewart turned away the attempts and the Redskins would get to even strength.   The period would play out and end with the Maroons leading 2-0.

Justin Froese beating Darcy Stewart for the Maroons first goal of the night.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period the Redsksins would respond early just under 2 min. in when Chris Reimer and Jay Fehr would break into the Maroons end and a trailing Kelby Friesen would receive a pass and put it behind Carey Dyck cutting the Maroons lead to 2-1.  The Redskins now had some life, but the Maroons would not back down and continued to pressure the league's best regular season team.  The pressure would get the Redskins scrambling and it would get the Redskins into penalty trouble three consecutive times.  Although the Maroons were unable to capitalize on the powerplays they would pepper Stewart and keep the bulk of the play in the Redskins end and with just under 2 min. left in the period their hard work would pay off when Devon Leblanc would battle to keep a puck in the Redskins end and fire a pass to Ryan Dyck in front of the net who would one time the puck to the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.  Before the end of the period the Maroons Justin Froese would be called for a holding penalty. 

 

#4 Dale Butland and #27 Craig Neufeld defending in front of Carey Dyck.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Maroons would kill off the remaining time of Froese's penalty and in doing so, got a boost when just 2 and a half min. into the period Phil Letkeman's forechecking was rewarded when he would wrap the puck around the back of the Redskins net and slip one past Stewart for a 4-1 lead.  The Redskins weren't going away easily.  Morden's Captain Colin Hildebrand would find Keith Bially and Bially would score on Carey Dyck to cut the lead to 4-2.  Just over 13 min. left to play and the Maroons were going to have to keep working in order to hold their lead.  Nearing the midway point of the period Brent Toews would get tangled up with Jeremy Matuzewski and both players would be sent to the penalty box with Toews taking an extra 4 min. for spearing.  The Maroons would kill off the penalty minutes and continue to work hard at both ends of the ice and with just over 2 min. left to play the Maroons would get an insurance marker when Ryan Dyck would send Devon Leblanc and Matt Dyck on a 2 on 1 and Leblanc's pass to Matt Dyck was directed past Stewart making it 5-2.  The Redskins weren't going to dig themselves out of a 3 goal defecit and after 60 min. the Maroons would win the game and the series.

The Maroons celebrate the Game 6 win and Series clincher on home ice. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Not in the line-up: Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht, John Reimer & Aaron Wiebe.

50/50 pot of $360.00 claimed by Mike Dyck of Altona.

400 Club $1000 Winner - Brian Jack, formerly of Altona.

National Anthem performed on Electric Guitar by Brett Schutlz.

The series upset sends the Altona Maroons back into the Finals for the first time since the 2009-2010 season and it is sure to be a very exciting series as the Maroons will face the Plum Coulee Xpress.  

 

Thur. Mar. 8 - Maroons score 3 in the 3rd to wini 6-5 in Game 5.

The Morden Redskins would lead 2-0 after the 1st period.  The Redskins Keith Bially and Kevin Perrin would both put pucks past Shannon Enns in the first 20 min. which witnessed the Maroons scrambling in their end a lot and the Redskins throwing a lot of shots on net.   Although the Redskins 2 first period goals were both even strength they did have 3 PP opportunities, which simply made the first period that much harder for the Maroons to play in.  Hoping to catch a break, towards the end of the first the Redskins would head to the penalty box with a min. left and then then with 15 sec. left in the period they would be assessed another minor penalty.  Thus, the Maroons would start the 2nd period on a 5 on 3 powerplay.

Just 38 sec. into the 2nd period Ryan Dyck and Shea Hamilton would work the puck to Nick Fuher on the point and Fuher would send a blast high into the net getting the Maroons on the board with their first goal.  3 and a half min. later Ryan Hutton would send a wrist shot from the slot beating Enns on the glove side giving the Redskins a 3-1 lead.  The Maroons would fight off a Redskins powerplay opportunity and then midway through the period the Maroons would get a powerplay chance of their own and make good on it when Justin Froese would carry the puck around the net and leave a spin pass for older brother Jon Froese with the elder Froese putting the puck into the net closing the gap to 3-2.  Roughly 3 min. later the Maroons would tie the game when their hard work would pay off when Matt and Ryan Dyck would keep the puck low in the Redskins zone with Ryan Dyck getting the puck over to Dale Butland and Butland's knee high shot would beat Redskins goalie Darcy Stewart to tie the game 3-3.     The Redskins reclaim the lead in the game when a dump in to the Maroons zone was kept in and eventually worked to the side of Shannon Enns' net and while Enns was wondering where the puck was, Jeremy Matuszewski would find it in between his skates and push it in making it 4-3.  The Maroons would then have to finish off the period on the penalty kill.

Carey Dyck would replace Shannon Enns for the start of the 3rd period and would be tested early on the remaining Redskins powerplay and would come up with a big save.  The Maroons would keep working and go on a powerplay 7 min. in and apply heavy pressure with Stewart coming up with some big saves.  30 sec. into the Maroons powerplay the Redskins would be penalized again giving the Maroons a partial 5 on 3.  Stewart and co. would fight off the Maroons and get back to even strength.  Midway through the final period Devon Leblanc's shot from the slot would get up and over Stewart tying the game at 4-4.   Shortly after the tying goal, Jared Barnabe would take a holding penalty and the Redskins would go on a powerplay.  Colin Hildebrand would send Keith Bially a slick pass to the side of the net and Bially would put the puck into the partially open net restoring the Redskins lead to 5-4.    Closing in on 5 min. left to play Redskins veteran Jeremy Matusewski would take an interference penalty and on the ensuing Maroons powerplay Nick Fuher would tie the game back up to 5-5 with a point shot beating Stewart through traffic.  30 sec. later Shea Hamilton would skate the puck in towards the slot and put a low wrist shot through Stewarts pads for a 6-5 lead.  The Redskins would battle hard to get the tying goal, but would be unable to change the score and the Maroons would leave the ice with the win and a series lead of 3-2. 

Not in the Maroons line-up: Kevin Giesbrecht, Aaron Wiebe, Josh Froese and John Reimer.

Coach Rob Friesen didn't think the guys played well in the 1st. Shannon Enns made some good saves through traffic, but we were down 2 goals after the first.  Liked the way the guys came out in the 2nd period and were able to get back into the game but not happy giving up the 3rd and 4th goal.   Very happy to see the attitudes remain confident and 3 goals in the 3rd was simply a result of working harder and taking more shots on their net.

Game 6 goes Saturday in Altona at 8:00 p.m.  Come out and cheer on your Altona Maroons.  The last 2 50/50 draws have been between $250 and $300.  Come in time to watch the surprise for the National Anthem!!!

 

 

 

Tue. Mar. 6 - Redskins even series at 2-2 with a 4-2 win in Altona

With fans still walking into the Sunflower Gardens, The Morden Resdkins would score an early goal in the first min. of the game when Grant Calhoun would send a long point shot in towards Carey Dyck and Kris Williams would re-direct to the back of the night for a 1-0 lead.   Sec. after the goal Altona's Dale Butland would be penalized for a head hit putting him in the box for 2 min. and a 10 misc.  The Redskins would pressure the Maroons without Butland on the ice.  The Maroons would bounce back when later in the frame Shea Hamilton would create a breakaway opportunity but get hauled down in the process sending him to center ice for a Penalty Shot.  Hamilton would pull Redskins goalie to his backhand before tucking the puck into the net after switching back to his forehand tying the game at 1-1.  The period would play out with not much fanfare and eatch team going to the powerplay once before the intermission. 

Shea Hamilton pulling the puck to his forehand on a first period penalty shot. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 2nd period would pick up with a better pace but it was in the Redskins favour.   Less then 3 min. in to the period Kelby Friesen would deflect a Kris Williams shot and it would beat Dyck on his blocker side which be the eventual game winning goal as the Redskins would score later in the period with just under 5 min. to play on a Chris Reimer - Kelby Friesen play that saw the puck get to Jay Fehr and Fehr would beat Dyck with a clean shot making it 3-1.   The Maroons would respond and breathe some life back into the bench when Brent Toews and Phil Letkeman would work the puck off a face at the net and Jared Barnabe would be the last to touch the back before putting a quick shot behind Morden's Stewart narrowing the gap to 3-2.  The Maroons would be unable to conver a mid period powerplay opportunity but would end off the period with Jay Fehr taking a 2 min. minor and a 10 min. misc.

The Maroons would hope to capitilaze early in the 3rd with Morden's best player in the penalty box.  The Redskins would kill off the Maroons powerplay and would continue doing a good job of limiting Altona's break out and neutral zone attempts to work into the Redskins end. When the Maroons did gain the Redskins zone the shots sent towards Stewart were turned away with solid saves.   Around the midway point of the final period the Maroons would get another powerplay chance and although they would come close on a few chances the Redskins would avoind giving up the tying goal.   With 6 and a half min. left to play Craig Neufeld was handed a 2 min. minor for holding.  Roughly 30 sec. into the Redskins powerplay Jay Fehr would take a neutral zone pass and skate in a Maroons defender deep in the Maroons slot and side-step and put a quick shot low on Carey Dyck to get Morden the insurance marker making it 4-2.  The Maroons would respond with some late game efforts and end up pulling Dyck with just under 2 min. to play.  The game would wind down with some Maroons desperation plays and Morden staying off any chance at the Maroons getting back into the game.  After 60 min. it the Redskins 4 Maroons 2.  The series is now tied at 2 games a piece and shifts back to Morden for Game 5 on Thursday night.

Not in the Maroons line-up: Mitch Klassen, Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht and Aaron Wiebe.

50/50 pot of $268.00 was claimed by Harry Hildebrand / Time-Out Sports.

5 - 400 Club Tickets were drawn for $200 each.  Congratulaions to the following winners:

Jeff Samson / Richard Doersksen #332

Keystone Kat #82

Glenn Martel #110

Cindy Hildebrand #15

John Mintenko / Eric Hildebrand #335

 

 

Sat. Mar. 3 - Redskins score 5 on Enns, Add 1 on Dyck and down Maroons 6-3 in Game 3.

A solid contingent of loyal Maroons fans made their way to Morden on Saturday night to take in Game 3 of the Semi-Finals.  In the first period both teams would come out working hard but it was the Redskins that would apply early pressure in the Maroons end roughly 6 min. in and while killing a penalty Kevin Perrin would score a shorthanded goal to give the Redskins a 1-0 lead.  The Maroons would bounce back near the midway point of the period when Jon Froese and Justin Froese would connect and Shea Hamilton would take the last pass and put the puck past Morden's Darcy Stewart tying the game at 1-1.  The goal would spark the Maroons and 3 and a half min. later the Maroons would take a 2-1 lead when Shea Hamilton would skate a puck into the Redskins zone, hold up a bit and leave a pass for Dale Butland who would rip a shot past Stewart for his 2nd goal in this series.  Things were looking good for the Maroons, but the Redskins woudl battle back when Kris Williams would feed Steve Mullin a pass that Mullin would put on the net and beat Shannon Enns tying the game with 3 min. left in the first.   Morden would turn up their efforts after the tying goal and it payed off when Chris Reimer connected with Jay Fehr and Fehr would put a high slot shot past Enns with 33 sec. left on the clock to give the Redskins a 3-2 lead heading into the intermission.

The 2nd period picked up for the Redskins where the first left off when on the first shift of the period Colin Hildebrand would slip in a puck tight around the back of the net for a 4-2 lead.   The Maroons would try to bounce back, but the Redskins were limiting their chances and still early in the period Hildebrand would convert a turnover right in front of Enns and beat Enns for his 2nd of the night and a 5-2 lead.  The Maroons would call a time out and Coach Rob Friesen would replace Enns with Carey Dyck.   Dyck was tested early and would make some routine saves, but meanwhile the Redskins continued to limit the Maroons offensive chances and after 40 min. the Redskins were holding a commanding 5-2 lead.

Rough image, however the scoreboard displays the picture of the score 5-2 early on in the 3rd period in Morden on Saturday night.

Being down a few goals didn't shut the Maroons down in Game 2 in Altona, but the 3 goal defecit in Morden's arena had a much different effect.  The Redskins would continue to shut down the Maroons and the game would become a bit more chippy.  Just under 6 min. in Jay Fehr would beat Carey Dyck for his 2nd of the game and a 6-2 lead. Being down 4 goals, the Maroons would become increasingly frustrated and from the time of the 6th goal until the end of the game both teams would trade a few penalties.  The Maroons would continue to struggle to mount any serious pressure in hopes of a late game comeback and the Redskins would hold on for a convincing 6-2 win making the series 2-1 still in favour of the Maroons.

Game notes: Not in the line-up, Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht, Alex Krahn and Aaron Wiebe.

Game 4 goes on Tuesday, March 6 in Altona @ 8:00 p.m.

** Email mehild@mts.net to see if you are a Maroons website contest winner **

 

 

Thur. Mar. 1, 2012

Maroons edge Redskins 7-6, Ryan Dyck scores 4 goals.  Maroons lead series 2-0.

The Morden Redskins arrived in Altona on Thursday evening as the snow was beginning to fall.  In the first period the Redskins would charge out of the gate and apply heavy pressure on the Maroons.  Eventually their puck possesion in the Maroons end would pay off when Kevin Perrin was about to pick up a loose puck in the nuetral zone and go in to beat Shannon Enns for a 1-0 lead 7 min. into the game.  The Maroons would make some adjustments and battle back in the 2nd half of the period and with 2 min. left in the period and on a powerplay Nick Fuher would feed Shea Hamilton the puck and Hamilton would send Ryan Dyck a nice pass to the side of the net with Dyck putting it past Redskins goalie Darcy Stewart tying the game at 1-1. This score would hold as the 2 teams left the ice after 20 min. for an intermission.

In the 2nd period Kevin Perrin would set up Jay Fehr who was fresh out of the penalty box and Fehr would get in close on Enns and beat him for a 2-1 lead.  The Maroons would bounce back just over a min. later when Matt Dyck would get the puck over to Ryan Dyck and Ryan would get credited with a powerplay goal. His second of the night.  Just 2 min. into the 2nd period the game was all tied up again.  The play would go back and forth and at the midway point of the period Chris Reimer would pick up a Maroons defensive miscue and go in on a breakaway beating Enns for a 3-2 lead.  Shortly after the goal the Maroons would be forced to fight off an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and were able to fend off the the first minute of the penalty and while on the penalty kill, The Redskins Chris Reimer would take a charging penalty and the teams would play 4 on 4 for just under a min.  With Matt Dyck's penalty expired the Maroons had a min. of a man advantage to work with and would penetrate the Redskins end, but the Redskins would strongly defend their end and just as they got back to even strength the Redskins would increase their lead to 4-2 when Ryan Hutton sent a long dump in shot on Enns and Enns would angle out of his net to make the stop, but the ensuing rebound would bounce to the slot and Kevin Perrin would race to get to the loose puck and fire a shot past Enns trying to get back into position.  The 2 goal Redskins lead would get the Morden bench fired up and calm the hometown Altona crowd but before the period would end the Redskins would head to the penalty box with 1 min. remaining and with 37 sec. left on the clock Nick Fuher would rush the puck through the neutral zone and around 2 Redskins defenders to rip a wrist shot low on Stewart.  The period would end with the Redskins leading 4-3.

The third period would see the Redskins go back to a 2 goal lead when just over a min. in Redskins Captain Colin Hildebrand was obstructed with on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot.   Hildebrand would come in calm and deke Enns to his side sliding in the puck on Enns' blocker side.   The Maroons would battle back and keep the game within reach with Enns making some timely saves and with 12:45 left to play Devon Leblanc would take credit for an assist on Ryan Dyck's goal giving Dyck a hat trick and making the score 5-4.  Just over a min. later Jon Froese and Shea Hamilton would work the puck low in the Redskins end with Justin Froese taking the last pass before finding the back of the net tying the game at 5-5.  Roughly 2 and a half min. later the Redskins would be caught on a line change playing the puck and would be penalized for Too Many Men on the ice.  The Maroons would send out their powerplay unit in hopes of taking the lead in the game, but Tim Knight would intercept a blind defence to defence pass and skate the better part of the ice on a breakaway and beat Enns with a shot, scoring shorthanded and giving back Morden the lead to 6-5.  The Maroons would continue on after the game on the powerplay but would be unable to capitalize and before the powerplay was over they would head to the box on a Jon Froese holding penalty.    Fighting the clock to stay in the game the Maroons now had to fight off a Redskins powerplay and ended up doing so safely.  With just under 4 min. to play Matt Dyck would win a faceoff in the Redskins end with Devon Leblanc putting a shot on net with Stewart would make the intial save on but Ryan Dyck would bang home the rebound for his 4th of the night in a battle in front of the net that would tie the game at 6-6.   The Redskins would call a time-out to calm down and discuss strategy and the game would continue from centre ice with the excitement in the arena continue to rise.  Both teams would trade time in each others end with the Maroons applying a slight edge in pressure and then when it seemed that an Overtime period may be in store to solve the outcome of the game Nick Fuher would send a pass up into the neutral zone finding Leblanc in mid-stride and Leblanc would work past a defender and find Matt Dyck streaking opposite the other side of the lone Redskin and feed Dyck a pass that Dyck would hold onto for a brief moment before beating Stewart high on the glove side giving the Maroons a late 7-6 lead.  After the goal the Maroons bench boss Rob Friesen would call a time-out to provide instructions on closing out the game but the Redskins would quickly turnaround a Maroons dump in attempt and work their way into the Maroons end force a face-off to the side of Shannon Enns with just 11 sec. on the clock.  Morden would pull Stewart for a 6th attacker and longtime league veteran Jeremy Matueszewski would win the draw, with the puck being sent back to their blueline and a quick shot/pass would be sent towards League MVP Jay Fehr in the slot just missing him and heading to the corner where the Maroons would tie it up hoping to kill of the clock but would have to take one more face-off with 2 sec. left before the buzzer would sound and give the Maroons a 7-6 win and a 2 - 0 series lead.

Game notes: Not in the line-up for the Maroons - Kevin Giesbrecht, Josh Froese, John Reimer and Aaron Wiebe.

National Anthem performed by Kristin Tarnick & Sara Friesen.

50/50 pot of $281.00 claimed by Brad Derksen of Altona.

5 - 400 Club winners were drawn each winning $200

Vern Wiebe #37

Gary Klassen #138

Albert Stoesz #211

Don Penner #56

Brett Hill #306

Game 3 goes Saturday night in Morden @ 8:00 p.m.

 

Tue. Feb. 28 - Maroons score empty netter to take game 5-2 over Redskins in Morden.

The Maroons traveled to Morden on Tuesday night to take on the Redskins in Game 1 of the SEMHL Semi-Finals and the Redskins were ready for action as they would storm the Maroons end and create several scoring chances early but once the Maroons settled down they were able to gain composure and  with just over 12 left to play on the clock Devon Leblanc would break into the Redskins zone and drop a quick pass to a trailing Jared Barnabe and Barnabe would quickly snap the puck low along the ice beating a stunned netminder Darcy Stewart making it 1-0.   The Redskins would bounce back less then a min. later when Chris Reimer's high slot shot was tipped pass Shannon Enns by Keith Bially tying the game.  Both teams would generate a few more chances in the first period with both goalies making some strong saves forcing the teams off the ice after 20 min. in a 1-1 deadlock.

In the 2nd period the Maroons would start to outplay the Redskins and 5 min. in go on a powerplay where Nick Fuher would make good on a Devon Leblanc feed making it 2-1.  18 sec. later working the puck back into the Redskins end, Justin Froese would win a faceoff to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton with ample time, picked a spot and sent a shot past Stewart for a 3-1 lead.   The Maroons would continue to pressure the Redskins and see 2 more opportunities to build on the lead get overturned on them as 2 successive goals were called off by the officials.  Instead of being 5-1, it was 3-1 and the Redskins knew there was plenty of hockey left.  The Redskins would get 2 powerplay chances and the Maroons were able to fend them off and keep the 3-1 alive.   With just 3 sec. left in the period the Maroons were assesed another min. penalty and this would cost them.

Starting the 3rd period the Redksins continued on their powerplay and just 1 min. in, Chris Reimer would send Jay Fehr a pass that Fehr would take in the slot and send a high wrist shot past Enns making it 3-2.  At the 12 min. mark the Maroons would fight off and escape a Redskins powerplay, but the Redskins would keep working and they would get another powerplay chance with 6:36 left to play in the game.  The Redskins would attempt gaining the Maroons zone when Dale Butland would pick up on a turnover and carry the puck into the Redskins end, beat a defender wide on his forehand and put a quick snap shot pass Stewart giving the Maroons a huge shorthanded marker and making it 4-2 for the Maroons.   The Redskins would finish off their powerplay, but would be unable to capitalize meaning they would have to turn it up to try and get back into the game.  In the last 5 min. of play the Morden squad would have several chances with the Maroons defenders doing their best to keeps shots away from the net, while the ones that did make it through were being turned away by Enns.  The Redskins would call a time-out with approx. 1:30 left to play.  As expected once the Redskins would enter the Maroons end, Stewart would head to the bench for an extra Redskins attacker.  The Maroons would fight off some pressure and end up icing the puck once and narrowly missing another time giving the Redskins some "last minute" chances, but with just 5 sec. on the clock Brent Toews would work the puck over the center line and send a shot towards the empty net scoring with 2 sec. on the clock to give the Maroons a 5-2 lead and the win. 

Game notes: Not in the line-up, Phil Letkeman, Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht, Kevin Ginter, John Reimer and Aaron Wiebe.

Penalty summary - 7 Minor penalties for the Maroons, 4 Minor penalties for the Redskins.

Coach Rob Friesen noted that he was happy to see how the forwards were able to pressure the Redskins at both ends of the ice and that the defence really worked hard in their own end helping out Shannon Enns in net.  Enns was able to make the saves he needed to and keep rebounds to a min. playing a solid game overall.  Friesen was pleased with the efforts from everyone adressing the team afterwards but was firm in reminding the team that the win is only one game and there are more very tough games ahead.

Game 2 will be in Altona on Thur. Mar. 1 @ 8:00 p.m.  Come out and watch some great playoff hockey and at the game, don't forget to vote for your Favourite Maroons player.

** Be the first person to email mehild@mts.net to find out what you've won! **

** CONGRATULATIONS to Brad Derksen of Altona for winning a free ticket to Thursday's game **

 

Sat. Feb. 25 - Maroons outwork Flyers in Stonewall to win 5-2 and avance to the Semi-Finals
The Maroons traveled to Stonewall's Veterans Memorial complex on Sat. night for the deciding game in the Quarter Finals series. 

In the 1st period Stonewall's Chris Tyslau just 44 sec. into the game would be assesed a minor penalty putting the Maroons on an early powerplay but the shots fired on net were all turned away by goalie Justin Harris.  Several min. later while forechecking Maroons rookie Mitch Klassen headed to the sin bin for a boarding penalty.  Shannon Enns would get his first tests of the game, but would turn away all Flyers attempts keeping the game scoreless.  The quick pace would continue with the Maroons outshooting the Flyers and finally with just 30 sec. left in the period Matt and Ryan Dyck would connect with Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would score giving the Maroons a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

John Mintenko working the puckfrom Jon Froese's face off draw.

The 2nd period would see each team trade powerplay opportunities before Devon Leblanc would feed Matt Dyck on a 2 on 1 and Dyck would pick it up from the left wind side, move it his forehand and beat Harris on the glove side for a 2-0 lead.  The Flyers would get on the board with just 10 min. left in the period when Kyle Heroux would keep a Maroons clearing in and set up Chris Tyslau who would beat Enns to make it 2-1.  The Maroons would bounce back and with just under 4 min. in the period, go on a powerplay hoping to make it 3-1.  Devon Leblanc would create a breakaway but Harris would stone him with a big pad save and help the Flyers get back to 5 on 5 play.  The rest of the period would play out and after 40 min. the Maroons were holding a 2-1 lead and going back to one min. remaining on a powerplay for the start of the 3rd.

33 sec. into the 3rd Nick Fuher would send Leblanc into the Flyers zone and Leblanc would feed a nice pass to Ryan Dyck in the slot who would hold the puck on his stick until picking a spot to beat Harris with and the Maroons were up 3-1.  The Maroons kept buzzing and midway through the fast paced 3rd period the Maroons get a big 4th goal when Jon Froese would bat a Harris rebound out of the air, down to stick and beat Harris with a quick shot to make it 4-1. One minute later the Maroons would show strong signs off putting the game away when Matt and Ryan Dyck cycled the puck low and Ryan Dyck would feed a tic-tac pass to Leblanc to score his 2nd of the game and a 5-1 lead.  Instead of folding the Flyers broke into desperation mode and their hard work would pay off when Scott Dibley set up Eddie Boonstra and Boonstra would score on Enns closing the the gap to 5-2 with 4:28 left to play.  The Flyers continued to press and a min. later found themselves on a powerplay and a great chance to claw back into the game.  Enns and co. fought off 1 min. of the penalty and then the Maroons were handed another minor penalty.  2:50 on the clock to play. Flyers called a time-out and after gaining possesion in the Maroons zone, they would pull Harris and set up for a 6 on 3.  The Flyers would miss a few attempts before the Maroons would clear the puck and get back to even strength with 50 sec. left to play and Harris back in net.  5 on 5 for the last min. to play the Flyers would gain the Maroons zone one more time and again pull Harris but the Maroons would fight off the clock and get the to the nuetral zone, winding the clock down to the buzzer and leaving the ice with a 5-2 win and advancing to the SEMHL Semi-Finals.

Game notes: Not in the line up - Phil Giesbrecht, Kevin Giesbrecht, John Reimer, Josh Froese, Kevin Ginter, Aaron Wiebe.  W.C. Miller Aces captain Haydon Friesen was pulled up and inserted into the line-up help out the D core.

Coach Rob Friesen was very pleased with his team's overall performance.  From offence to defence,  the lines got juggled again given the available line-up and still managed to get a lot of early shots on Justin Harris and keep the pace for the game.  Commenting on the defensive portion of the game, Friesen noted that Shannon Enns made some great saves making the defenceman's job a little easier and all of the forwars made stong efforts on their backchecking.  Good offence, Good defence and Good goaltending. Everything clicked and we were rewarded. 

 

 

Thur. Feb. 23 - Flyers score twice in third period to down Maroons 5-3 and force a Game 5. 

Game review not available.  Regrets

50-50 pot claimed by Dale Klassen of Altona.

National Anthem performed by W.C. Miller student - Mikayla Hildebrand.

 

 

 

Game 3 -Tue. Feb. 21 - Shea Hamilton records a hat trick as Maroond double up Flyers 6-3.

Despite very poor road conditions, The Altona Maroons boarded The Shaker and headed up to Stonewall for Game 3 of the first round of playoffs.  The Maroons would come out quickly in the first period, much like the first period in Altona for Game 2 and start firing shots on Flyers goalie Justin Harris.  Harris was able to turn away several chances and quick play was developing up and down the sides for both squads.  Then after 13 min. of play Jon Froese was able get the to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would slip one in for a 1-0 lead.  Hamilton would strike 4 min. later on another set up from Jon Froese and the Maroons would find themselves up 2-0 with just over 3 min. left in the first period.   Off the draw from the 2nd goal Ryan Dyck would get the puck to Matt Dyck down low in Stonewall's end and Matt would set up Devon Leblanc who would put up under the crossbar making it 3-0 and that score would hold to end the first.

In the 2nd period the Maroons would come out where they left off and less then 3 min. in and on their first powerplay of the game Hamilton would re-direct a Leblanc pass past an outstretched Harris for his hat trick and a 4-0 lead.  The Maroons would then kill off their first penalty of the game, but minutes later Chris Tyslau would set up Brent Howarth and Howarth would beat Shannon Enns getting the Flyers on the board, now 4-1. The Maroons would fight off 2 more min. penalties after the Flyers goal, allowing the Flyers to start to develop more play in the Maroons zone, but Enns would make the saves to keep the Flyers off the board and after 2 periods the score would remain 4-1.

The 3rd period began with a Flyers penalty just 39 sec. in and the Maroons powerplay would click as Nick Fuher would keep a Flyers claring attempt in and send a quick pass to Devon Leblanc positioned to the side of the net on the goal line and Leblanc would slide towards the net and send a quick pass to Matt Dyck in the slot and Dyck would one time in for a 5-1 lead.  5 Min. later Jared Barnabe would headman a puck to Brent Toews and Toews would skate in on the Flyers defenders and beat Harris with a wrist shot from the hashmarks making it 6-1.  3 min. later the Flyers would answer when Chris Tyslau would beat Enns to make it 6-2.  The Flyers were picking up some steam and with 5:08 left to play Tyslau would score his 2nd of the night with a trickler that just rolled in behind the post to make it 6-3.  A min. later Flyers veteran sniper Adam Kirk would get a great opportunity in the slot to shoot alone on Enns but would send a deflected shot high into the netting.  The Maroons would settle down from here on and managed to snuff out the Flyers surge and leave Stonewall with a 6-3 win and series lead 2 games to 1.

Game notes: Not in the line-up: Mitch Klassen, Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht & Aaron Wiebe.

G.M. Jody Hildebrand noted that he was happy with the pace the Maroons came out of the gate with and play well with a lead.  He added that while there was a bit of lapse towards the end of the game, the guys worked hard and created a lot opportunties.

Official Shots on Net as recorded by Stonewall statistician  40 - 27 in favour of the Maroons.

 

Sat. Feb. 18 -Game 2 - The Stonewall Flyers arrived in Altona on their trusty bus and the Maroons were ready for them.  The Maroons came out guns a blazin' and finally after several good chances on Stonewall goalie Justin Harris, Nick Fuher's point shot/pass on a powerplay to Matt Dyck would be tipped and beat Harris for a 1-0 lead.  The Maroons would continue to buzz in the first and after 20 min. it was a hometown lead.

In the 2nd period Stonewall would tie the game 5 min. in when Steve Zacharias' shot on a Flyers powerplay would fool Maroons goalie Shannon Enns, slip past him, ding off the post and trickle in.    With just under 5 min. left in the 2nd the Flyers powerplay would strike again when Ruseel Payne would beat Enns making in 2-1.   The Maroons would bounce back with just under 2 min. left to play in the period when Devon Leblanc would convert a Nick Fuher pass and beat Harris under the crossbar sending both teams in after 40 min. with a 2-2 tie.

The Maroons would start the 3rd period the way they did in the first and a min. and 19 sec. in Leblanc and Fuher would connect with Jon Froese taking the pass from Fuher on the goal line near the net and slide around Harris to score on his backhand for a 3-2 lead.  Nearing the midway point of the period, the Flyers would go on a powerplay and like they have been doing in the series, make the most of it with Brent Howarth taking a feed from Russ Payne and beating Enns with a nice wrist shot to Enns' stickside tying the game.  A min. after the Stonewall tying goal the Maroons were applying pressure in the Flyers zone and after Brent Toews was hit behind the Flyers net a brief scrum would take place.  Fortunatley for both teams, only coincidental roughing after the whistle minors were called.  The pace was frantic from here on in with Maroons again putting great pressure on the Flyers and when the Flyers would turn the puck over and rush into the Maroons end everyone would move just a little further to the edge of their seats.  Shannon Enns came with the stops to keep Stonewall from going ahead and just as time was running below a min. left to play Devon Leblanc would carry the puck into the Flyers zone, cycle it to Jon Froee and Froese would get the puck over to Nick Fuher who was streaking in from the left defence and Fuher would send a no doubter to the top of the net beating Harris and giving the Maroons the 4-3 lead.  The Flyers called a time out after the goal. The face off was won by the Flyers and they would dump the puck in but the Maroons would get the puck out of the zone not allowing the Flyers to pull Harris for a 6th attacker and time would wind down in Altona's favour giving the Maroons a 4-3 win and evening the series at 1-1.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Josh Froese, Justin Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht and Aaron Wiebe.

Coach Rob Friesen was impressed by the first period buzzing by the Maroons. He felt the players stood still too often in the 2nd, but bounced back in the 3rd and kept up great pressure.   Friesen likes the fact the Maroons are outshooting the Flyers thus far, but is concerned about the amount of penalties overall the team is taking.  They aren't all bad penalties, but more discipline is needed. 

National Anthem was performed by W.C. Miller student Katrina Schroeder.

50/50 winning pot was claimed by Carl Giesbrecht of Altona.

10 - 400 Club draws were made.  Each of the following people are $200 winners!

Jacob Bergen #127

Lloyd Wiebe #314

Terry Wiebe #172

Noah & Issaiah Letkeman #53

Irv Toews #330

Ronn Hiebert #217

Bruce Braun #289

Conrad Driedger #94

Yvonne Wiebe #244

Wilf Hiebert #273

 

Game 1 - Maroons score 3 unanswerd goals in the 3rd to tie the game, but lose in OT after outshooting Flyers 48-27.

Wed. Feb. 15, 2012

Game 1 of the Quarter Finals with the Altona Maroons and Stonewall Flyers in the books.  The Flyers would score early in the first on their first shot on Carey Dyck when Russ Payne found Brent Howarth in the slot for a 1-0 lead.  Several minutes later Russ Payne would notch a shorthanded goal on a shot from the slot past Dyck.   The Maroons would respond 45 sec. later still on the powerplay when Shea Hamilton would pass the puck to Nick Fuher and Fuher would get the puck low to Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would beat Flyers goalie with a tight angle shot over the Harris' glove narrowing the gap to 2-1 for the Flyers.  The Flyers would get their third goal at the midway point of the period on a powerplay when Brent Howarth's wrist shot in the slot would fool Dyck and give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.  With 3 goals on 6 shots on Carey Dyck, Coach Rob Friesen would pull Dyck who didn't have much of a chance on the first 2 Flyers goals, but Friesen wanted and needed to change and sent Shannon Enns in.  For the balance of the period the Maroons would control the bulk of the play and send numerous shots at Flyers goalie Harris but Harris was standing tall and turning away the shots.   With 1:22 left in the period and on a powerplay Russ Payne from behind Shannon Enns would attempt to put the puck into the slot and would get lucky when hit the back of Enns' skate and trickle in for a 4-1 lead.  7 sec. later Jon Froese would head man the puck to Brent Toews and Toews would put a shot on Harris that would fool him and make the score 4-2.

The 2nd period would feature more Maroons shots sent towards Harris, with Harris turning them all away and Enns would come up with some big saves of his own. With only one minor penalty assesed to each team the 2nd period would be completed fairly quickly and after 40 min. the score would remain 4-2 for the Flyers.

In the 3rd period the Flyers would get a powerplay 5 min. in and make good on it when Brett Maxwell would set up Adam Farthing with Farthing beating Enns making it 5-2.  This would be the Flyers 4th special teams goal of the night (3 Powerplay goals, 1 Shorthanded).  Later at the midway point of the game the Maroons would go on a powerplay and pepper shots at Harris but couldn't find the twine until just after their man advantage ended when Dale Butland would throw a shot on net fooling Harris and cutting the Stonewall lead down to 5-3.    20 seconds later Butland would get the puck into the Flyers zone to Matt Dyck and Dyck would give Ryan Dyck and quick pass in the slot with Ryan Dyck beating Harris with a quick high wrist shot and just like that it was a very close game at 5-4 for the Flyers with just over 7 and a half minutes left to play.  The referee would put his whistle away from here on in and let the teams play at a quick pace and as time was winding down Coach Friesen would pull Shannon Enns while the Maroons worked teh puck into the Flyers zone.  With the extra attacker on the ice Dale Butland was able to get the puck to Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would avoid one Flyer defender and send a long shot through traffic to the high blocker side scoring with 16 sec. left to play tying the game at 5-5.

Both team would get a breather as the Veterans Memorial staff would clean the ice for overtime. In overtime the Maroons line of Matt Dyck, Devon Leblanc and Ryan Dyck would get a golden opportunity with a face-off to Just Harris' right side and Matt Dyck would win consecutive face-off's to Devon Leblanc with Leblanc sending quick shots on Harris with the Flyers goalie making two big saves.  The Maroons would spend a little more time in the Flyers end before the Flyers would work the puck into the Maroons zone. The Maroons D would clear the puck to the neutral zone and hesitant to pinch to the loose puck, Flyers Brent Howarth would jump on the opportunity and skate in and take an off balance wrist shot beating Shannon Enns on the blocker side giving the home team the OT win and a series lead of 1-0.

Game notes: Not in the line-up, Josh Froese, Craig Neufeld, Kevin Giesbrecht, Alex Krahn and Aarown Wiebe.

Coach Rob Friesen was pleased how the team responded to the first period goaltending change by getting back into the game and by the end of the 2nd period was confident that if the work ethic continued the attempts on Harris would eventually pay off.  After the Maroons would tie the game with 16 seconds left, Friesen simply wanted the momentum to be used as the motivational factor to strike first in OT and leave town with a series lead, but fate would have none of it as the first shot on Shannon Enns in Overtime by sniper Brent Howarth would get past him and send the Maroons home down 1-0 in the first round of the SEMHL Playoffs.

*** We apologize that there were no pictures of this game available for the websites. ***

SEMHL Playoffs

The Altona Maroons will face the Stonewall Flyers in the first round of SEMHL playoffs.

Game 1 - Wed. Feb. 15 @ Stonewall

Game 2 - Sat. Feb. 18 @ Altona

Game 3 - Tue. Feb. 21 @ Stonewall

Game 4 - Thur. Feb. 23 @ Altona

Game 5 - Sat. Feb. 25 @ Stonewall

P.A. Announcer Wayne Kauhenhofen and Music Man Craig Braun are ready for the playoffs.  Are you?

Saturday, Feb. 11

Maroons down Seals 6-1 on Fan Appreciation Night

The Oakville Seals rolled into Altona on Saturday night, short on players and the Maroons although also short on bodies, were out to capitalize on the situation and clinch 6th place for the playoffs (2 points out of third, talk about a tight race!).  The Oakville Seals would strike first when Daylin Yurkiw scored his 8th goal of the season on the first shot on Maroons goalie Carey Dyck.  The Maroons would bounce back several minutes later when Matt Dyck connected with Ryan Dyck and the elder brother would feed Devon Leblanc the puck and Leblanc would have Seals goalie Scott Forcand beat to tie the game.  Midway through the first the Seals would take a slashing penalty but were able to fend off an array of shots from the Maroons powerplay and after 20 min. the Seals were hanging in with some excellent goaltending by Forcand.  Going for a breather, the Seals and Maroons were locked at 1-1.

Devon Leblanc scoring on Seals goalie Scott Forcand on a set up from Ryan and Matt Dyck. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period, just 4 min. in Matt Dyck would feed Leblanc and this time Leblanc would fire Ryan Dyck a pass in tight and Dyck would score on a nice shot making it 2-1.  Midway through the period Nick Fuher would keep the puck in at the Seals blueline and dish it over to John Mintenko circling in the high slot.  Mintenko would leave it for Phil Letkeman and Letkeman would make a nice move to fool the Seals defenceman and walk in all alone in the slot and beat Forcand with a quick snap shot low on Forcands stick side making it 3-1 for the Maroons.  2 Min. later the Maroons were still in attack mode and Matt Dyck would get the puck over to Devon Leblanc in the slot and Leblanc would rip a bullet of a shot under the crossbar ringing it off the inside side post for his 2nd of the night and a 4-1 lead.  Just under 9 min. to play in the 2nd, Letkeman was assesed a min. penalty but it didn't stop the Maroons as Nick Fuher would head man the puck out of the Maroons zone to Leblanc and Leblanc would send a long pass to Matt Dyck and Dyck would go on a 1 on 1 and beat Forcand with a backhand shot that would trickle through his five hole making it 5-1 for the Maroons.   Shortly after the goal Ryan Dyck would go in on a partial breakaway only to get his stick slashed out of his hand sending the Seals to the penalty box.  The Seals would kill off the penalty with their goalie Forcand coming up with some saves to keep the scoreboard from changing again.  The play would continue to be controlled by the Maroons for the balance of the period and with just under a min. left in the period Leblanc and Matt Dyck would connect with each other with the younger Dyck setting up his older brother for his 2nd of the night and a 6-1 lead.

Matt Dyck working around a Seal forward, Devon Leblanc in the background. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 3rd period would start off with the Maroons killing off a double minor penalty to Leblanc and after the penalty kill, Coach Rob Friesen would mix up the lines a bit more and although the Maroons continued to control the bulk of the play Forcand would continue to make some more big saves and keep the score at 6-1.  After 60 min. of play the game would end 6-1 for the Maroons.

Nick Fuher taking a shot from the point, teammate Ryan Dyck in the background.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the line-up - Josh Froese, Brent Toews, Shea Hamilton, Jon Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht, Kevin Ginter & Craig Neufeld.

FAN APPRECIATION - Over 85 Door prizes were handed out to lucky fans.  Special Thanks go out to Prairie Insurance, Rhineland Car, Friesens, Prairie Sky Promotions, Red River Mutual, Green Valley Equipment, TruNorth Specialty, Sun Valley CO-OP, CIBC, Under Armour and the Altona Maroons.

Prior to the game, the Altona Maroons Pee-Wee team was introduced on the ice as the host team for the Manitoba Pee-Wee Provincials being held in early March in Altona.

National Anthem performed by Rosenfeld's very talented Amber Wolfe.

50/50 pot of $178.00 claimed by Ben Hildebrand from Altona.

*** 400 Club Winners ***

Ten Draws of $200 were made. The winners are as follows...

Rudy Martens #42

John Weber #62

Paul MacDonald #150

Mark Krahn #295

Doug Rempel #186

Richard Barnabe #206

Mel Klassen #146

Sydney Bell #398

Sam Schellenberg #176

Jack & Dora Penner #257

 

Thursday, Feb. 9

Stonewall slips out of Altona with a 6-5 OT win despite another hat trick from Devon Leblanc.

In a game which could give the Maroons an important 2 points, the Maroons would get things started in the right direction when Shea Hamilton and Jon Froese would set up Jared Barnabe in the slot and Barnabe would score to give the Maroons a 1-0 lead.  Around the midway point of the first Ryan Dyck would set up Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would bang the puck past Flyers goalie Justin Harris for a shorthanded goal and a 2-0 lead.  The 2 goal lead would not last too long as just a minute later Adam Kirk would set up Russ Payne and Payne would be beat Carey Dyck on a Flyer powerplay making it 2-1 still in favour of the Maroons.

Jared Barnabe carrying the puck into the Flylers zone in the first period.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 2nd period can be summed up as one of penalties, penalties and more penalties for the Maroons. 8 penalties, resulting in 5 powerplay opportunities for the Flyers.  Carey Dyck would come up with some big saves as the period got going but nearing the midway point of the 2nd period Shea Hamilton was handed a 5 min. high hit to the head penalty and a Game Misc..  The ensuing scrum also landed the Maroons an additional 2 min. minor penalty.  With the Flyers now on a 5 on 3, TheFlyers would pepper shots at Dyck and veteran sniper Adam Kirk would tie the game on a set up from Adam Farthing.  2 Min. later on another Flyers powerplay Farthing and Kirk would team up and set up Chris Tyslau for a goal and a Flyers 3-2 lead.  The Maroons would take a much needed time out, re-group and cool down.   The Maroons would kill off 2 more minor penalties and get out of the period with a late powerplay on a Stonewall penalty.

Mike Friesen laying a crushing blow with D partner Justin Froese in the background.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 3rd period didn't start favourably for the hometeam as they were unable to convert on the continued powerplay from the 2nd and less then 5 min. in the Flyers would strike again when Chris Tyslau would beat Dyck for his 2nd goal of the game and a 4-2 lead.  The Maroons would battle back and get another shorthanded goal around the halfway point of the last period when Matt Dyck would spring Devon Leblanc on a long pass and Leblanc would break in all alone on Harris and hit the back of the net making it 4-3 with plenty of game left to play.  Just under 5 min. left in the game, Justin Froese would stickhandle the puck into the Flyers zone and get the puck to Devon Leblanc, Leblanc would find Matt Dyck in the slot and Dyck would bang in the tying goal giving the Maroons plenty to celebrate about.  Unfortunatley, the celebration was short lived as just a min. later Scott Dibley would send a wrist shot over Carey Dyck's glovehand for a 5-4 lead.  Approx. 40 sec. later Matt Dyck would set up Devon Leblanc in the high slot and Leblanc would send an absolute rocket past Harris tying the game once again for the Maroons.  The next 4 min. would bring a lot of excitement to the game but in the end neither team would be able to score again in regulation time sending the game to overtime.

Craig Neufeld taking a high slot wrist shot in the 3rd period.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In Overtime the Maroons would get the puck into the Flyers zone but Harris would turn away a few opportunities, when the Flyers would work the play back into the Maroons end, Dan Lehman would throw a shot on Carey Dyck with Dyck making the intial save but Russ Payne would slip through defensive coverage and lift the rebound over Dyck giving the Flyers the overtime win.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Brent Toews, Kevin Giesbrecht, Josh Froese, Dale Butland, Aaron Wiebe and Shannon Enns.

Overall the short summary of the game could be that Stonewall's Justin Harris slightly outplayed Carey Dyck and was helped by his goalposts on 5 Maroons shots.  The Maroons didn't help their own cause by spending too much time in the penalty box and the loss of Hamilton for approx. half of the game also did not do them any favours.   This was a game worth 2 valuable points and while they battled back from a 2 goal deficit to tie the game and then go down a goal and tie it again in regulation time, the crushing overtime loss means they would only earn one point and make the last game of the regular season another important game that will then reveal who it is the Maroons will take on in the first round of the playoffs.

50/50 pot was claimed by Elmer Friesen of Altona.

Next game is Sat. Feb. 11 - FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT v.s. Oakville Seals

 

Friday, Feb. 3

Shea Hamilton scores OT winner to notch hat trick and 6-5 win over Warren

The Maroons traveled to Warren on a foggy Friday night and came with 2 points, while giving up a single point to the Mercs.

Jon Froese would start off the scoring for the Maroons just over 2 min. in when he would one time a pass from bother Justin past Mercs goalie Gavin McHale for a 1-0 lead.   The Maroons would strike again 3 min. later when John Mintenko would set up Shea Hamilton at the bottom of the Mercs face-off circle and Hamilton would rip a quick shot under the cross bar stunning McHale for a 2-0 lead.  A min. later Matt Dyck would set up brother Ryan just inside the Mercs blueline and he would skate in towards McHale all alone and send a quick shot on the ice to the back of the net making it 3-0 for the Maroons.    The quick 3-0 lead seemed to have woke up the Mercs and  45 seconds later Scott Corbett would send a blueline shot towards Shannon Enns beating him to make the score 3-1.  Several min. later Ryan Tully would beat Enns and the Mercs were inching their way back into the game.   With approx. 1 min. left in the period Matt Murphy would convert a Wes Pawluk pass and find the back of the net tying the game at 3 a piece.  After quick 3-0 lead by the Maroons the Mercs were able to bounce back and tie the game before the end of the first 20 min.  Goaltending from both teams was not at it's best during the first period.

In the 2nd period both teams battled hard and early in the period Mitch Klassen would make a nice rush and create a two on one sending John Mintenko a backhand pass with and Mintenko would have a great chance to score but McHale would rob him.  Then with 8 min. played in the 2nd Derek Boonstra would beat Enns and give the Mercs a 4-3 lead.  30 sec. later Matt Dyck would set up Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would fire a tight angle shot high on McHale tying the game 4-4.   The Mercs seemed to take advantage of the shorter Maroons bench and at the midway point of the period Matt Murphy would score on Enns getting his 2nd of the game and get the Mercs up 5-4.  The 5th goal would be his last as Coach Rob Friesen would pull him and replace him with Carey Dyck.  The goaltending change may have sparked the Maroons and after Matt Dyck and Devon Leblanc missed converting a 2 on 0 while killing a penalty, the Maroons would go on their own powerplay and this time the pair would make good when Leblanc would beat McHale with a goal and tying the game 5-5.

Devon Leblanc, Matt Dyck & Ryan Dyck preparing for a 2nd period face-off.  

With a 5-5 tie, the 3rd period would prove to be exciting.  The Maroons would kill off 2 minor penalties and Devon Leblanc would get robbed on a breakaway before the 10 min. mark of the period when Leblanc would feed Hamilton a pass in the slot and score his 2nd of the game giving the Maroons a 6-5 lead.  Leblanc would create another breakway later in the period with McHale again getting his glove on the puck and keeping the Mercs in the game.  With 8 min. left to play the Maroons would have to kill off a Mercs powerplay opportunity with Carey Dyck stopping several shots on net through heavy traffic.   The Mercs would pour on their efforts with time ticking away in the game and the Maroons played cautious but didn't stop trying to get an insurance goal and in the dying minute and a half the Mercs would pull their goalie hoping that an extra attacker would help tie the game.  With less then 10 sec. to play the Mercs Matt Murphy would win a foot race to a loose puck in the Maroons corner and throw a desperationi shot/pass to the net area and the puck would hit a Maroons defenceman in the arm, ricochet and hit Wes Pawluk in the chest, fall to the ice and Pawluk would swat at it beating Dyck through the 5 hole with just 6 sec. left on the clock tying the game. 

In overtime it would be Ryan Dyck who would keep the puck in the Mercs zone, avoid a Mercs defender and send a pass to Shea Hamilton in the high slot who would make a quick move to his side and put a quick shot pass McHale to score, record a hat trick and give the Maroons their first win in 4 games.

Game Notes: Not in the Maroons line-up: Josh Froese, Brent Toews, Kevin Giesbrecht, Alex Krahn, Phil Letkeman, Craig Neufeld & Aaron Wiebe.

Maroons powerplay stats 1 for 8.  Mercs powerplay stats 0 for 8.

The ride home on "The Shaker"

 

 

 

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012

Beavers score 3 unanswered and steal 2 points out of Altona with a 4-3 win over Maroons.  The Maroons would kill off 2 penalties and Devon Leblanc would get robbed on a breakaway by McHale before

The Altona Maroons would start the scoring off halfway through the first period when Jared Barnabe would keep the puck in the Beavers zone along the boards and turn to spot Matt Dyck in the slot, feed him a quick pass and Dyck would put the puck past Beavers goalie Gavin Callum for a 1-0 lead.   2 min. later the Beavers Ryan McIntosh would set up Scott Sisson and Sisson would beat Maroons goalie Shannon Enns, tying the game at one apiece.  Later Leblanc would hit his 2nd goal post of the game and then with just over 2 min. left in the period Devon Leblanc would set up Dyck all alone in front of the Beavers net and Dyck would try to beat Callum on the glove side with Callum making the initial save but Alex Krahn would fight for the rebound in the slot and bang home the rebound giving the Maroons a 2-1 lead.

Maroons Devon Leblanc working his way to the Beavers net.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2n period Devon Leblanc would put the Maroons up 3-1 with shot from the goal line that would beat Callum between the pads and find the back of the net.  Playing with  13 skaters, the Maroons would start to show signs of fatigue and later in the period Ian Bergsma would slip a loose puck past Shannon Enns giving the Beavers their second goal of the night. One minute later Daniel Lepp would pass the puck to Jesse Vanderveen on the Maroons blueline and Vanderveen's long shot through traffic would tie the game at 3-3.

Mike Friesen putting the finishing touches on a punishing hit to a Carman Beavers forward.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period, the Maroons would attempt to get back the lead but Gavin Callum would come up with some timely saves. Halfway through the final frame Connor Sisson would set up Patrick Madill who was left alone in front of Shannon Enns and Madill would release a quick shot beating Enns for a 4-3 lead.  The Maroons would battle back and with less then 5 min. left they would have their work cut out for them as they would go on the penalty kill.  The Maroons would kill off the 2 min. and continue to try and tie the game.  Time would wind down and with just over a min. left they would pull Shannon Enns and with a face off in the Carman zone a time out would be called to draw up a plan.  The Beavers would scramble in their end and eventually get the puck out of their zone and before the Maroons could carry the puck back into the offensive zone time on the clock would wind down giving the Beavers a big win and handing the Maroons their 3rd straight loss.

Maroons rookie Mitch Klassen defending in front of goalie Shannon Enns.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the line-up, Josh Froese, Kevin Giesbrecht, Brent Toews, Shea Hamilton, Dale Butland, Craig Neufeld, John Reimer & Aaron Wiebe.

General Manager Jody Hildebrand was satisfied with the intial first period efforts by the shortened bench, but overall unhappy with the fact that despite missing some players this was a game the Maroons should have been able to win and earn an important 2 points.  The Maroons were assesed only 3 minor penalties throughout the game, but never did get a chance to on a powerplay as the Beavers played the entire game without a penalty.

The National Anthem was performed by W.C. Miller students Alyssa Penner & Amy Tarnick.

50/50 pot claimed by Wayne Kauhenhofen.

Maroons next game will be this coming Friday when they travel to Warren to face the Mercs who sit 4 points ahead of them in 4th place in league standings.

 

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

Xpress enjoy strong 3rd period and beat Maroons 5-2.

The Maroons were in Plum Coulee on Thursday, Jan. 26th and looking for a win to put them in 3rd place in league standings.  The first period would prove to be a face paced game and both team would trade scoring opportunties with Jayme Janzen turning away some perimiter shots from the Maroons and Carey Dyck coming up big with some shots in tight and after 20 min. it was anyone's game at 0-0.  The Maroons wouldn't make the first period too easy on themselves having to kill off 3 minor penalties.

In the 2nd period just over halfway through, Devon Leblanc would score an unassisted shorthanded goal giving the Maroons a 1-0 lead.  The lead would hold until 3 min. left in the period when Jordan Peters would bang away at a loose puck in front of Carey Dyck and Brett Harder would put a rebound past Dyck tying the game at 1-1.  The second period would get a bit chippy and the Maroons and Xpress would each have 2 players assessed with 2 min. minors and 10 min. misconducts.

Going into the 3rd period with the score tied 1-1, the game was either teams game to win.    Just 2 min. Marlin Froese would beat Dyck for a 2-1 lead and 47 sec. later Jordan Peters would find the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.   The Xpress would keep things rolling and on their first powerplay of the period import Anders Strome would make it 4-1 for the Xpress.  Later in the period Devon Leblanc invited Xpress Marlin Froese to a fight and Froese accepted the offer and both players would remove their gloves and step in to trade blows. Leblanc surpried Froese with consecutive upper cuts and although neither player connected with any huge blows, Leblanc showed Froese that he remembered an earlier slashing incident from earlier in the season.  Several min. later Jamie Thiessen instagated a fight with Shea Hamilton and the two players would trade a few swings before joining the aforementioned players in their respective dressing rooms for early showers.  After the 2nd fight of the 3rd period the Maroons found themselves on a powerplay and Nick Fuher would set up Matt Dyck with Dyck beating Janzen for a goal narrowing the gap to 4-2.   Time was running out for the Maroons who would be looking for a min. of 2 goals to tie the contest and with just 4 min. left to play Anders Strome would score his 2nd of the night giving the Xpress the insurance they were looking for and making the score 5-2.  The balance of the game would play out without any additional incidents and the Xpress would celebrate a home ice victory over the Maroons.

Game notes: Not in the line up, Kevin Giesbrecht, Josh Froese, Brent Toews and Aaron Wiebe.

 

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012

The Morden Redskins were in Altona on Saturday to take on the Maroons and with the last game between the 2 squads going into a shoot-out in Morden fans were hoping for a good Saturday night hockey game.  For the Maroons fans however, it was not the turnout they were hoping for.  Morden's Jay Fehr would get the Redskins on the board beating Maroons goalie Carey Dyck.  The Maroons would respond with a nice goal when Ryan Dyck would feed Jon Froese a pass and with the Maroons captain bringing the puck into the Morden zone heading towards the corner of the arena he'd fire a pass to brother Josh and Josh Froese would snap the pass into the back of the Redskins net tying the game at 1-1.  The first period would also feature 2 powerplays for the Maroons but they would be unable to convert either opportunity.

Maroons Dale Butland working his way into the Redskins zone with Morden defenceman Dion Peterson looking to rub him out.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period Morden would go on a powerplay early on and Jay Fehr would connect with Keith Bially in the slot and Bially would sneak it past Dyck for a 2-1 lead.  5 min. later and another Maroons powerplay unconverted,  the action would continue to be back and forth until Mike Friesen and Nick Fuher would connect with Ryan Dyck.  Dyck would skate into the Redskins end and slide around a defender to send a wrist shot towards the net and have it squeak through the goalies arm and slip in, tying the game at 2-2.  The Maroons would get another powerplay advantage and this time send several quality chances on net, but the Redskins would fend off the pressure and get back to even strength.  The play would remain 5 on 5 until the midway point of the period when Kevin Ginter would be handed a 2 min. boarding penalty and the Redskins would convert the opportunity with Steve Mullin scoring a go ahead 3-2 goal.  2 min. later Ramsay Fehr would set up Colin Hildebrand and Hildebrand would score making it 4-2.  Late in the period the Maroons would kill off a Devon Leblanc holding penalty and after 40 min. the hometown team would find themselves in a 4-2 hole.

Matt Dyck taking the 2nd period face off Craig Neufeld #27 in the foreground.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Maroons would come out looking to get back into the game and increase their play in the Morden zone but their scoring attempts would be turned aside and.  They would get a powerplay chance 6 min. in, but would be unable to get a 3rd goal.  Later in the 3rd period the Maroons would have one final push on a powerplay when Redskins Kris Williams was assesed a 5 min. major for boarding and would pull Carey Dyck in favour of an extra attacker.  The gamble would not pay off as Jay Fehr would send Chris Reimer a pass and Reimer would send a shot into the empty net for the Redskins 5th goal, essentially putting the game out of reach for the Maroons.  After 60 min. it would be the Redskins who would celebrate a win and the Maroons who would lose a rare home game.

Maroons Nick Fuher pleading his case for a penalty to be called as Redskins forward Jeremy Matueszewski hangs onto his jersey.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up: Kevin Giesbrecht, Shea Hamilton, Aaron Wiebe.

New Coach Rob Friesen was happy that the Maroons were finding ways to send a lot of pucks towards the Redskins net and outshoot the opponents but commented that the team has to get better on their powerplay opportunties.   Special teams played a large part in the game. Friesen was happy to get another solid look at the players available and is excited to move forward and start molding some lines together and working on strategies for the remaining league games.

50/50 pot of $98.00 was claimed by Dan Gierernhart.  National Anthem was performed by Mikayla Hildebrand.

Next game: Thursday, Jan. 26th in Plum Coulee.

Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012

Leblanc leads Maroons with 4 goals to a 7-3 win over Notre Dame

The Maroons travelled to Notre Dame on Saturday to face the Hawks in an important 4 point game.  The Maroons would get on the board early in the game just 4 min. in when Josh Froese would send Devon Leblanc into the Hawks zone and Leblanc would rip a shot over Hawks goalie Marc Lesage's glove and under the cross bar for a 1-0 lead.  3 min. later the Hawks would tie the game when Maroons goalie Shannon Enns would make a great pad save on a slapshot from Jean Prejet, but Nico Chanel would bust for the rebound and bang it into the open net.   Midway through the first period the Hawks would have a great opportunity when Matt Dyck would take a tripping penalty and 40 sec. later Dale Butland would join Dyck in the penalty box giving creating a 5 on 3 opportunity against the Maroons.  Shannon Enns would turn away a few good Hawks chances and the Maroons would be able to kill off the powerplay and return to even strength.  The balance of the period would be evenly matched.   With 4:35 left on the clock, the Maroons would go on a powerplay but Lesage would make some strong saves and get back to 5 on 5 hockey.   After 20 min. in the cold Notre Dame arena the game would be knotted at 1-1.

An out of focus Maroon forechecking with Devon Leblanc in the background.

In the 2nd period the Maroons go up 2-1 quickly when just 55 sec. in Dale Butland would send a pass to Devon Leblanc would deke a Hawks defender and get in tight on Marc Lesage and beat Lesage with a backhand shot.  A minute later Shea Hamilton would cycle the puck behind the Hawks net finding Josh Froese and Froese would throw the puck in front of the net and the puck would bounce off Lesage's skate and into the net giving the Maroons a 3-1 lead. A minute after the goal the Hawks would take a roughing penalty and with time running out on the powerplay, Josh Froese would set up John Mintenko in the high slot and with no other option available Mintenko would wind up and send a slapshot high on net and Lesage would get a piece of it, but the puck would bounce off and over him and cross the line for a 4-1 lead.  With 14:36 on the clock Dale Butland would take an Interference penalty but the Maroons would kill off the penalty and then at the midway point of the period  The Maroons would make it 5-1 on another powerplay when Nick Fuher and Josh Froese would connect with Shea Hamilton getting credited with the powerplay goal and chasing Marc Lesage out of the Hawks net giving way to Byron Evans. The Hakws would take another penalty at 6:56 of the period but kill off about a minute of the disadvantage before the Maroons Brent Toews would get called for Holding.  Both teams would play 4 on 4 for a brief moment before giving way to a Hawks powerplay.  During the powerplay Shea Hamilton was called for High Sticking and as Toews' penalty was expiring Jean Prejet would beat Shannon Enns making it 5-2.  With the Maroons still down a man, Devon Leblanc would steal the puck on an aggressive forecheck behind the Hawks net and wrap it around goalpost for his hat trick and a 6-2 lead.  Brody Chabbert would head to the penalty box for a cross checking penalty on Brent Toews with just over 3 min. left in the period but would fight off the Maroons powerplay.  As time was winding down on the period Devon Leblanc would send a last ditch effort on the Hawks net and it would sneak past Evans and cross the line with 1 sec. on the clock for the Maroons 6th goal of the 2nd period and a 7-2 lead.

The 3rd period would start off with the Hawks thinking they were getting back on track and getting a puck past Enns, but the officials called it off as the puck never crossed the goal line and for the next several minutes both teams would trade several opportunties with neither team able to score.  Dale Butland would take a roughing penalty that the Maroons would kill off and then the Hawks Tom Carels would take a holding penalty and effectivley kill off and then with 9 min. left to play the Hawks would break into the Maroons end and Ryan Robidoux would score a nice goal on Shannon Enns, high on the glove side making it 7-3. Shortly after the Hawks goal, Leblanc would get called on a tripping penalty providing the Hawks with a chance to close the gap but the Maroons would tighten up their defence and get back to even strength and the balance of the game would play out with neither team able to change the number on the scoreclock and after 60 min. the final score would remain at 7-3.

Brent Toews busting towards the net off a draw with Matt Dyck looking to recieve a pass off the draw.

Game notes: The Maroons were able to have a few more players in the game then the previous two games with Dale Butland being available to play and Matt Dyck coming off an injury.   John Reimer dressed for his 3rd game as a Maroon and newcomer Alex Krahn played in his first game with the Maroons.  Another new member of the Maroons was coach Rob Friesen.  Friesen was brought in by the Maroons to run the bench for the balance of the season and is a welcome addition to the club.  Shannon Enns dressed in his 2nd consecutive game and was solid again in start.   Not in the line-up - Jon Froese, Phil Letkeman, Ryan Dyck, Kevin Giesbrecht, Craig Neufeld and Aaron Wiebe.

The Maroons next game will be Sat. Jan. 21st in Altona when they host the Morden Redskins.

 

 

Saturday, Jan. 7th, 2012

Maroons drop close game with Morden 4-3 in a shoot-out.

For the second game in 3 nights, the Maroons would face off for a game with a less then desirable number of available players and again come out on the losing end.  However this time the Maroons would force the game to extend into overtime and eventually to the fan popular Shoot-out.   In the 1st period the Maroons would find themsevles killing off a penalty just 3 min. in and after Shannon Enns would turn away a scoring opportunity for the Redskins, Nick Fuher would work the puck out of the Maroons end and send a pass through the neutral zone to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would stickhandle into the Redskins zone and while being pushed away from the slot area, send a wrist shot on Redskins netminder Darcy Stewart, beating Stewart for a short handed goal and a 1-0 Maroons lead.  The Maroons would kill off the remaining balance of the penalty after getting back to even strength both teams would trade some scoring opportunties before the first period would uneventfully come to an end.

Jon Froese clearing a Redskins forward away from Shannon Enns. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period, The Redskins would come out on the attack and just over a minute in Jay Fehr would send a pass through the slot to leauge leading scorer Keith Bially and Bially would one time the pass up and and over Shannon Enns tying the game at 1-1.  The Maroons would bounce back 3 min. later when Devon Leblanc would cross into the Redskins end and work the puck to Josh Froese, Froese would then cycle the puck behind the net to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would hold on the pass, spin and reach to put a wrist shot into the partially open net past Stewart for a 2-1 lead.  Later in the period nearing the 10 min. mark the Maroons would go on a powerplay, but a minute afer the Maroons applied pressue in the Redskins zone a breakout attempt was interuppted by Jay Fehr and Fehr would skate the puck over the Maroons blue line and drop a pass to Colin Hildebrand and Hildebrand would rip a hard sht over the glove of Shannon Enns for a shorthanded goal and tying the game at 2-2.  The Redskins would kill off the rest of their penalty and 30 sec. after tying the game, they would get a chance to increase their lead when Mike Friesen would be sent to the penalty box for a 2 min. tripping infraction. The Maroons Kevin Ginter would clear the puck to the neutral zone and Shea Hamilton would pick it up and break into the Redskins end with Devon Leblanc.  Hamilton would pass the puck to Leblanc and Leblanc would put a great quick shot past Stewart scoring the Maroons second shorthanded goal and making it 3-2.  The goal got the Maroons and their travelling fans into the game, but would also ignite the Redskins to increase their efforts.  With just under 4 min. left in the period Jay Fehr would pick up the puck in the Maroons end and streak past Maroons defenders and beat Shannon Enns on a nifty deke play to tie the game for the Redskins at 3-3.  The goal kept the Redskins spart alive and they would play out the balance of the period testing the Maroons defence and pepper shots towards Enns with Enns kicking aside several big saves to keep the game tied heading into the 3rd period, still locked at 3-3.

Shea Hamilton ready to shoot and up over an outstretched Redskins goalie.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The 3rd period would be a test for the Maroons to see if they could hang on with their energy levels and stave off the Redskins who seemed to control the better part of the last 5 min. of the 2nd period. The Maroons certainly weren't about to give up and and would come out strong and get the play going back into the Redskins zone with Stewart and his defenceman turning away several opportunities, and then at 14:40 of the of the final period get a powerplay when Kevin Ginter was given a minor penalty for hooking.  The Redskins stormed the Maroons zone on their powerplay but the Maroons would force the Redskins to keep the puck on the perimiter for the most part with Enns again making a few big saves and helping get the Maroons back to even strength.  Just over 30 sec. later the Maroons would catch a break when their pressure in the Redskins paid off and while attempting to clear the puck out of their end Tyler Friesen would be called for holding.  The Maroons would now go on the powerplay and with several shots thrown  in front of Stewart, just 40 sec. into their powerplay Chris Reimer would take a minor penalty resulting in a 5 on 3 situation for the Maroons.  The Maroons powerplay unit would get to work quickly creating several good chances but the Redskins would eventually kill off the penalties and start to send some pressure into the Maroons end.  1 min. after being shorthanded, Kevin Ginter would attempt to hold up a Redskin forward at the Maroons blueline but get called for holding giving the Redskins a powerplay oppotunity.  The Redskins would  work the puck into the Maroons end and force the Maroons penalty killers to play with some desparity.  The work ethic would pay off as they limited the Redskins powerplay and come back into even strength play with 5 min. left in the game.  The final 5 min. would witness both teams trading some good opportunities to break the tie, but neither team able to capitalize on their chances.   Both teams would work hard to get a go ahead goal, but the time would expire and the score remained tied at 3-3 effectively sending the game into an overtime situation.

1 min. into the overtime period Redskins defenceman Dion Peterson would take an interference penalty in front of a loose puck that came off of goalie Darcy Stewart.  A powerplay in overtime is not very common and the Maroons were hoping to make it a memorable opportunity.  Several good Maroons scoring chances later the Redskins would catch a break of their own when Brent Toews would be given a 2 min. hooking penalty giving the Redskins an overtime opportunity of their own.  Enns and his Maroons penalty killers would come up big and kill off the penalty and with 31 sec. left in the game both teams would be even strenth and each team would trade one last rush into each others teams zones. and after 65 min. of hockey nothing would be solved, meaning the game would be decided in a shoot out.

Overtime pressyre with Devon Leblanc #24 shooting the puck and Jon Froese and John Mintenko looking to stuff home a rebound.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Jay Fehr would start off for the Redskins, but Shannon Enns would stay with Fehr and turn away his nice moves and shot giving Josh Froese a chance for the Maroons. Froese would deke Darcy Stewart and from his backhand Froese would put a shot on net that Stewart would get a piece of and the puck would bounce up into the air and sail slowly over the crossbar.  Keith Bially would try next for the Redkins and his glove hand shot was caught be Enns. Shea Hamilton for the Maroons would deke Stewart from his left side, faking to his back hand but bring the puck back to his forehand and beat Stewart giving the Maroons the lead in the shoot-out.  Colin Hildebrand was up next for the Redskins and Hildebrand would deke Enns going to a one handed backhand that he pulled with him and effectivley got in close enough to Enns that Enns would be pushed back and not able to kick at the puck with his outstetched leg and the puck would slowly cross the line giving the Redskins a goal.  Maroond defenceman Nick Fuher went next for the Maroons and came in quickly, then stopped and deked Stewart from his forehand to his backhand and had Stewart beat but the puck hit the goal post and the shootout remained tied.  Kelby Friesen attempted next for the Redskins but wasn't able to beat Enns giving the Maroons Devon Leblanc his chance.  Leblanc would come in quickly and fade to his forehand and opted to try and beat Stewart with a quick wrist shot to the low stick side but Stewart would keep his pad down and turn away Leblanc.  Chris Reimer now had a chance to score for the Redskins and Reimer would come in and deke Enns and find the back of the net forcing Maroons captain to send the shoot-out into a sudden death situation but Froese's deke and backhand attempt was squeezed in between his blocker arm and body and give the Redskins the edge in the shoot out and 2 points in the Win column.

Colin Hildebrand putting a one handed backhanded move on Shannon Enns in the shootout.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Ryan Dyck, Matt Dyck, Dale Butland, Jared Barnabe, Craig Neufeld and Kevin Giesbrecht. 

With Coach Jody Hildebrand not available, Jon Froese and assistant captains Brent Toews and John Mintenko were left in charge of the bench and all 3 agreed that their team effort was solid and that goalie Shannon Enns was a big reason the Maroons were able only give up 3 goals to the Redskins potent offence.  The veteran leaders also noted that they were proud of everyone's efforts in back to back games and are looking forward to re-grouping, getting some more bodies back into the line up and moving forward from here.

 

Plum Coulee Xpress edge short staffed Maroons 6-4

Thursday, Jan. 5th, 2012

With a great crowd on hand the Plum Coulee Xpress entered the Sunflower Gardens with the Maroons looking to keep their streak of unbeaten games at home alive.  Coming into the game the Maroons were only able to dress a total of 13 skaters.  Suspensions, injuries, work committments etc. led to the short bench, but with a rival team in town the players were up for the challenge.     Just over 5 min. into the first period Shea Hamilton would work the puck down low and feed Josh Froese a pass in the slot and Froese would beat Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen for a 1-0 lead.  Soon after the goal the Maroons would storm the Xpress net again and this time come out short handed after a brief scirmish between Phil Letkeman and Xpress player Derek Heppner.  After killing off the 2 min. disadvantage the Maroons and Xpress would trade hits and some scoring opportunities, and it would take until 6 min. left in the first period for the Xpress to strike back and even the game at 1 a piece when Steve Doell would beat Carey Dyck on a powerplay. After the goal the Maroons would end up shorthanded again and while defending the Xpress powerplay, Brent Toews would be assesed a 2 min. minor giving the Xpress a partial 5 on 3 powerplay. Carey Dyck would stand tall in net and turn away several solid scoring opportunties and helping ge the Maroons back to full strength. After getting back to 5 on 5 hockey the teams would play out the final few min. of the period and head in after 20 min. locked in a 1-1 tie.

Josh Froese putting the puck past Xpress goalie Jayme Janzen.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period the Maroons were showing signs of tiring and struggled to cleanly breakout of their zone. Carey Dyck would be tested several times early on but was able to come up with some big saves and keep the game tied.  The Maroons would regain their play and create a few opportunities for themselves and then at the 11 min. mark, Devon Leblanc would carry the puck the length of the ice and get around an Xpress defender, putting a shot on net minder Janzen.  Janzen would make the initial save but Phil Letkeman would hustle in to pick up the rebound and bury it into the back of the net giving the Maroons a 2-1 lead.   Shorlty after the goal, Mike Friesen would take a holding penalty and after killing off part of the penalty, former Maroon Chad Wrixon would turn in the high slot and send a quick snapshot low to the ice through Dyck's five hole knotting the game at 2-2.  3 min. later the Maroons would go on their first powerplay of the game, but would be unable to capitalize with Janzen coming up with some big saves.  Just under 40 sec. after killing off the Maroons powerplay, the Xpress would catch a break when Dale Harder would beat Dyck and give the Xpress a 3-2 lead.  Then with 3:41 left in the period the Maroons efforts in the Xpress zone would pay off when Adam Suderman was sent to the box for a tripping minor. Despite some solid play from the Maroons powerplay, Janzen and his teammates would again escape giving up a powerplay goal to the hometown Maroons.  As if on cue from their 3rd goal, the Xpress would come out of the shorthanded situation and with just 20 sec. left in the middle frame, Marlin Froese would beat Dyck with a long slapshot from just inside the Maroons blueline to give the Xpress a 4-2 lead.  The late Xpress goal would certainly dampen the spirits of the Maroons and it's crowd, but after 40 min. of entertaining hockey action everyone knew an even more intense 3rd period was looming.

Carey Dyck protecting his net with Defensmen Mike Friesen (background) and Nick Fuher helping out.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 In the 3rd period, just 3 min. in; the Maroons would go back to the penalty kill.  Hoping not to go down 5-2, they would tighten up their penalty kill and then get back in the game when Devon Leblanc would bust out of the Maroons end and get rewarded for a nice individual effort beating Janzen and narrowing the gap to 4-3.  The goal sparked the team and just over 2 min. later, Leblanc would get the puck to Brent Toews in the slot and Toews would muscle the puck past Janzen tying the game at 4-4 and getting the crowd really fired up.  Unfortunatley for the Maroons, the excitement would be dampened quickly as just 15 sec. later Jordan Peters would beat Dyck and put the Xpress back up by a goal.  Less then 30 sec. after Peters' go ahead goal, the Maroons woudl be given a great opportunity to tie the game going on a powerplay.  However, a puck off the goal post and few key saves from Janzen and the score remained 5-4.  Just under 10 min. left in the game John Mintenko would be given a 2 min. unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and the Maroons would be forced to play defensive and kill off the penalty.  During the penalty kill, things would even up for a bit when Brendan Heppner of the Xpress would take a 2 min. minor and both teams would briefly play 4 on 4. Mintenko's penalty would expire and give the Maroons close to 1 min. of a powerplay, but again they would not be able to force a tying goal.  With just over 2 min. left in the game Devon Leblanc would carry the puck into the Xpress end, but end up losing control of the puck after receving a slash to his forearm.  With no call on the play the Maroons and Leblanc would plead to the officials for a penaltyand after the officials converged to discuss the situation it would be determined that there would be no penalty.  Two quick stoppages of play later, Leblanc would go out to take a neutral zone face-off and immediatley after the face off he would be handed a 2 min. minor for interference.  The penalty on Leblanc and lack of a penalty to Xpress for the earlier slash on Leblanc had the Altona side furious with the officials.   The play had already become increasingly chippy in the 3rd period, and as some players would lose some focus with the remaining time on the clock, the Xpress' Brett Harder would find Marlin Froese in front of Carey Dyck and Froese would slip in an insurance goal making it 6-4 for the Xpress and effectivley ending the Maroons chances of tying and or winning the game.  The final minute would play out with both teams jostling at each other and keeping their renewed rivalry brewing.

The loss was the Maroons first at home this season and keeps them 1 point out of 4th spot in the SEMHL standings.

Kevin Ginter #2 & John Mintenko #17 in the middle of a 3rd period scrum with Phil Letkeman burried in the middle of the pile.   Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game Notes: Not in the line up - Ryan Dyck, Matt Dyck, Jon Froese, Dale Butland, Craigh Neufeld, Mitch Klassen and Jared Barnabe.

50/50 pot of $140 was claiming by long time Maroons faithful fan - James Nickel.

Maroons next game is Saturday, Jan. 7th when they travel to Morden to take on the Redskisns.

 

 

 

To view excellent game day pictures by Kevin Stoesz, follow this link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinstoesz/ 

Maroons edge Beavers 7-5, Leblanc notches a Hat-trick

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011

Devon Leblanc getting ready to send a shot on Beavers goalie Nathan Yeo. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The Carman Beavers rolled into town sporting retro uni's and looking to hand the Maroons their first home game loss.   Shannon Enns got the start in net for the Maroons and was tested early when just under 3 min. in new Beaver import Anders Strome would pounce on a loose puck that went off Enns' shoulder and lay behind him the crease with Strome swiping it in for a powerplay goal and a 1-0 lead.  The Maroons would respond a min. and a half later when Kevin Giesbrecht sent Nick Fuher a pass on the point and Fuher would send a low shot towards the net that would sneak past Beaver goalie Nathan Yeo making it a tie game.  With just under 11 min. on the clock the Beavers would score again for a lead when Strome would set up defenceman Stewart Thiessen and Thiessen's shot would beat Enns.  Later in the period Josh Froese would connect with Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would tie the game at 2 a piece.  Jumping ahead with a go ahead goal Devon Leblanc would score a goal on a solo effort and after 20 min. the  Maroons held a 3-2 lead. 

The Maroons didn't waste time in the 2nd period when just 24 seconds in Hamilton would feed Leblanc a pass and Leblanc would score his 2nd of the game.  Nearing the midway point of the game a firecracker must have gone off on the Beavers bench.  Scott Sisson set up Anders Strome for his 2nd of the game and just under a min. later Matt Halbesma would beat Enns and just like that the game was tied at 4-4.  The Maroons go ahead again at 4:32 of the period when Craig Neufeld would take a shot from the point and Shea Hamilton would slide through the slot to get in position to re-direct past Yeo.  After 40 minutes of back and forth hockey the Maroons would head into the intermission with a 5-4 lead.  The Maroons would need to focus if wanting the win as they took 3minor penalties in the 2nd to the Beavers 0 penalties in what seemed to be a bit of a lopsided officiating job.

Goalie Shannon Enns looking for the puck while Nick Fuher defends a Beaver forward.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Maroons would get a chance to go on the powerplay just over 2 min. in, but were unable to convert any chances in tbe Beavers zone.  It would take until the 12 min. mark of the final period for John Mintenko to give the Maroons a 6-4 lead after he carried the puck through the neutral zone and slide to his right side in the high slot while sending a quick wrist shot up and over Yeo for a 2 goal lead. 

John Mintenko stopping, before pulling the puck back and unleashing a quick shot to the top shelf for the Maroons 6th goal.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The Beavers not backing down would respond less then 2 min. later when Scott Sisson would beat Enns narrowing the lead to 6-5.  With Carman looking to tie the game, the Maroons would find themsevles taking a penalty with 3 min. left in the game.  The Maroons would kill off the penalty and with 53 sec. left to in the game the Beavers would use a stoppage in play for their opportunity to call a time-out. 

The Maroons resting during the Carman Beavers 3rd period Time-out.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

13 seconds later with the Beavers net empty in favour of an extra attacker the Maroons would call a time-out and after the ensuing face off Josh Froese would find Devon Leblanc in the neutral zone and Leblanc would carry the puck toward the Beavers blueline and send a long shot into the back of the net for his hat-trick and league leading 16th goal.   The Maroons would kill of the rest of the time on the clock for an important win giving them 2 points and putting them in 4th place in the SEMHL standings.

Game notes: Not in the line-up - Ryan Dyck, Phil Letkeman.  Matt Dyck did not play in the 2nd or 3rd period due to a lower body injury.

50/50 pot of $89.00 went unclaimed.  Winning # on a blue ticket is 3518128.  If you have this number please contact mehild@mts.net

The 2010-2011 400 Club draws wrapped up on Thursday night with 9 - $200 winners and the Grand prize of $3,000 going to a shared ticket between Rodney Heinrichs and Ben Hildebrand. Congratulations guys.

Prior to the game W.C. Miller student Amber Wolfe provided an excellent rendition of the National Anthem.

Coach Jody Hildebrand was pleased with the fact the players kept themselves in the game after allowing the Beavers to bounce back midway through the 2nd period with 2 quick goals tying the game, and while some line jostling was apparent the effort was there from the different combinations. 

The Altona Maroons would like to thank their fans and community for their support for the start of the 2011-12 season and wish everyone a Safe & Happy Holiday season.

 

 

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011

The Maroons would travel to Morden and head home with a road loss.  The Redskins sporting new uniforms and helmets would open the scoring when Tim Knight would slip one past Maroons goalie Carey Dyck 13 min. into the first period.  Less then 2 min. later Jay Fehr would set up former Maroon Keith Bially and he would get the puck past Dyck for a 2-0 lead. The Maroons would battle back and with just under 3 min. left in the period Nick Fuher would set up Jon Froese in the slot, Froese would get a shot on Redskins goalie Steph Warnock with Warnock making the initial save.  Froese would pick up his own rebound and find the back of the net cutting the lead to 2-1.

In the second period it was the Maroons who would strike first when Craig Neufeld would send Kevin Giesbrecht the puck deep into the Redskins zone and Giesbrecht would pass to Mitchell Klassen parked by the side of the net and Klassen would score his first SEMHL goal, tying the game at 2 a piece.  The game would remain tied unti the midway point of the period when another former Marons Grant Calhoun would set up Kelby Friesen and Friesen would score on Dyck giving the Redskins a 3-2 lead.  With 4 min. left in the period the Redskins would increase their lead scoring a powerplay goal when Chris Reimer would take the puck in on Dyck and make it 4-2.

After 40 min. the Maroons seemed to be playing with the Redskins, but playing shorthanded in the 2nd period was beginning to show and after 7 min. of scoreless hockey Jay Fehr would connect with Bially for Bially's 2nd of the night and a 5-2 lead.  If the Redskins were looking for insurance they found it on the very next shift when Bially would score his hat trick making it 6-2.   2 min. later Ryan Hutton would beat Dyck making it 7-2.  Although the Maroons were gassed at this point they hung around trying hard to get something back on the board in their favour and a min. after Morden went up 7-2, John Mintenko would work the puck into the Redskins zone and give it Matt Dyck near the side of the net, Dyck would spot Devon Leblanc sliding down from the slot and feed Leblanc the puck, allowing Leblanc to score his team leading 13th goal, making iti 7-3.  The teams would trade a few opportunties for the next several minutes but after 60 min. it was the Redskins who would earn 2 points for their efforts and send the Maroons packing with a road loss.

Game notes: Not in the line-up - Josh Froese, Shea Hamilton, Phil Letkeman & Justin Froese.

 

Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

Maroons double up Seals 6-3 for first road win.

Scoring didn't take too long on Thursday night in Oakville, just over a minute into the game Josh Froese and Shea Hamilton would work the puck into the Seals zone and Hamilton would pass the puck over to Jon Froese in the slot who would put a quick shot past netminder James Donald.  Just under 4 min. later and on a powerplay Dale Butland would pick up a pass from Nick Fuher and Fuher would feed Devon Leblanc a pass which Leblanc would convert through the pads of Donald for a 2-0 lead.  The Seals would battle back and would capitalize a neutral zone turnover and Dan Leslie would get loose for a 2 on 1 with Jared Wincup and Leslie would slide the puck over to Wincup who would put the puck in past Carey Dyck making it 2-1.     The Maroons would kill off a powerplay, effectivley settling down the Seals and with just under a min. left in the period Matt Dyck would work the puck into the Seals zone, take a hit along the boards near the blueline, but leaving the puck for a streaking Leblanc, Leblanc would carry the puck in down low to the goalies left hand side and then send a perfect pass to Ryan Dyck in front of the net and Dyck tapped in the puck for a 3-1 lead heading into the 1st intermission.

A windy cold Dec. evening at the Oakville Community Arena.

In the 2nd period the Maroons would kill off an early Aaron Wiebe interference penalty and several minutes later Dale Butland would feed D partner Nick Fuher a long pass sending Fuher into the Seals zone, beating a defenceman wide to the outside and putting a quick shot, low past Donald for a 4-1 lead.  Nearing the midway point of the period Jon Froese would connect with Josh Froese and Josh would send Shea Hamilton off on a breakaway and Hamilton would make a fantastic deke beating Donald for a 5-1 lead.  The Seals would get back on the board with just over 8 min. left in the period and the Maroons just coming off a penalty kill when Jared Wincup would pass the puck to Dan Leslie and Leslie would rip a shot up and over Carey Dyck's glove cutting the lead to 5-2 for the Maroons. The Balance of the period would see the Seals pick up their pace with momentum from their second goal and tender James Donald make a few big saves keeping the 3 goal gap from widening.

Devon Leblanc joining the rush up ice.   Photo by Jeff Dyck - Portage Online

The 3rd period would see the Seals come out quickly and applying solid pressure in the Maroons zone.  The Maroons would kill off a minor penalty, but go back into the box and towards the end of the 2nd minor penalty with just under 5 min. played in the period, Terry Nichool would connect with Kelly Randall with Randall beating Carey Dyck making it a 5-3 game.  The play would become increasingly chippy with both teams trading a few penalties and the Seals hoping to get under the skin of the Maroons players and it would seem to work as the Seals would keep applying pressure, but not being able to penetrate any pucks towards Carey Dyck.Just over 10 min. left in the game the Maroons would kill off another minor penalty and almost convert a short handed opportunity with Matt Dyck and Devon Leblanc attempting to capitalize a Seals turnover, but goalie Donald would turn the puck away and keep the game 5-3.  As time would wind down the Maroons would look to put the game out of reach from the Seals and with just under 2 min. left to play Jared Barnabe would get the puck over Leblanc and Leblanc would make a nice move in the slot turning to his backhand and beating Donald making it 6-3.    Shea Hamilton would head to the box one more time with a min. left in the game, but the Maroons would keep the Seals out of their zone, killing off the penalty and earning the win and 2 points in the league standings.

Maroons players converge on goalie Carey Dyck at the end of the game.

Game notes: Not in the line-up: Brent Toews, Phil Letkeman & Mitchell Klassen.

Coach Jody Hildebrand commented that "Overall the game wasn't the prettiest game played by either team, but the smaller ice surface has the abilitiy to change the look of any hockey game and create a lot of bounces and odd man rushes." I thought we out-shot and out-chanced the Seals and I thought their goalie James Donald played a very solid game in net for them."

Next up the Maroons travel to Morden to take on the Redskins on Sat. Dec. 17th.

 

 

Saturday, Dec. 10 - Maroons drop OT game to Xpress.

The Altona Maroons travelled to Winkler on Saturday to face the defending SEMHL Champions Plum Coulee Xpress.  The Xpress play several games in Winkler each season and Saturday's rivalry in the big Centennial arena proved to be a great match up.

Shea Hamilton working the puck with two Xpress defending against him.  Photo by Rick Hiebert - actionplusphoto.com

In the first period the Maroons would strike first when Dale Butland would get the puck over to Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would beat Xpress goalie Ryan Sawatzky.  Both teams would trade powerplay opportunities, but after 20 min. the 1-0 lead would hold for the Maroons.

Maroons Devon Leblanc controlling the puck from his knees with an Xpress player battling on.  Photo by Rick Hiebert - actionplusphoto.com

In the 2nd period and on a powerplay the Xpress were able to tie the game when Ronnie Klassen would feed Brendan Heppner a pass and Heppner would beat Carey Dyck.  Both teams would againi trade powerplay chances with the Xpress taking 4 minors and the Maroons taking 2 minors and a 5 min. match penalty and subsequent game misconduct penalty.

In the 3rd period just 5 min. in Brendan Heppner would score his 2nd of the game on an Xpress powerplay with an assit going to Marlin Froese.   The Maroons would tie the game back up 6 min. later when Leblanc would get one past Sawatzky.  With approximatley 3 min. left to play Dale Harder would connect with Brett Harder and give the Xpress a 3-2 lead.  Less then a min. later John Mintenko and Josh Froese would help set up Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would beat Sawatzky for his hat trick tying the game at 3 a piece.   Both teams would feverously work to score a go ahead goal but after 60 min. the score would remain tied and head to overtime.   In overtime it would be Jordan Peters who would beat Carey Dyck for the winning goal and the Xpress win.

Maroons defenceman Dale Butland trying to tie up Xpress player Steve Doell.  Photo by Rick Hiebert - actionplusphoto.com

The Maroons record is now 4 wins, 4 losses and 1 OT loss.  

 

Thursday, Dec. 8

The Altona Maroons home game winning streak is still in tact as they defeated the visiting Stonewall Flyers 6-5 on Thursday, Dec. 8.  The success at home was in jeopardy as the Flyers would prove to be a very tough team to beat even without perennial sniper Adam Kirk in their line up.  The Flyers would get on the board first when newcomer Chris Tyslau would take a pass from another Flyer newcomer Russ Payne and beat Carey Dyck for a 1-0 lead that would hold until the first intermission.

Justin Froese attempting to get around Flyers defenceman Brett Maxwell. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period the Maroons would find their stride and just over 5 min. in, Matt Dyck would send Devon Leblanc streaking into the Flyers zone, Leblanc would leave a drop pass for a trailing Ryan Dyck and Dyck would beat Flyers netminder Justin Harris with a nice backhand to the top shelf tying the game.  Later in the 2nd period, nearing the 10 min. mark and on a powerplay, Ryan Dyck would get the puck over Leblanc in the corner and Leblanc would spot Matt Dyck infront of the net and fire a pass through traffic to Dyck who would slam it home for a 2-1 lead.  The Flyers would respond with just over a min. left in the period when Matt Zakakuzny would connect with Jeff Sonnenberg with Sonnenberg beating Carey Dyck tying the game at 2 a piece.

Phil Letkeman carrying the puck into the Flyers zone. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

You would have missed Stonewall's go ahead goal in the 3rd period if you were still in the popcorn line or wolfing down a slider, just 49 seconds in; Chris Tyslsau would find Russ Payne open and and Payne would notch his first of the game giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead.  The lead didn't hold long, as 20 seconds later Brent Toews would connect with Phil Letkeman and Letkeman would slip one past Harris for a 3-3 tie.  A few min. later Justin Froese would pass the puck to Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would find the back of the net for a 4-3 lead.  With just over 8 min. left to play, Stonewall's Russ Payne tied the game again.  The back and forth action continued when just about a min. later Ryan Dyck from behind the Stonewall net would feed a great pass to Josh Froese in the slot and Froese would put a quick wrist shot under the crossbar for a 5-4 lead.  Less then a min. later Leblanc would keep a Stonewall clearing attempt in the Flyers zone and pass to Jon Froese. Captain Froese would sneak a quick low shot through traffic past Harris for a 6-4 lead.  The Flyers would continue to fight back and with 3 and a half min. left to play, Russ Payne would beat Dyck for his Hattrick making it 6-5 still in Altona's favour.  The action would pick up for the final few minutes and with approx. 1 min. left to play the Flyers would pull Justin Harris in favour of the extra attacker but the Maroons would win 2 face-offs in their end and hang on for a 6-5 win.

Ryan Dyck blocking the view for Stonewall goalie Justin Harris. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the line-up - Dale Butland, Aaron Wiebe.

50/50 pot claimed by Randy Unger.

Next up - Maroons travel to Winkler to take on the Plum Coulee Xpress.  Sat. Dec. 10th.

 

Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011

The Maroons travelled to Notre Dame on Saturday night and came out in the first period with some speed and chances, but it would take until the 5 min. mark of the 1st before they would get on the scoreboard.  On a powerplay Ryan Dyck would feed Josh Froese at the high slot and Froese would opt to pass to Nick Fuher on the blueline.  With a lane open to the net, Fuher opted to wind up and let a shot go on net and would beat Bryan Evans low on the ice.  Both teams would continue to battle for the remainder of the first with Shannon Enns making several big saves to give Altona the 1-0 lead after 20 min.

In the 2nd period the Hawks would tie the game before the crowd had a chance to get back to their viewing points.  29 seconds into the period T.J. Warkentin would convert a pass from Mitch Chanel on the powerplay.   This would remain the only goal of the period.  The 2nd period found the Hawks builing some momentum and outworking the Maroons to the puck, with the work effort came some timely bounces, yet Enns kept kicking the puck aside and putting up a great effort keeping the game tied after 40 min. at one apiece.

In the 3rd period 6 min. in, Jared Barnabe would sneak into the low slot and beat a Hawks defenceman before sending a quick wrist shot between Evans' pads for a 2-1 lead.  |The lead would hold for about 2 min. before Paul Chanel would tie the game for the Hawks.  At the 12 min. mark of the 3rd Christian Savard would take a pass in the slot and have time to put a shot under the crossbar while on the powerplay to go up 3-2.  The Hawks would build on their lead at the 10. min. mark when Martin Prejet was johnny on the spot and pumped a loose puck Enns for a 4-2 lead.  Less the 2 min. later the Hawks would get their 4th - 3rd period goal and 5th of the game when Ryan Robidioux would work to get the puck to Savard for his 2nd of the game.  With less then 8 min. left in the game the Maroons would attempt to get back in the game   But a few penalties would damper the situation and in the end both teams would scruffle slightly and when the buzzer sounded it was the Hawks who would celebrate their first win of the season while the Maroons left the ice pondering how they have blown 3 of their 4 losses with games tied or holding a lead going into the 3rd period.

Game notes: Not in the line-up - Shea Hamilton & Phil Letkeman.

 

 

Yhursday, Dec. 1st - The Warren Mercs rolled into Altona and left several hours later with their unbeaten streak snapped.  Carey Dyck got the start for the Maroons while import goalie Gavin McHale defended the pipes for the Mercs.  both teams came out of the gate with speed and energy.  Teh Maroons would fight off an early penalty to Josh Froese and later at the midway point of the period Mike Friesen would charge into the Mercs zone and drop a pass for Devon Leblanc who would quickly send the puck to the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.  Shortly after the goal the Maroons would head back to a penalty kill situation and again were able to keep the Mercs from tying the game.  With just under 4 min. left in the period Mercs forward Darrin Husak would send a harmless wrist shot from just inside the blueline towards the Maroons net and Carey Dyck would put his glove up to snare it out of the air, only to have it tip off his glove, drop behind him and roll into the net tying the game at 1-1.  The two teams would trade burst of momentum for the balance of the period and after 20 min., the game was even at one apeice.

 Veteran defenceman Mike Friesen looking for teamate to pass to. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period the teams would continue a steady pace trading opportunities, hits and even penatlies.  No powerplay goals for either team would be scored though.  However, just after a Maroons penalty expired with 5:40 left on the clock Jon Froese would jump out of the penalty box and join the attack in the Mercs zone and after Matt Dyck and Josh Froese would work the puck behind the net, Josh Froese would squeak the puck out in front to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would make a quick deke in tight on McHale and slip it past him for a 2-1 lead and the eventual Game winning goal.  Just under a min. later Brent Toews would pass the puck to Phil Letkeman along the end boards in the Mercs zone and Letkeman would throw it at the net and get a lucky goal as the puck would bounce off McHale's pads and cross the line for a 3-1 lead. 

 #17 John Mintenko raising his hands in celebration after Phil Letkeman's corner shot is banked off Gavin McHale for a goal.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Maroons woudl go on a powerplay just 1:32 in, but couldn't beat McHale to increase their lead.  With just over 9 min. to play, the Maroons Josh Froese would be sent to the penalty box for his 2nd minor of the night and offer the Mercs the opportunity to get back into the game, but the Maroons would kill off the penalty. Moments later Brent Toews would would be given a 2 min. minor for goaltender interference and again the Maroons would muster up enough energy to fight off the Mercs powerplay.  With just over 4 min. to play Mike Friesen would send Leblanc and Matt Dyck on a 2 on 1 and Leblanc would hold and fire a quick wrist shot low to McHale's stick side for a 4-1 lead.  With just over 2 min. left in the game Leblanc would get his hat trick on what was easily the nicest goal of the game when Dale Butland would slide a point pass to Leblanc in the high slot and he would send a rocket of a shot over McHale's glove and under the crossbar sending the water bottle flying for a 5-1 lead.  After 60 min. in the Sunflower Gardens the Maroons would pick up 2 points and improve to 3 Wins and 3 losses on the season thus far.

 

 

 

Seeing Double?  Ryan Dyck and Josh Froese in nearly identical strides trying to get the puck around Mercs goalie Gavin McHale. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Justin Froese was moved from his usual position at defence to forward and looked comfortable in the role change.  Not in the line up - Kevin Giesbrecht.  National anthem was performed by Julie Giesbrecht.  50/50 pot was claimed by John Friesen.

Next up, the Maroons travel to Notre Dame to take on the Hawks on Saturday, Dec. 3rd.

Saturday, Nov. 26 - Maroons v.s. Notre Dame Hawks

Carey Dyck would turn away 18 shots and earn a shut out as the Maroons blanked the Oakville Seals 6-0.   The Seals and Maroons would both come out working hard and 3 min. into the game Brent Toews would find Phil Letkeman in front of the net and Letkeman would get the puck over to John Mintenko. Mintenko would quickly bury it behind Seals goalie Scott Forcond.  The balance of the first period had both teams controlling parts of the play and after 20 min. the Maroons 1-0 would hold. 

Devon Leblanc carrying the puck into the Seals zone with the Maroons bench looking on.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period, just 10 seconds in, Josh Froese would tip the puck up to Ryan Dyck and Dyck would send Shea Hamilton into the high slot where Hamilton would rip home the puck for a 2-0 lead.   Exactly 5 min. later Hamilton would send Ryan Dyck into the Seals end and Dyck would cut to the front of the net and sneak one past Forcond for a 3-0 lead.  With 6 min. left in the period Justin Froese would send a pass up to Kevin Giesbrecht and Giesbrecht would send Matt Dyck a pass, Dyck would streak into the Seals zone and send a wrist shot under the crossbar for a 4-0 Maroons lead.  The Maroons controlled the bulk of the 2nd period and with 33 sec. remaining, Hamilton and Ryan Dyck would cycle the puck behind the Seals net and Dyck would find Josh Froese in front of the net where Froese would quickly snap the puck into the back of the net for a 5-0 lead.  Up to this point only 2 penalties had been called in the game, both minors on the Maroons. 

Kevin Giesbrecht attempting to tip a point shot on Seals goalie.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period just 3 minutes in the Seals would take a 2 min. minor, but fight off the Maroons powerplay.  But 2 min. later the Seals frustrations would lead to another 2 min. minor and this time Jon Froese would connect with Kevin Giesbrecht who would find Devon Leblanc in the slot and Leblanc would tip home the Maroons 6th goal.  For the balance of the 3rd the Maroons would contiue to control the better part of the action while helping preserve a shutout bid for Carey Dyck.  Shea Hamilton and Seals Dan McArthur got tangled up together and when McArthur started looking for a fight partner, Phil Letkeman stepped in and entertrained the offer with Letkeman getting the better part of the deal.    The 6-0 lead would hold and the Maroons would earn a home game win.

Phil Letkeman and Seals Dan McArthur in a one sided tussle.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes:  Coach Jody Hildebrand was pleased with the efforts of all players.   W.C. Miller Collegiate student Mikaela Hildebrandt sang O'Canada to open the game.

50/50 pot of $80.00 was claimed by John Friesen.

Friday, Nov. 25, 2011 - Short staffed Maroons fall to the Stonewall Flyers 4-1.

With 13 skaters the Maroons were in tough as they faced the Stonewall Flyers, but would strike first just under 10 min. in as Ryan Dyck would pass the puck to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would work through both Flyer defencemen and flick the puck past Jeff Harris on a nice individual effort for a 1-0 lead.  Keeping pace with the Flyers the period would end with the 1 goal lead in tact.

Brent Toews in action against Stonewall.

4 min. into the 2nd period Flyers Eddie Boonstra would make a nice move and beat Carey Dyck to to tie the game at one a piece.  Later with less then 10 min. to play in the period Flyers sniper Adam Kirk would pick up a loose puck and head in on Dyck alone and pick a corner for a 2-0 lead.   Scott Dibley would increase the Flyers lead with a goal at the 4 min. mark of the period.

Running out of gas, but still keeping the score close the Maroons were hoping to creep back into the game but would only come as close as goal posts and cross bars in the 3rd period as they continued to pepper Harris.  Flyers Chris Tyslau would put the game out of reach beating Dyck with a goal at the 13 min. mark of the 3rd.   After 60 min. it was 4-1 Flyers and time for the boys to head home and prepare for the Saturday night home game against the Oakville Seals.

Game notes:  Maroons out-shot the Flyers 31-26, but Flyers goalie Jeff Harris proved to be very tough on this night and short on bodies Maroons coach Jody Hildebrand appreciated the efforts from the guys available, but would have liked a different outcome.

 

 

Friday, Nov. 18 - Wheels fall off in Warren, Mercs beat Maroons 9-5.

The Maroons travelled to Warren on Nov. 18.  The Maroons opened the scoring five minutes into the 1st period when Ryan Dyck would connect with brother Matt who would feed Josh Froese and Froese would find the back of the net beating Mercs goalie Gavin Mchale for a 1-0 lead.  Three min. later the Mercs would respond with a powerplay goal when Matts Meilleur would beat Maroons goalie Shannon Enns.  The Mercs would strike again on another powerplay, this time with Derek Poplawski getting a shot past Enns for a 2-1 lead.  The Maroons would find themselves on a powerplay of their own just under 4 min. in the period.  Maroond defenceman Dale Butland would slide the puck on the blueline over to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton would send a quick pass to Justin Froese who slid down to the hash marks and put a one timer past McHale tying the game at 2-2.  Gaining momentum and with less then a min. in the period the Maroons defenceman Nick Fuher would send a long pass to Josh Froese and Froese would get it over to Hamilton who would make no mistake and score making it 3-2 after 20 min.

In the 2nd period both teams would play back and forth hockey and then with just under under 12 min. to play the Mercs Bryn Lyndsay would tie the game up for the home town Mercs on a powerplay marker.   The Mercs would strike again when Donnie Delaroque would bang home a rebound past Enns, going up 4-3.  2 min. later with Mercs shorthanded Hamilton would work the puck to Devon Leblanc, and Leblanc would score tying the game once again.   The score would hold for the balance of the period and after 40 min. it was deadlocked at 4 goals each.

In the 3rd period the Mercs would score first when three min. in Elliot Tully beat Enns making it 5-4.  With just under 14 min. to play in the game Brent Toews would work the puck in front of McHale and get a shot away, with Ryan Dyck on the door step roofing the rebound tying up the game at 5-5.  Both teams were playing solid hockey all evening and with just 5 min. left to play the Mercs Lyndsay would score his 2nd of the game and go up 6-5.  A min. and a half later the Mercs would pot their fourth powerplay goal going up 7-5.  Then with just over 2 min. left to play Delaroque would score his 2nd of game going up 8-5 and about 40 sec. later Delaroque completed his hat trick making it 9-5 and sealing the game for the Mercs.

 

The Maroons hope to get back in the win column when they visit Stonewall for a tilt against the Flyers on Fri. Nov. 25 before returning home on Sat. Nov. 26 for a game against the Oakville Seals.

 

 

Carey Dyck ready to make a save against the Notre Dame Hawks.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The Altona Maroons hosted the Notre Dame Hawks on Thursday, Nov. 10 in Altona, officially kicking off their 61st season of hockey and although playing with a short bench they were able to defeat the fast and furious Notre Dame Hawks.  In the first period just over 3 min. in, and on a powerplay Ryan Dyck would feed Devon Leblanc and Leblanc would sneak one past Hawks goalie Marc Lesage.  Several minutes later Brent Toews would work the puck low into the Hawks zone and get it over to Jon Froese, Froese would hang onto it until he spotted Chad Wrixon in the slot and Wrixon would beat Lesage making it 2-0.  

Brent Toews carrying the pucks into the Hawks zone. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 2nd period just minutes inWrixon would score his 2nd of the night, this time with assists going to Josh and Jon Froese.  3 min. later with the Maroons still ajpplying steady pressure, Josh Froese would get the puck towards Kevin Giesbrecht, and Giesbrecht lunged at the puck and sneaked the puck behind Lesage for a 4-1 lead.  Later in the frame with 6 min. left and on the powerplay Chad Wrixon would convert a pass from Josh Froese recording his hat-trick making it 5-0.The 2nd period played out with the Maroons holding a 5-0 lead.  The Hawks who had been skating well all night, would come out of the gate in the 3rd period and strike first.  Tyler Feakes set up T.J. Warkentin and Warkentin would beat Carey Dyck, ending his shutout bid.   For the balance of the 3rd period the play would go back and forth and towards the end of the frame the Maroons would notch one more powerplay goal this time with Brent Toews keeping thte puck in the Hawks zone on a powerplay.  Toews worked the puck along the blueline over to W.C. Miller Aces call up Haydon Friesen and Friesen, after looking to make a pass would fan on the puck and regain control before deciding to throw it towards the net only for it to find the back of the net for a 6-1 lead. The score would hold and the Maroons would earn their first win of the season 6-1. 

Newcomer Devon Leblanc #19 breaking into the Hawks zone with Matt Dyck.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Playing with a short bench the Maroons were able to stick to a game plan of keeping the game simple and playing well structurally.  Both teams were charged with a total of 7 minor penalties.  The Maroons would score 3 teams with the man advantage.  Carey Dyck wasn't bombarded all night with pucks from Notre Dame but when Dyck needed to come up with some big saves he did.  Craig Neufeld was a welcomed addition on the blueline and as mentioned before Haydon Friesen from the High School team also was needed and played a solid yet simple roll helping out.  Maroons coach Jody Hildebrand was pleased with the way the team played despite only having 13 skaters which included the call up Friesen.   Sunflower Festival Queen Rachel Sawatzky along with First Princess Callie Tomchuk and 2nd Princess Dayna Fehr would open the season with a ceremonnial face off and help out with 50/50 sales.  Signing the National Anthem was W.C. Miller student Amber Wolfe.   The Maroons next game will be Friday, Nov. 18th when they travel to Stonewall to take on the Flyers.  

 

Matt Dyck throwing a goaline pass to the front of the net in the 3rd period.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

Nov. 8, 2011

The Maroons traveled to Carman on Tue. Nov. 8th to take on the Beavers. After a pre-game ceremony honouring former Beaver greats and remebering 50 years of Beavers hockey in Carman the game got underway and less then a minute in the Beavers would strike first as Kyle Weir would snap a quick shot past Carey Dyck for a quick 1-0 lead.  The Maroons would would respond with 3 goals, with Matt Dyck beating Beavers goalie Gavin Callum to tie the game. Then new addition Devon Leblanc would set up Shea Hamilton and with less then 3 min. to play in the first period Leblanc would spring veteran John Mintenko on a breakaway and Mintenko would beat Callum high on his glove side for a 3-1 lead.  The lead was short lived though as Beavers player/coach Cliff Ketchen would respond with a goal and with just under a minute left in the period Beavers d-man Stewart Thiessen would put one past Dyck for to notch the game at 3-3 going into the first intermission.

Maroons goalie Carey Dyck left by himself to defend against the on coming Beaver.  Photo courtesy of Clayton Dreger - Golden West Media.

In the 2nd period, the Beavers came out stong just 30 seconds in Thiessen would get his 2nd goal of the night past Dyck for a 4-3 Beaver lead over the Maroons.  Bouncing back, the Maroons re-gained control of the play and Josh Froese would find Chad Wrixon in the slot for a quick one-timer just 30 seconds after tying the game, Froese would fee Wrixon one more time on the same shift with Wrixon beating Callum again for a 5-4 lead.  Midway through the period Ketchen would set up Dan Bohemier for a goal and a 5-5 lock. The score would remain tied for the balance of the period.

In the 3rd period Jesse Vanderveen would score 4 minutes into the period giving the Beavers a 6-5 lead and it would prove to be the eventual game winning goal.  4 min. later and playing a man short the Maroons would allow Bohemier to score a powerplay goal making it 7-5. With just under 7 min. left in the game Ketchen would score his 2nd of the game picking up a loose puck just inside the Maroons blue line and beating Dyck on a breakaway putting the game out of reach with an 8-5 lead.  The score would remain and the Beavers would go on to down the Maroons 8-5.

 

Game notes: Still working out some line combinations and defensive pairings coach Jody Hildebrand remarked that the game in Carman was one that could have gone either way.  Tied 3-3 after the first and 5-5 after the second, Hildebrand remarked that the Beavers simply worked harder and played more composed then the Maroons, especially when in mattered in this back and forth game - the 3rd period. Late in the 3rd period Shea Hamilton and the Beavers Mike Weir found themselves in a "slashing contest" and Hamilton was assessed a 5 min. major & a game misconduct which means that he'll be unavailable for the next game.

The Maroons next game will be on Thursday, Nov. 10th when they open up their season at home to the Notre Dame Hawks.  Game time is 8 p.m. 

 

 

Former Maroon loses battle with cancer

Grant Heinrichs aged 60 years, Reeve of the R.M. of Rhineland, and lived in Halbstadt passed away at the Altona Health Care Centre on Sunday, September 25, 2011.  Left to cherish his memory is his wife Gloria, daughter Jill and son-in-law Derek, two brothers, five sisters and his mother.  A celebration of Life for Grant will be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at the E.M.M. Church in Altona with interment to follow at the Halbstadt Cemetery.     Grant joined the Maroons in the winter of 1966 at the ripe age of 15.  He would go on to play 5 more consecutive seasons with the Maroons before joining the Altona Braves for several seasons including 2 Red River Valley Hockey League Championships.   Described by teamates as a versatile player, playing both Defence and Left Wing, Heinrichs was a team player, always ready to stick up for teamates using his imposing size to scare away opponents.  After years of service with the Maroons and Braves, Heinrichs would go on to play many, many years of hockey with the Maroons Oldtimers keeping up close relationships.  Off the ice Heinrichs will be fondly remembered as a quality individual and a great friend.

 

 

 

60th Anniversary weekend enjoyed by all.

July 15th, 16th & 17th were the dates that the Maroons alumni gathered in Altona for a weekend full of eating, golfing, and lots of story telling.   The arena was decorated with jerseys, jackets, hats, shirts, sweaters from the last 60 years.  Friends reunited Friday night for a bbq/bonfire. Saturday started off with a full breakfast before the golfers headed to Oakview for a fun tournament.  Families enjoyed the Aquatic centre in the afternoon.  Saturday evening a fantastic Walleye fish fry dinner was served up by the Altona Curling Club and just over 220 people were seated and served.  Special guests shared a few congratulatory messages before the events moved back into the arena for some more guests to speak to the crowd.  The 2011 "Throwback" jerseys were auctioned off as well as silent auction prizes handed out. Later in the evening the band hit the stage and the visiting resumed.  Sunday morning started with a light breakfast before a special memorial service.  After the memorial service it was time for a Watermelon & Rollkuchen lunch and then it was time to say goodbye.

Many pictures were taken over the course of the weekend. Below is only a sampling. For information to access many, many more Reunion pics, scroll down below the sampling of pics.

Setting up for the start of the BBQ

Golf Tournament Winners - L-R: Daryl Rempel, Keith Bially, Jon Froese & Kevin Rempel.

Chilling off from the heat - L-R: Joycelyn Froese, Jackson Froese, Brent Toews, Jon Froese & Shannon Enns.

Saturday afernoon scene in the arena.  Guests enjoying the tables full of displays in the background.

Tending the bar and having a good time doing it, Wes Friesen & John Friesen.

Sunday Morningl Service - Maroon & White Memorial wreath being walked in.

Maroons retired numbers players receiving complimentary "Throwback" jerseys. L-R: Elmer Hildebrand, Menno Friesen, Eddy Martens, Johnny Kehler & Wilbert Funk.

Cleaning up Sunday afternoon and taking a refreshment break.  L-R: Tony Hildebrand, Ron Pappel, Jim Dick, Mark Heinrichs & Jody Hildebrand.

*** If you would like to view more of the Reunion pictures as well as all of the past 60 years of team photos you need to go to www.gmail.com and login as altonamaroons and the password is heshoots.   When you are in the mail section you will see the word photos in the top left hand corner.  Open up this folder and you will see the the uploaded pics.     This is only a temporary location for these pictures until a better home is found.   If you have any pictures from the reunion that you would like to have included on this site please email them to Ben Dueck @ dueckben@gmail.com

A Very special Thank you goes out to Ben Dueck (Maroons Alumni) for getting this all set up.

 

 

Maroons close season with team pictures and awards wind up.

info and pics to come

Mercs over-power Maroons and end Maroons season with 7-2 win in Warren ending the Maroons hopes for a playoff run to the Elmer Hildebrand Championship Trophy.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Maroons @ Warren

Heading to Warren on Tuesday night and faced with a huge hole to climb out of being down 3 games to 0, the Maroons were hoping to finally beat the Mercs and extend the Semi-Finals series.  The Maroons would get a chance early as less then 2 min. in they found themselves on a powerplay and would get several scoring chances but Mercs goalie John Douglas would turn everything aside. After the Maroons powerplay the Mercs would be rewarded with a powerplay of their own and Bryn Lyndsay would feed Dayne Gluting a pass and Gluting would beat Maroons netminder Carey Dyck for a 1-0 lead. The Maroons wouldn't take any more penalties in the first period but it wouldn't matter as halfway through the period Lyndsay would get on the gamesheet again this time with a goal of his own and later with about 6 min. left in the period Justin Crockatt would score and after 20 min. the hometown team would be up 3-0.

Josh Froese preparing to skate up into the Mercs zone. Froese was flying but his line of Shea Hamilton and Keith Bially couldn't seem to get too many breaks on the night.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the second period the bounces would keep going the Mercs way as just over 5 min. in Darrin Husak would find himself on a breakaway and while colliding with Dyck the puck would follow him into the net and giving the Mercs a 4-0 lead.  This goal would chase Dyck out of the net and Reggie Lagace would come in to replace him.  Lagace wouldn't fare too much better as a minute later Gluting would score to go up 5-0.  The Maroons wouldn't give up but couldn't buy a bounce and the Mercs kept coming.  Just over 2 min. to play in the period Crockatt would fire a loose puck at the net, beating Lagace giving the home team a 6-0 lead.  26 seconds later Crockatt would again score notching his hat-trick and going up 7-0.  On the next shift Greg Penner would take on Crockatt and fight him to a draw sending both players off the ice for early showers.

In the 2nd period John Mintenko and Greg Penner are working hard to jam a puck past Mercs goalie John Douglas.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The Maroons now deflated, regrouped and came out hard in the 3rd period.  Still frustrated with the onslaught from the Mercs Matt Dyck would get caught up with Darrin Husak and the two of them would trade a few punches before being tossed.  On the next shift the Maroons would finally break Douglas' shut out bid as Grant Calhoun would fire a point shot on Douglas and Chad Wrixon would pick up the rebound and put a back hand into the net for a goal.  On the next shift Shea Hamilton would ring a wrist shot off the crossbar.  The Maroons would keep working and at the 10 min. mark of the period Keith Bially would put a shot up and over Douglas' glove hand to give the Maroons their second goal making it 7-2.  Again pressing on the ensuing shift Bially would again beat Douglas but ring a shot off the crossbar.  The Maroons would keep the Mercs off the board for the third period but couldn't mount more then 2 goals and after 60 min. the Mercs would send the Maroons packing with a 7-2 win and a Semi-Finals sweep of 4 games to zero.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line-up - Jesse Goertzen, Ryley Steinert & Brent Toews.

Maroons and Mercs players shaking hands after the game.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Mercs @ Altona

Just over 3 min. into the game Shea Hamilton and Josh Froese would connect and Keith Bially would convert a pass and beat Mercs goalie John Douglas to go up 1-0.  Nearing the halfway point of the period the same trio of forwards would go at it again, this time with Shea Hamilton putting the puck behind Douglas for a 2-0 lead.   2 min. later Mercs forward Ryan Tully would get the Mercs on the board with a goal past Carey Dyck cutting the lead to 2-1.  Still playing with the momentum and outshooting the Mercs the Maroons would get their 3rd goal of the period when Bially and Hamilton connected and Hamilton fed Grant Calhoun a pass, Calhoun would skate in and beat Douglas on his backhand for a 3-1 lead. 

In the 2nd period the Mercs would claw their way back around the midway point of the period when Donnie Delaroque would score a poweplay goal and later with about 6 min. left in the period they would strike again when Derek Poplawski would notch another powerplay goal tying the game at 3-3.  Getting their way back into the game, only 30 seconds later the Mercs Bryn Lyndsay would beat Dyck and go up 4-3.

In the 3rd period the Maroons would try to tie the game back up, but Mercs tender John Douglas would turn away the attempts and just under 8 min. into the final frame, Mercs forward Mats Meiuller would beat Dyck and put the Maroons down 5-3.  The Mercs would control most of the play in the 3rd period, Dyck would make some big saves keeping the Maroons in the game and with under a min. left to play and Dyck on the bench in favour of an extra attacker the Mercs would put the game out of reach with a Wade Duncan empty net goal.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Brent Toews & Jesse Goertzen.

 

 

 

 

 

Mercs win Game 2 at home, 5-2 final.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Traveling to Sunova Credit Union arena in Warren on Thursday night the Altona Maroons were hoping to rebound from their disapointing game 1 loss.  Early on in the first period it wasn't looking too good as just over 3 min. in Mike Friesen was penalized for hooking.  The Maroons would kill off the penalty but seconds after re-gaining even strength the Mercs would strike as pressure from the Mercs would keep the puck in the Maroons zone end and the Vankemenade brothers would connect with a passing play and Rhys Vankemenade would beat Reggie Lagace for a 1-0 lead.  Later after the 10 min. mark of the first period Mercs import Dayne Gluting would sneak one past Lagace for a 2-0 lead. Mercs forward Justin Crockatt would take an interference penalty with just over 5 min. left in the first and on the ensuing powerplay Shea Hamilton would set up Phil Letkeman in the slot and Letkeman would re-direct the puck to Josh Froese in the high slot and he would snap a high shot over the glove of Mercs goalie John Douglas to cut the lead to 2-1.  Settling down and starting pick up their play the Maroons would start to increase their level of play but with under a min. left in the period Bryn Lyndsay would set up Donnie Delaroque and the Mercs were up 3-1.  With the home crowd behind them the Mercs would win the draw and work their way into the Maroons end with just 8 sec. left to play Ryan Tully would beat Lagace and put the Mercs up 4-1.

Matt Dyck on a breakway, but the shot would sail over the net.  Dyck would score later in the 2nd period, also on a breakaway.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

After the intermission the Maroons came out and Carey Dyck would replace Lagace in net.  Dyck would be tested just several seconds into the period as Shea Hamilton was assesed a high sticking penalty and Dyck and the Maroons penalty killing unit were able to fight off the Mercs powerplay.  This would spark the Maroons and the work ethic would pick up.  Both teams would trade some end to end battles and the game started to resemble more an even match then the first period score would impose.  Just over the halfway point of the second period and on a Maroons powerplay Shea Hamilton would ring a shot off the goal post and Douglas would turn away several more scoring attempts.  Later with just under 3 min. left and on their 2nd powerplay of the period the Maroons would cut the 4-1 lead in half when on a Mercs clearing attempt Carey Dyck would skate out to the puck and fire a quick pass to Grant Calhoun who recognized the Mercs were on a line change. Calhoun woudl tip the puck through his legs to Keith Bially on the Mercs blueline and Bially would flip a cross ice pass to a streaking Matt Dyck and Dyck would skate in on a breakaway and beat Douglas with a five hole shot for the Maroons 2nd goal of the night.  The 2nd period would end Mercs 4, Maroons 2.

#27 Grant Calhoun trying to get a pass through Phil Letkeman's legs to an open Keith Bially.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period, just 3 min. in, the Maroons Kevin Ginter would be sent to the box for a high hit to the head and the penalty killing units were again put to test. Dyck would turn away a few Mercs attempts and again the Maroons appeared to show more spark.  Nearing the midway point of the period the Mercs would take a boarding penalty and on the powerplay Shea Hamilton would connect with Josh Froese on a pretty passing play started by Bially and Froese would rip home what he thought was his 2nd of the night.  The head referee signalled a goal and blew his whistle, but after he called his linesmen in for a discussion the call was reversed and the Maroons were still down 4-2.  The Mercs would kill off the rest of their penalty and seconds after re-gaining even strength power Matts Meilluer would feed Gluting a pass and Gluting would skate in on Dyck and beat him on a deke to go up 5-2.  The no goal call against the Maroons was now stinging as a 4-3 defecit would have been more palatable then a 5-2 defecit with 11:53 left to play in the game.  A minute after the Mercs 5th goal Justin Crockatt would put his team down a man for the 2nd time in the game and with excellent pressure in the Mercs zone the Maroons would fire several shots, but would come away empty handed.  With just under 3 min. left to play and emotions starting to run a bit high, the Mercs Burke Vankemenade would slash John Mintenko on the top of his skate at a neutral zone face-off and this would set off Mintenko with the two players tying each other up in a slight skirmish. During this time, Phil Letkeman and the Mercs Gluting would also exchange pleasentries.  The ref would attempt to nullify any further situations by giving all 4 players 2 min. penalties and sending them all off the ice.  Preparing for more school yard scuffles the Mercs would send out their penalty minute leaders Darin Husak and Crockatt to take the ensuing face-off and just 30 sec. later Husak would run at Maroons forward Kevin Giesbrecht would be penalized for elbowing.  The ref would also send Husak off the ice. This would set up a Maroons powerplay and several more chances in the Mercs end but Douglas would stand tall in net turning away every attempt at a goal for the Maroons.  Douglas would smoother  a shot with less then a min. to play and Rod Neustaeter looking for a re-bound would get tied up with Mercs defenceman Scott Corbett.  As the two of them would hold onto each other Greg Penner and Mercs Dallas Little would also tangle up and the ref would send all 4 players off with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.  48 sec. left to play and a total of 9 players sent off the ice.  The officials would re-group and both teams would play down the clock with no further incidents.

Carey Dyck making a 3rd period save on Mercs Donnie Delaroque.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Jesse Arbuckle, Jesse Goertzen and Brent Toews.

Coach Woody Cornelson was impressed with how the guys responded in the 2nd period after 2 quick Mercs goals at the end of the 1st period. The second period was a much improved period with the Maroons outshooting the Mercs and getting the only goal of the period and cut the lead in half to 4-2. Hoping for similar efforts in the 3rd he commented that the disallowed goal put a spike in what looked to a TSN turning point for the Maroons and that the guys must pick up their play in order to beat the Mercs.

Game 3 goes this coming Saturday in Altona @ 8:00 p.m.

 

 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

In a rematch of last years Championship Finals, The Warren Mercs would come to Altona and start things off with a goal just over 5 min. in on a defensive turnover that Matt Murphy would pick up and pass over to Ryan Tully and Tully would wait for Maroons goalie Reggie Lagace to make a move and then put it past a sprawling Lagace.  Less then 5 min. later the Maroons would tie things up with some offensive zone work that resulted in Keith Bially getting a slot pass over to Shea Hamilton and Hamilton took a quick low shot that would get past Mercs goalie John Douglas to tie the game at one a piece.  Solid back and forth play would continue for the next series of plays.  With just under 8 min. left in the first period Greg Penner would be called on a high-sticking infraction and a min. into the Mercs powerplay veteran defenceman would pass the puck over to import defenceman Derek Poplawski and Poplawski's shot would find the back of the net to go up 2-1.  The Maroons would take 2 more penalties in the first period and after 20 min. the Mercs would hold a one goal lead.

Maroons import defenceman Grant Calhoun defending against Mercs import forward Dayne Gluting. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The second period would start off quickly with a Mercs goal by import forwar Dayne Gluting and quickly the score would be 3-1 for the Mercs.  The Maroons would improve their play right after goal and make a few solid rushes and at the 15 min. mark of the second period Matt Dyck would cycle the puck down low to Josh Froese and Froese would slip a quick pass to Bially on the doorstep of Douglas and Bially would score to cut the lead to 3-2. The Maroons would kill off 2 penalties later in the middle frame and with just under 5 min. left in the period they would be awarded a powerplay of their own but were unable to find the back of the net and convert the opportunity.  After 40 min. of play the Mercs would take a 3-2 lead into the 3rd period.

Maroons Reggie Lagace reaching his goal stick out to defend while Mercs Burke VanKemenade comes crashing into him. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Mercs would continue their strong play.  At the 13:36 mark of the 3rd Mike Friesen was handed a 4 min. butt-ending penalty.  While killing off the penalty the Mercs were assesed a too many men penalty, but shortly after Friesen was let out of the box and now the Maroons on a powerplay the Mercs Justin Crockatt would steal a breakout pass and surprise Lagace with a quick shot to score shorthanded and go up 4-2.  The Maroons would kill off another penalty assesed to Shea Hamilton at the 5 min. mark.  Heading into the dying minutes and now playing even strength the Maroons would press hard looking to cut the lead down to 4-3 but could solve the Mercs defensive play.  The home team would catch a break with 1:15 left to play Mercs Brent Kotelko would take a roughing penalty giving the Maroons a powerplay chance to stay in the game.  The Maroons would get a face-off opportunity in the Warren zone.  Prior to the face-off Coaches Woody Cornelson and Jody Hildebrand would call a time out to set up the final minute and change. Reggie Lagace was pulled for the extra attacker, but the face off was lost and Mercs defenceman would pick up the puck, side step one Maroon forward and send a wrist shot the length of the ice for an empty net goal, putting the nail in the proverbial coffin for the 5-2 lead and putting the game out of reach for the hometown Maroons.

Josh Froese looking to get a handle on a possible rebound while Mercs defenceman Scott Corbett attempts to tie Froese up.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game 2 will go Thursday in Warren @ 8 p.m.

50/50 pot - $117.00 claimed by Marv Giesbrecht.

Game notes:  Coach Woody Cornelson returned to the bench after missing the Quarter-Finals.  Not in the Maroons line up: Jon Froese & Brent Toews. ** Brent Toews will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his shoulder in Game 3 against the Morden Redskins.  Reconstructive surgery has already taken place. The Maroons will miss the play of the veteran forward known for his intense work ethic and leadership on the ice.

Coach Woody remarked that it's certainly dissapointing losing game 1 against the Mercs, and that an increased work ethic will be needed to win game 2 and tie up the series. If the guys can improve their communication, keep a postive attitude and solid goaltending is provided by either Lagace or Carey Dyck then the Maroons certainly have every opportunity to be in this series and certainly the opportunity to win the series, but the guys must come to the arena ready to work very hard against Mercs.

 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Morden Redskins @ Altona

Maroons spread out scoring and Carey Dyck holds the fort down as the Maroons sweep the Morden Redskins 3 games to 0, with a 5-3 win.

A solid Tuesday night crowd was on hand as the Maroons hosted game 3 of the Quarter finals against rivals Morden Redskins.   The game would begin as a bit of an uphill battle as the Maroons would kill off three consecutive Redskins powerplays before Jon Froese with just over 5 min. left in the period would send a pass to Shea Hamilton who would cut into the Redskins zone and work a defenceman down low before throwing Keith Bially a pass in the slot and Bially would hang onto the puck just long enough to put a wrist shot past a sprawling Derek Friesen for a 1-0 lead. The Redskins would answer this goal when a failed clearing attempt was picked up on the boards by Kevin Perrin and Perrin would cycle the puck down low behind Carey Dyck to Tim Knight and Knight would throw a pass out in front to Rob Allison. Allison would beat Dyck and tie the game at one a piece.  Shortly after the Redskins goal with just over 3 min. left in the period the Maroons would go shorthanded for the 4th time in the first period.  About a minute into the penalty kill Brent Toews would chase down a Redskins defenceman and win a battle behind Derek Friesen and work the puck around the net on his backhand and while being hauled down managed to get a go ahead short handed marker giving the Maroons a 2-1 lead.  The Maroons would kill off the remaining time on the same penalty that Toews scored on shorthanded and 11 seconds after getting back to even strength Kevin Rempel would send a point shot towards the net that Shea Hamilton would intercept and put past Friesen for a 3-1 lead.  Hamilton got on the game sheet again immediatley with 38 seconds left in the period for a hooking call giving the Maroons their 5th minor penalty of the period.  The Maroons would kill off the penalty and head in for a rest with a 3-1 lead. 

Brent Toews sending his backhand past Derek Friesen, shortanded.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

Rod Neustaeter moving down the ice. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

In the 2nd period the Maroons would just kill off Hamilton's penalty before the Redskins would strike back. With the puck already in the Maroons zone and the even strength attacker just joining the play Colin Hildebrand would put the puck in front of Dyck and Rylan Price parked in front of the net would shovel in a loose puck past Dyck cutting the lead to 3-2.  The play would go back and forth and the Maroons would start to pressure the Redskins zone and at the 12 min. mark the Redskins would get called on a holding penalty putting the Maroons on their first powerplay of the game.  Peppering a few shots towards Friesen they kept the puck in the Redskins zone and a min. into the Maroons powerplay Grant Calhoun would zig zag in towards Friesen all alone and get hauled down forcing the referee to call a penalty shot.   Calhoun would come in quick with a few head nods and fake to the backhand before going back to his forehand, beating Friesen but the puck would roll of his stick blade for a missed attempt.  The Maroons would resume their intial powerplay but were unable to capitalize.  The Redskins would eak out of the powerplay and penalty shot unharmed but not long after at the 8 min. mark would go shorthanded again.  The Maroons would again control the powerplay but were unable to beat Friesen.   Just under 2 min. left with 5:55 to play in the second period, the Maroons would get another crack on the powerplay but again they were unable to conver the man advantage opportunity.    Just as the Redskins would fight off the Maroons powerplay, the Maroons would head back to the penalty box and the Redskins would get a powerplay opportunity.  The Maroons would kill off the penalty but just as the even strength forward would get on the ice Tim Knight would beat Dyck from a Kelby Friesen feed and tied the game at 3-3.  With 16 sec. left in the 2nd period the Redskins would take another penalty.  Although the Maroons would mount some pressure deep into the Redskins end on the short powerplay the period ended in a deadlock - 3-3.

#24  Chad Wrixon and Kevin Rempel defending in front of Carey Dyck with referee Ryan Galley looking on.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

In the 3rd period the Redskins would kill off the remaining time on the Maroons man advantage and with just under 17 min. to play in the game Morden would find themselves shorthanded one more time.  The Maroons powerplay clearly wasn't clicking as again they were unable to convert the opportunity. With a tied game in the third period, the fans could sense the game would feature some exciting back and forth hockey.  With 10 min. left in the game Phil Letkeman would block a shot and pass it up to Chad Wrixon who would break in all alone against Friesen. Wrixon would move to his back hand and slide a shot towards Friesen that would get through Friesen's five hole but lay uncovered behind Friesen momemtarily before Matt Dyck would fly in and tap home for the go ahead 4-3 goal. With just over 6 min. to play the Maroons Jesse Arbuckle would be called for holding.  The Maroons fought hard to kill off the Redskins powerplay for the full 2 min. and just as Arbuckle was coming out of the box he was sprung for a breakaway and although he tried to move to his backhand he was pulled down by a Morden defenceman and was rewarded with a penalty shot. The 2nd penalty shot in the same game?  With the crowd on their feet Arbuckle would come in and move to his forehand and send a flip shot just wide of the net.  Back to some tense moments in the Sunflower Gardens as the Redskins desperatley wanted to tie the game and keep their season alive. 4 min. left on the clock would wind down to about 2 and a half minutes on the clock, when Ketih Bially would flip a long high pass through the neutral zone that Chad Wrixon would pick up and from the Redskins blue line was in on his own. Wrixon would make a quick deke and and get a shot off at Friesen. Friesen made the intital save, but Wrixon would bang away at his own rebound and beat Friesen to go up 5-3.  The Redskins would work the puck back into the Maroons end and with just over 30 sec. left on the clock they would pull Friesen but time would run out and the Maroons would skate off the ice as winners of the first round Quarter finals series 5-3.  The game was not all positive as Maroons veteran Brent Toews left the ice with less then 10 min. to play as he crashed into the boards on a missed hit and was taken to the hospital with an upper body injury.

Maroons and Redskins in the traditional playoff post game hand shake. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Greg Penner & Jesse Goertzen.

Maroons interm head coach Jody Hildebrand was pleased that the boys didn't get frustrated with 5 first period penalties.   The played well killing off the penalties and although they couldn't capitalize on their 2nd period powerplay opportunities they continued to pressure the Redskins and capitalize on their 3rd period chances when it counted.  Hildebrand was also pleased with the play of Carey Dyck in net citing that after both Dyck and Lagace had each played well in games 1 & 2 the game 3 starter decision was tough but felt confident in either starter. Dyck got the start and kept the Maroons in the game and came up with some big saves in the 3rd period.

50/50 pot of $115 claimed by Harv Kroeker of Altona.

 

 

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Altona Maroons @ Morden.

A  pre-game ceremony was held to honour long time Redskins executive members Doug Frost and Darryl Wooley and then the Redskins would start off the game a quick goal just 30 seconds in with a tricky goal line shot from Kelby Friesen that would sneak past goalie Reggie Lagace and the hometown team was up 1-0. At the 10 min. mark Derek Holinski would beat Lagace and lead 2-0.  2 min. later on a Maroons powerplay Grant Calhoun would take a point shot that Shea Hamilton would get his stick on and tip past Redskins goalie Derek Friesen to pull the Maroons within one making the score 2-1.

Maroons captain Jon Froese defending against Rylan Price.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

In the 2nd period less then a minute in Matt Dyck would chase down Redskins defenceman Jeremy Matuszewski into the Redskins zone. Matuszewski would try clearing the puck out of the zone but Phil Letkeman would intercept the clearing attempt and go in on a breakaway and beat Friesen with a backhand move to tie the game.  Later at the midway point of the 2nd period Chad Wrixon would be in front of the net and Rod Neustaeter would pick up the loose puck and beat Friesen for a 3-2 lead.  The Maroons would keep pressure on the Redskins and at 6:24 of the period Josh Froese and Shea Hamilton would cycle the puck down low and Keith Bially would convert Hamilton's pass to score and go up 4-2.  With less then 2 min. left in the period the Redskins Rob Allison would beat Lagace and keep it a close game making it 4-3.

Phil Letkeman capitalizing on a Redkins powerplay giveaway tying the game at 2-2.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

The 3rd period was all Maroons. Just a minute and a half in Grant Calhoun would go end to end and attempt a wrap around shot that Friesen would stop but Jesse Arbuckle on the door step would tap in the rebound and go up 5-3.  The Maroons would kill off a 3rd period penalty after this and later with 6:23 on the clock Keith Bially would beat a Redskins defenceman to a iced puck and throw it to Josh Froese down low who dished it to Shea Hamilton streaking in and Hamilton would beat Friesen to go up 6-3.  Just over 2 min. left in the game and Arbuckle would take a holding penalty but the Maroons would kill it off. During the Penalty kill the Redskins would take a time-out and with just over a min. left in the game they would pull their goalie Derek Friesen.  With mounting pressure in the Maroons zone Matt Dyck would block a Redskins defenceman shot and skate it into the Redskins end and put a wrist shot into the empty net to seal the deal at 7-3.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Jesse Goertzen, Greg Penner & John Mintenko.

Game 3 of the Best of 5 series goes Tuesday back in Altona.

Maroons celebrating game 2 win in Morden. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

With inclement weather outside and the other SEMHL Playoff games cancelled the Redskins made their way from Morden to Altona for game one of the quarter finals series.  Both teams stared their warm ups short several players still navigating the roads to the arena.  The game would start several minutes late, allowing for both teams to get all of their players ready.   The first period featured some good back and forth hockey.  Early on the Maroons were peppering Redskins goalie Derek Friesen but Friesen was standing tall making some big saves.  Carey Dyck also was steady in the Maroons net.  No score after twenty minutes.  

At the end of the first period Kevin Rempel was assesed a hooking penalty and just 24 seconds into the 2nd period Redskins import John Murray would convert a Jeremy Matueszewksi pass to beat Dyck for a powerplay goal and a 1-0 lead.    The Redskins would hold their lead until the 9:36 mark of the period when on a powerplay Matt Dyck from behind the Redskins net would set up Phil Letkeman in the slot and Letkeman would beat Friesen with a quick low wrist shot to tie up the game.  Half a minute later Rod Neustaer hustling down to the Redskins zone would throw a pass in front of Friesen that Jesse Arbuckle would get his stick on on re-direct under Friesens pad for a quick 2-1 lead. 

Kevin Ginter high fiving Carey Dyck after Arbuckle's 2nd period goal. Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

The third period saw both teams increase their speed and the Redskins would mount several attempts into the Maroons zone with Carey Dyck turning away all of the shots.  With two minutes left in regulation the Redskins would take a time out and prepare for their plan as to when to pull Friesen.  Later with just over a minute left to play and a face off in the Maroons end Friesen left for the Redskins bench and a 6th attacker jumped on the ice to join the rush.  The Maroons would fend off the pressure and work the puck out of the zone for what looked like the end for Morden but they quickly turned the puck around and raced into the Maroons end for one final push but again Dyck would stop the puck and the clock would wind down for the Maroons win.

Maroons celebrate after the buzzer sounds at the end of the game.  Photo by Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line - Jesse Goertzen & Ryley Stienert.

50/50 pot of $104.50 claimed by Carey Kehler.

Maroons PA man, Wayne Kauhenhofen was unable to attend, so Golden West Radio's Derek Heide filled in and performed well.  Thanks Derek.

Thank you to all the fans that braved the weather and the roads to come out and support the Maroons in game 1 of the playoffs.

Game 2 goes Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in Morden.

Plenty of door prizes, plenty of goals and a 4 goal night by Shea Hamilton combine for a Maroons 8-6 win on Fan Appreciation Night.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Stonewall Flyers @ Altona

With a great crowd on hand, the first period would feature 5 goals.  Stonewall Flyers Eric Bruce would get things started with a feed from Adam Kirk.  The Maroons would respond when Shea Hamilton would tie the game on a pass from Keith Bially.  Hamilton would score quickly again and the Maroons would go up 2-1.  The Flyers would tie it up with a goal from Adam Kirk.    Later in the first period with just over 5 min. left in the game and killing a penalty Matt Dyck would work the puck into the Flyers zone with Hamilton trailing and feed Hamilton who would blow a bullet past Flyers goalie Tyler Chatifield just under the crossbar for a natural hattrick and a 3-2 lead.  The Maroons would kill 4 penalties in the first period and record one short handed goal.

In the 2nd period Jesse Arbuckle would set up Greg Penner for his first goal as a Maroon.  Midway through the middle frame and on their first powerplay of the game Matt Dyck would get the puck to Keith Bially and Bially would feed Justin Froese who would beat Chatfield and get the Maroons up 5-2.  However the penalties would come fast and furious for the Maroons and with 6 minl. remaining in the 2nd period Adam Kirk would notch a powerplay goal beating Carey Dyck making it 5-3.  Less then 2 min. later on another powerplay Josh Rutherford would score bringing the Flyers to within one goal of the Maroons at 5-4. Penalty trouble would sting for the Maroons as the Maroons would be penalized with 53 sec. left in the period and with just 2 sec. left on the clock Kirk would set up Kyle Heroux and he woudl beat Dyck tying the game 5-5. 

The final period would start off with a hit from behind from the Flyers Travis Lewicki on Matt Dyck.  Shea Hamilton took offence to the hit and stepped in to stand up for his teammate.  Lewicki was given a game misconduct for his actions and Hamilton was given a 2 min. penalty and a 10 min. misconduct.  Several min. later Phil Letkeman would set up Matt Dyck and the Maroons would take a 6-5 lead.  Just ater the 10 min. mark of the 3rd period Flyers sniper Adam Kirk would score his hat trick tying the game once again. With the game notted at 6-6 it was anyone's game to win and with just over 6 min. left to play Jon Froese would feed Chad Wrixon and Wrixon would break the tie and give the Maroons a 7-6 lead.  The Flyers would try to mount a come back but time was slipping away and after taking a 10 min. rest and already scoring a hattrick Keith Bially would set up Shea Hamilton for his 4th of the night giving the Maroons a 2 goal lead with just over a min. and a half to play.  The Maroons would control the play for the balance of the game and run out the clock to record the win and finish the regular season with 16 wins and 5 losses for a 2nd place finish. 

Shea Hamilton watching his shot on goalie Tyler Chatfield.  Photo courtesy of Kevin Stoesz.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Rod Neustaeter, Josh Froese & John Mintenko.

The Maroons start playoffs this coming Thursday against the 7th place team.  Their opponents will be the Stonewall Flyers or Morden Redskins. 

50/50 pot - $342.00 claimed by Harv Kroeker.

50/50 winners of $50 Co-op gift cards - Simon Friesen, Ed Friesen, Dustin Villeneuve & Peter Hildebrand.

Special thanks to Maroons supporters for coming up with just over 80 door prizes divided into 16 and under and Adult prizes.

Congratulations to Keith Bially, Grant Calhoun and Josh Froese for being named SEMHL ALL STARS.  Josh Froese was also named the SEMHL Most Gentelmanly Player in his first season in the SEMHL.

 

 

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Warren Mercs @ Altona

Sporting the throwback uniforms for the second straight game the Altona Maroons came out flying and just over a minute into the game Brent Toews would feed Josh Froese in front of Mercs goalie Chad Jolin and the Maroons were up 1-0.    Five minutes later the Mercs would get 2 quick back to back goals on Reggie Lagace and hold a short lead, but just over a minute later Toews would feed Keith Bially in front of the net and Bially would hang on long enough to beat Jolin with a high wrist shot in the crease to tie the game 2-2.  Not even 10 minutes old with fans still filtering in and 4 goals in total had been scored.  The pace in the first period was quick and hard hitting and just past the 14 min. mark of the period, Grant Calhoun would make some nifty moves and fire one past Jolin for a 3-2 lead.  30 sec. later Jon Froese would dish the puck to brother Josh and he would direct the puck at the net with Bially picking it up and scoring his second of the game for a 4-2 lead. With just over 2 min. left in the period Kevin Rempel would set up Kevin Giesbrecht streaking down the right wing side and he would fire a rocket under the cross bar giving the Maroons a 5-2 lead.  The 5-2 score would remain as the two teams would head off for the first intermission.  In the 2nd period Mercs AP Elliot Tully would get the puck past Lagace cutting the lead to 5-3 for the Maroons.  The Maroons would then take a few penalties in a row and during their 3rd penalty kill Brent Toews would chase a long Grant Calhoun pass into the Warren zone and fight off a defender and throw a back-hand pass at the net that Matt Dyck would race to get to and just barely tap it in making it 6-3.  No further goals would be scored in the 2nd period.

#15 Kevin Giesbrecht carrying the puck into the Mercs zone with #18 Phil Letkeman trailing behind him.  For this strong game and pretty goal, Giesbrecht was awarded the player of the game from his peers.

 

The 3rd period would feature more back and forth action and hard hits traded by both teams.  Just over 6 min. in Bially and Josh Froese conntected with Justin Froese swooping in from the point to get a slot shot away and beat Jolin going up 7-3 for the Maroons.  Not long after the Maroons goal rookie Ryley Steinert would take on Mercs Justin Crockatt in a good ole hockey fight. Although Crockatt the more experienced player got the better of Steinert, Steinert didn't fold and turtle and put in a good tustle.  The fight may have sparked the Mercs as midway through the period they would show signs of life as Darin Husak would beat Lagace making it 7-4.  Two and a half minutes later Phil Letkeman was in front of the Mercs crease and was able to push a shot at Jolin that he would have trouble with and John Mintenko would pick it up on his back hand and put home making it 8-4.  Mercs AP Elliot Tully would add another goal for the Mercs cutting the lead to 8-5 for the Maroons but the Maroons would continue to press in the Mercs zone and eventually running the time down on the clock picking up an important win that guarantees a 2nd place finish.  With a 4 point night and playing with a 24 hour flu bug Keith Bially now brings his league leading point total to 50 points in 20 games solidifying his lead over Mike Hamilton of the Morden Redskins by a 10 point margin.  As long as Hamilton does not record 10 or more points Bially should finish the regular season with the scoring trophy, marking the 5th time since Y2K that a Maroons player would capture this honour.  Other winners include Rob Smith (tied with Jeremy Matueskwi of Morden), Ryan Dyck and two Jon Froese scoring championship trophies.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up: Shea Hamilton, Jesse Goertzen, Rod Neustaeter, Jesse Arbuckle & Chad Wrixon.

50/50 pot - $80.00 Claimed

Prior to the game the Maroons were notified that local hockey official Brad Derksen would be putting on the stripes for the final time, so after 27 years of reffing hockey and serving 17 years officiating in the S.E.M.H.L. Derksen has decided to hang up the skates and put away his whistle for some well deserved down time.  Derksen requested that good friend Les Martens Jr. work the game with him and after the game the Maroons players and several veteran Mercs players made their way to "the best linesmen in the league" to shake his hand say Thank you. 

Referees Brad Derksen and longtime friend Les Martens after Derksens last game officiating in Altona.

This coming Saturday is the day that the Maroons say Thank you to the great fans in Altona with their annual Fan Appreciation Night.  Come out to the game and enter your name for a chance at lots of door prize draws and enjoy what could be a first round playoff preview of the Altona Maroons and Stonewall Flyers.

 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Plum Coulee Express @ Altona

A capacity crowd (750+) was on hand this past Saturday as the Maroons celebrated their 60th Annivesary.   Golden West Radio Sports Director Clayton Dreger was on hand to introduce W.C. Miller Collegiate student Mikaela Hildebrand as she provided a wonderful accapela version of the National anthem.  Dreger then introduced three members of the original 1951 Maroons team - Johnny Kehler, Larry Dueck and Wilbert Funk.  The 3 original Maroons along with 3 novice players made their way to center ice and Xpress captain Dwight Heppner joined Maroons captain Jon Froese for a ceremonial face off.  Once the game got underway it was the home town that would strike first as Mike Friesen worked the puck up to Phil Letkeman and Letkeman got the puck to Jon Froese, Froese would put the puck past Jayme Janzen and the Maroons were up 1-0.  The rest of the first period showcased fast hockey and ended with neither team receiving a penalty. 

Maroons lined up with several Altona Novice players.

Ceremonial face off.  Dropping the puck from left to right Wilbert Funk, Larry Dueck and Johnny Kehler.

During the first intermission fans were snapping up 60 cent hot dogs and 60 cent can drinks courtesy of the Maroons, Town of Altona and RM of Rhineland.   Prior to the teams starting the 2nd period Clayton Dreger welcomed Mayor of Altona - Melvin Klassen, RM of Rhineland Reeve - Grant Heinrichs, SEMHL commissioner - Dean Harris, Chair of Sr. Hockey for Hockey Manitoba - Ray Brethour and Maroons President & GM - Jody Hildebrand onto the ice.  Each guest briefly addressed the crowd and the teams expressing their congratulations to the Maroons for celebrating 60 consecutive years of hockey in the SEMHL and Hildebrand thanked the guests for their kind words, thanked the Town of Altona, RM of Rhineland, local business community and of course the fans for their continued support.   When the hockey resumed the  Xpress would get on the board when Coltyn Reimer was able to beat Maroons goalie Reggie Lagace and tie the game 1-1.   The teams would continue to trade goal scoring chances and at the 12:29 mark of the period Phil Letkeman was handed a charging penalty and after fighting off just over a min. of the Xpress powerplay, Dwight Heppner would capitalize on the man advantage and go up 2-1.  3 min. later the Maroons would tie the game back up when Kevin Giesbrecht would pass the puck to Keith Bially and Bially would get it over to linemate Josh Froese and Froese would bury it behind Janzen.    The period would play out and end with the score tied 2-2 and only one penalty called in total.

Maroons Phil Letkeman working his way into the Xpress zone.  *Photo by Kevin Stoesz

In the 3rd period, just over 5 min. in Maroons forward Chad Wrixon was asessed a hooking penalty and it would prove very costly as only 24 sec. into the powerplay the Xpress would score with Brett Harder getting the go ahead goal making it 3-2.  Both teams kept up the quick pace, with just over 3 min. left in the game Bially was fighting off an Xpress player working to go on a 2 on 1 for the Maroons but was held up and the chance denied. With no penalty called on the play the Maroons would have to increase their efforts. In the next series of play the the Xpress would work the puck into the Maroons zone with Lagace covering up the puck and after the whistle blew an Xpress forward tried slashing the puck loose.  Again, no call on the play.  With just over a min. left to play the Xpress took a time out and the Maroons bench boss Woody Cornelson drew up a plan.  The Maroons were able to get the puck into the Xpress zone and Lagace would his posting in favour of an extra attacker.  Xpress players all latched onto the Maroons attackers and were able to fend off several shots and clearing the zone.  Lagace would go back into the net for a neutral zone face off and as the Maroons worked the puck back toward Janzen and the Xpress net, Lagace would again leave the ice to get a 6th Maroons attacker into the Xpress zone.  A few more frantic scoring attempts were made.  It looked as if Keith Bially would score to tie the game with 1 sec. left on the clock but the referee called off the goal (2nd called of Maroons goal off the night) and the Xpress would leave the ice with a big 2 point win and now hold a 3 point lead on the Maroons for first in the SEMHL.    In a game with only 2 penalties called both on the Maroons it would seem that was all that the Xpress needed.  2 powerplays and 2 goals against no Maroons powerplays.   The Maroons are off for a few days before they host Warren on Feb. 10th.  Several players will be back in the line up by then and the team will play it's last 2 games of the reg. season to see where they will finish in the standings.

Game notes - Not in the Maroons line up - Shea Hamilton, Jesse Arbuckle, Jesse Goertzen, Grant Calhoun and Rod Neustaeter. 

50/50 pot - $642.00 Claimed by Darcy Hildebrand.

Although the final outcome was not what the Maroons wanted as they have now dropped their last 3 games in a row, but the evening was highly successful as the fans packed the arena to show their support.  The players donned a New 3rd jersey that can be described as a throwback uniform.  A real retro look featuring MAROONS lettering running down the jersey at an angle and on a cream coloured material.  Just over 300 hot dogs and drinks were sold for only 60 cents and the 50/50 was almost $650 !!!   A HUGE thank you to all the fans that came out to enjoy the game. 

A busy scene around Maroons goalie Reggie Lagace on the Maroons 60th Anniversary Night. * Photo by Kevin Stoesz

 

 

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2011

Maroons @ Plum Coulee Xpress (in Winkler)

The Maroons travelled to Winkler this past Saturday and faced off against the Plum Coulee Xpress in the Centennial Arena.  With a full house on hand to take in a great senior hockey rivalry, it was the Maroons that would strike first when Keith Bially would get the puck into the Xpress end and work the puck behind the net before sending a quick pass to Josh Froese who snapped a low one timer through goalie Blaine Neufeld's 5 hole for a 1-0 lead.    The Maroons would fend off a penalty before a Dwight Heppner shot on Carey Dyck was stopped but Andrew Froese would pick up the rebound and tap in the loose puck to tie the game.  The Maroons would then go back to the penalty box and with just over 4 min. left in the first period Andrew Kaminsky would blow a point shot past Dyck going up 2-1 against the Maroons.

In the 2nd period the Maroons started on the powerplay carried over from the first and Chad Wrixon would get a shot on Neufeld.  Neufeld would make the initial save and with a crowd in front of him, Bially would pull the puck to a piece of real estate on the side of the crease before shovelling it in to tie the game 2-2.    For the rest of the period the Maroons would take a total of 8 minor penalties with the Xpress taking 2 penalties.  This left the Maroons short handed a total of 6 times.  The Xpress would capitalize on this and would score 2 powerplay goals in the 2nd period and after 40 min. it was Xpress 4, Maroons 2.

Justin Friesen sends a loose puck to the corner as Kevin Rempel stays close to an Xpress forward and Matt Dyck looks on to chase the puck and gain control.  Photo credit - Kevin Stoesz.

In the third period the Maroons bench would get an uplift when Rod Neustaeter would work the puck out of the Xpress corner and in front of the net where Brent Toews was able to score and bring the game to 4-3.  Hoping to mount a comeback the Maroons pressed on but shortly after were called for a 4 min. butt ending penalty and a 10 min. misconduct to John Mintenko.  Midway through the 3rd the Xpress would beat Dyck again and make it 5-3.  With 1 min. & 30 sec. left on the clock Coach Woody would pull Dyck and as the Maroons would start their way up ice a long stretch pass up the middle was intercepted by Xpress Brenden Heppner and Heppner would fire a long wrist shot from the center ice area scoring on the empty net making it 6-3.  The Xpress would put the icing on the cake when with 30 sec. left on the clock Marlin Froese would beat Kevin Rempel on a 1 on 1 and muscle a shot past Dyck to make it 7-3 and that's how it would end. 

When the dust settled, Coach Woody remarked that he wasn't impressed by the overall effort of his players, citing that they didn't play as good as they can play and that the Xpress were out-playing them and winning more of the small battles for the puck.

Not in the Maroons line up: Shea Hamilton & Jesse Goertzen & Jesse Arbuckle.

Matt Dyck redirecting a shot from Jon Froese on the far side boards, goalie Blaine Neufeld would stop just enough of the puck to keep in out of the net.  Photo credit - Kevin Stoesz.

 

On Friday, Jan. 21 the SEMHL 60th Anniversary celebrations began with an Alumni tournament, beer gardens and banquet planned for Saturday night at 6 p.m.

The Altona Maroons 40 and over alumni team put together by goalie Jim Dick jumped on the bus with Lyndon Friesen driving the boys to Morden.   The Maroons faced off against the Carman Beavers 40 plus team on Friday evening and had a great time going through the motions for a 1 hour game. 

Based on the chatter in the beer gardens after the game Friday night it was more then evident that the guys that played had a great time and we're remarking how neat it was to see a bunch of guys/former opponents that they used to play against.    Taking the bus was just an added bonus!

The Maroons 50+ team played their first game on Saturday  at 9:30 a.m. and their second game at 2:30.  The 40+ team will be played their 2nd and final game at 3:30.  All games took place in Morden in their dual arena complex. . After the games finished on Saturday, players and their wives headed to the reception hall and enjoyed a nice Roast Beef dinner, followed by brief presentations from Hockey Manitoba and SEMHL Commissioner Dean Harris.  A highlight of the evening came next when it was announced that the league first place trophy has been re-named the Bob Hamm Trophy and the league championship trophy has been re-named the Elmer Hildebrand Trophy.  The re-naming of the trophies to these gentlemen was done in honour of their many, many years of involvment with the SEMHL.  Auction raffle prizes were taken care of and then the featured entertainment; comedian Dean Jenkinson took to the stage and had the crowd laughing out loud.  It was a great evening and the hall was decorated with jerseys from all the teams that have ever played in the league, as well as interesting old stats, newspaper clippings etc.

 A big thanks go out to Carman Beavers General Manager Dennis Young for doing the lions share of the planning and work to make this event happen. 

Back row: Lyndon Friesen, Mark Braun, Lin Loewen, Jason Pilkington, Brian Wiebe, Rod Dueck, Wes Friesen, Kevin Kehler, Doug Rempel, John Falk.

Front row: Chris Braun, Greg Klassen, Jim Dick, Jody Hildebrand, Henry Sawatzky, Bob Toews, Drew Claussen.

 

Back Row: Henry Sawatzky, Kevin Kehler, Lin Loewen, Brian Wiebe, Bob Toews, Wes Friesen, John Falk.  Front Row: Greg Heinrichs, Jim Dick, Chris Braun, Jody Hildebrand, Les Martens Jr., Drew Claussen.

 

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011

Playing their 4th game in 7 days the Maroons travelled to Carman and quickly found themselves in the penalty box on a marginal slashing call to Keith Bially.  As Bially left the penalty box to help defend against the Beavers in the Maroons zone Kirk Young was busy getting his own rebound, not once, but twice and on his 3rd attempt he finally muscled the puck past Carey Dyck to get the Beavers on the board 1-0.  The Maroons were not playing well and the play appeared sluggish.  Shea Hamilton would put a little spark into the Maroons scoring an unassisted goal with 13 min. to play in the period.    The hometown Beavers would answer back when Kyle Weir would get the puck over to Cliff Ketchen left open in the slot and he would slip one past Dyck to go up 2-1.  The Maroons would kill off another penalty before the period would end and start the 2nd period off - even strength.

In the 2nd period just under 4 min. in, Mike Friesen would send Hamilton a pass in the neutral zone and Hamilton would send Bially in on a partial breakaway and roof a quick wrist shot past Beaver goalie Kevin Falk to tie the game.  The goal evened up the score, but the Beavers were still outworking the Maroons.  With just under 7 min. to play in the middle period Kevin Ginter would catch Beavers Jesse Vanderveen with his head down at center ice and leveled him for the hit of the night, but the hit dislodged Ginter's skate blade and as Ginter was hobling off the ice on one skate Matt Tkachyk would pick up the lose puck, get it over to Ryan McIntosh and with Vanderveen up and joining the play McIntosh would slip the puck over to Vanderveen flying down the left hand side the Maroons zone and he would put a rocket of a shot up and over Dyck to give the Beavers the go ahead goal.   Minutes later Jesse Goertzen was penalized for Interference and the Beavers would capitalize on the powerplay when Vanderveen would shoot at Dyck and McIntosh would score on the rebound making it 4-2 for the Beavers.

In the 3rd period the Maroons started to pick up their play and increase their scoring chances and finally with 12 min. left to play Grant Calhoun would shoot at the net missing wide but Phil Letkeman pick up the puck and got it over to Josh Froese and Froese would slam it home mounting a comeback for the Maroons.  The next 12 minutes the Maroons would work harder then they had all game, fought off another penalty hit the goal post and pull Dyck with less then 30 seconds left.  They would get 2 good scoring chances to tie the game but Falk would get in front of both shots and the Beavers would skate off the ice with 2 points.

Grant Calhoun #27 and Mike Friesen #22 defending in front of Carey Dyck.  * Photo courtesy of Dennis Young, Carman.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Chad Wrixon, Jon Froese & Ryley Steinert.

Coach Woody was not impressed by the lack of effort for 60 minutes.  He noted Carey Dyck played great and gave the Maroons every opportunity to stay in the game.  Late in the game Dyck would come up with 2 huge saves and he hoped that would spark the boys to get the tying goal, but it wasn't in the cards.

The Maroons are now off until next Saturday, Jan. 29th when they travel to Winkler to face the Plum Coulee Xpress. In the meantime many Maroons and Maroons Alumni will be taking in the hockey games and the story telling in Morden this weekend at the SEMHL 60th Anniversary Alumni Tournament and Banquet.  Check out the SEMHL website for more details.  Come on out and watch the hockey games, it's FREE and their is a beer gardens!

 

 

Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011

The usually hard working and quick skating Notre Dame Hawks visited the Sunflower Gardens on Saturday and early on in the game it was evident that the game may be a low scoring affair with Hakws goalie Phil Vigier turning away Maroons shooters and Reggie Lagace defending the Maroons net.  Jon Froese and Phil Letkeman thought the Maroons scored late in the first period, but the referee ruled the puck had been kicked in by Froese, so after 20 min. of back and forth hockey it was deadlocked 0-0. 

It would take until the 8:21 mark of the 2nd period for the Maroons to get the first goal of the game when on a powerlay, Shea Hamilton would feed Grant Calhoun the puck on the point and Calhoun would blast a low bullet through Vigiers five hole and get the home team fired up.  Back and forth play would continue for the rest of the period with the Maroons unable to generate another goal and the Hawks unable to solve Lagace.  The "Old Dutch CRUNCH of the night" came when when Hamilton was leaving the penalty box and skating back to the Maroons end and caught a Hawks defenceman with his head down about to shoot and laid his shoulder into the player sending him down to the ice.

Veteran forward Brent Toews lining up a Hawks player.

The 3rd period would provide a total of 4 goals.  Just under 4 min. in, The Maroons newest team member Jesse Goertzen would slide into the slot and take a great pass from Kevin Giesbrecht and put a low shot past Vigier to make it 2-0.  Several minutes later the Hawks would break Lagace's shut out bid and Ryan Robidoux would get credited with an assist on Gilles Comte's goal.   The goal would be the only getting past Lagace on the night as he played very solid.  With just over 6 min. to play in the game Josh Froese would pass the puck to Hamilton and Hamilton would find a seam in the slot to get in close on Vigier and fire a shot up under the crossbar making it 3-1.  With about a min. left in the game the Hawks would pull their goalie and storm the Maroons end but a turnover created by Calhoun sent him the other way on a 2 on 1 with Keith Bially but as they were crossing the Notre Dame blueline they were called offside.  A play that you wouldn't expect to see at too many hockey games.   It wouldn't really matter as the the Maroons would eventually pot an empty net goal, this time with Bially blocking a point shot and working the puck to the center ice area before shovelling the puck to Josh Froese and Froese would get it into the Hawks zone and slide home the empty net goal.

#6 Jesse Goertzen watching his shot towards the net as #15 Kevin Giesbrecht looks on from the background and #14 Matt Dyck watches the puck from in front of the net.

 

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up, Rod Neustaer, Chad Wrixon & Ryley Steinert.

50/50 pot - $118 Claimed by Eva Teichroeb of Winkler.

With the Jan. 15 SEMHL player registration deadline now over the Maroons team line up is officially set.   No big surprises or huge changes except for the addition of Jesse Goertzen.  Goertzen had been playing earlier in the season with the Plum Coulee Xpress but things weren't working out between Goertzen and the team so he was let go from their roster and the Maroons have added him to improve the defence core. Goertzen is a young exerienced defenceman having played 4 seasons in the MJHL with several different clubs before playing Sr. hockey with the Xpress and now the Maroons. Fans please welcome Goertzen as he starts to play Maroons hockey!

Coach Woody was happy with another win and remarked afterwords that he was pleased with Lagace's performance and noted that both of our goalies have been playing really, really well. 

#3 Kevin Rempel defending in the slot as #30 Reggie Lagace holds his ground in the Maroons net.

 

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011

Altona Maroons @ Oakville

Carey Dyck records a shut out as Josh Froese leads the charge against Oakville with a hat trick.

Heading into Oakville short a few players the Maroons would get things started in in teh first period as Keith Bially and Jon Froese connected a nice give and go and Jon would feed brother Josh a quick pass in the slot that he would snap past Seals goalie Alex Easton for a 1-0 lead with just under 7 min. to go in the first period.  2 min. later the same trio of forwards would connect and this time it would be Jon Froese with an opportunity on Easton and while his first attempt was stopped Jon picked up his rebound buried it high under the crossbar for the Maroons 2nd goal.  The rest of the period would feature both teams skating well and some good up and down action at both ends of the ice.

In the 2nd period, less then a min. in; Keith Bially would get the puck into the Seals zone and the Froese brothers would pass back forth behind the net with Jon finding Josh in the slot and Josh would score to go up 3-0.  The play continued at is quick pace  until the midway point of the 2nd period when Grant Calhoun would step in from the blueline and fire a hard shot at the net that appeared to have gone in and come out quickly but before the whistle could even be blown Rod Neustater pounced on the puck and slammed into the net for good giving the Maroons a 4-0 lead.  30 sec. later the Froese brothers would connect again and get the puck over to linemate Keith Bially who dangled in the slot and find the back of the net for a 5-0 lead.  The hometown Seals would change their goalie replacing Easton with local tender Ray Lepine but it wouldn't change their fate as Greg Penner would feed Mike Friesen a pass and Friesen would get the puck over to Phil Letkeman who would fire home a goal for a 6-0 lead.  With 39 seconds left in the 2nd period Maroons goalie Carey Dyck tripped up Seals forward Dan Leslie and with the ref's arm ready to call the penalty Leslie would retaliate by throwing punches at Dyck.  Dyck earlier in the period had been tripped up by a Seals player behind the net and no penalty was called on the play which is possibly what started this in the first place.  So with Dyck getting roughed up by Leslie, Rod Neustaeter, Jesse Arbuckle, Greg Penner, Jon Froese and Kevin Rempel all moved in along with the remaining Seals players on the ice and everyone grabbed another player to break up the mess, what happened next was an unexpected on sided fight as Seals forward Luke McGinnis threw off his gloves and started punching Kevin Rempel several times before Arbuckle left his man and pulled McGinnis off of Rempel. Once the officials cleared everyone out of the way, encouragement from Woody Cornelson and Seals President, GM & Coach - Mark Ingram led the officials to order both teams off the ice for an intermission and time to sort out the penalties. 

When the 3rd period started, 39 seconds were added the clock and penalties started with Carey Dyck recieiving the intial 2 min. tripping call.   Dan Leslie received a 2 min. roughing penalty.   Luke McGinnis was assesed a 2 min. instigating penalty (automatic Game Misconduct), 5 min. for fighting and a Game Miscounduct.  Rempel was also assesed a 5 min. fighting penalty and a Game Misconduct and everyone else on the ice was given a 10 min. misconducts.  4 Seals in the penalty box and 4 Maroons in the penalty box and a Maroons 2 min. powerplay to begin the last period.  Just after the Maroons powerplay ended Mike Friesen's point shot would be stopped by Lepine but a husting Matt Dyck would bury the the rebound making it 7-0.  The Seals would take 4 more penalties after Dyck's goal and with just over a min. left on the clock in the game and on the powerplay Josh Froese would score his hat trick from the slot.  Then with 35 sec. left in the game and again on a powerplay Grant Calhoun would send a hard shot toward the net where Brent Toews was positioned and Toews would re-direct the the puck into the next making it 9-0. 

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up - Shea Hamilton, Chad Wrixon, Kevin Giesbrecht and Ryley Steinert.

Coach Woody Cornelson was pleased with the pace the Maroons started the game with and noted that the Seals played an excellent first period against the Maroons.  Carey Dyck's shut out bid was nearly broken twice in the 3rd period. Once at the midway point of the 3rd when Dyck was forced to make a great save with his stick in the crease and later in the dying minutes of the game on a  Seals breakaway.

Taking off just a day, the Maroons will rest and then gear up to face the Notre Dame Hawks this Saturday at home.  Game time as always is 8 p.m.

 

 

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011

Altona Maroons @ Stonewall

 

The Maroons traveled to Stonewall on a cold January night and Shea Hamilton would get things started while the team was serving a 2 min. bench minor Hamilton would beat Flyers goalie Tyler Chatfield with a shorthanded goal 6 min. into the game.  The Flyers would respond when Devon Heggie set up Flyers sniper Adam Kirk who would beat Maroons tender Carey Dyck to even the game up at one apeice.  With just under 5 min. left in the 1st period Keith Bially would score an unassisted goal but once again the Flyers would respond, this time with less then a min. left in the period when Evan Walsh would score on a Stonewall powerplay.

In the 2nd period it would take until the halfway point when Grant Calhoun would feed Shea Hamilton a pass that Hamilton would bury past Chatfield for a 3-2 lead. Just over a min. later Calhoun would get things started on a Maroons powerplay getting the puck to Phil Letkeman with Hamilton waiting in the wings to score, recording his hat trick and putting the Maroons up 4-2.  However the Maroons would find themselves slowing down and taking some more penalties for the remainder of the period and with 8 min. left in the period Byron Scrivens would score narrowing the Maroons lead to 4-3.  Then with less then 3 min. left in the 2nd Evan Walsh would set up Kirk again on the powerplay who beat Dyck to tie the game.  The 2nd period would end 4-4.

Frustrated with a lack of hustle and too many penalties the Maroons coaches let the boys have it between periods and stressed a much better effort in the 3rd period was needed.  The pep talk paid off as the Maroons turned it up and recorded 23 shots on net in the 3rd and took only 2 minor penalties.  Stonewall's Chatfield stood tall in the 3rd turning away the aforementioned 23 shots and Carye Dyck would match Chatfield's efforts turning away the Flyers shots on net.  With the game tied 4-4 after 60 min. it would head to Overtime.  Less then a minute into to the extra frame Matt Dyck would get the puck over to Keith Bially and Bially would find the back of the net to send the road Maroons off the ice winners.

Maroons head coach Woody Cornelson remarked that he was happy to head out of Stonewall with 2 points, but felt that the overall effort in the first 2 periods was sloppy and too many penalties were taken.  Happy with the effort in 3rd period and was very happy with the play of Carey Dyck in net.

Next up for the Maroons will be a road game this Thursday in Oakville.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011

Carman Beavers @ Altona

 

Saturday night the Carman Beavers came to Altona and Justin Froese would find himself in front of Beavers goalie Gavin Callum and he would score to go up 1-0.  The Beavers would reply when their import forwards Dan Ketchen would connect with Dan Boheimer who would beat Maroons goalie Reg Lagace to tie the game.  The score would remain tied after 20 min.  In the 2nd period Ketchen and Boheimer would connect again beating Lagace for a 2-1 lead before League leading scorer Keith Bially would score a powerplay goal set up from defencemen Kevin Rempel and Grant Calhoun.  Halfway through the middle frame Matt Dyck set up Chad Wrixon for a goal and then with just under 2 minutes Bially would set up Wrixon again for his second of the night and a 4-2 lead.

The play in the first two periods was very fast and had the speed and intensity of a playoff game.  In the 3rd both teams slowed down a bit and early on Ketchen set up Boheimer for his 2nd of the game and narrowed the gap to 4-3.  A few minutes later Justin Froese would send Matt Dyck a long pass and Dyck would beat Callum on the stick side making it 5-3.  With less then 2 minutes to play Calhoun sent Chad Wrixon a pass and Wrixon would beat Callum for his Hattrick and putting the game out of reach for the Beavers at 6-3.  However, shortly after Wrixon's hattrick goal the Maroons took a double minor penalty and on the ensuing Beavers powerplay Ryan McIntosh would beat Lagace with just over 30 seconds left in the game making it 6-4, and with the Beavers net empty for an extra attacker the Maroons would score their 7th goal from Grant Calhoun clearing the puck off the glass out of the Maroons zone and it made it the length of the ice into the empty net.

Game notes: Not in the Maroons line up, Mike Friesen, Shea Hamilton & Josh Froese.

Jesse Arbuckle was back in the line up after missing several games with an upper body injury.

Veteran forward Ryan Dyck was released from the Maroons roster in order to pursue the Allan Cup with a spot on the South East Prairie Thunder AAA team.

The next week will be busy with the Maroons travelling to Stonewall on Tuesday, then to Oakville on Thursday before coming home on Saturday, Jan. 15th to play host to the Notre Dame Hawks.

Goalie Reggie Lagace stretching out to make a save with Justin Froese (20) and Kevin Ginter (2) looking on.

Chad Wrixon watching the puck find the back of the net after deking out Beavers goalie Gavin Callum.

Kevin Rempel congratulating goalie Reggie Lagace.

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