Last night the Nipawin Knights made their first appearance in Tisdale for this season and lost to the high riding Ramblers 6 - 3. Luc Simoneau, Jordan Spagrud, Scott Homstol, and Neil Elmslie each got a goal and Shane Magnus put in two and had three assists. Chad Olson helped out with three assists while league leading scorer Scott Homstol assitted with two goals. It was a team effort as Brad Kirland and Ryan Turcott also were in there with assists.
Nipawin's goals were scored by Shannon Appenmaier, Chris Levitsky and Mike Thorley. Levitsky's goal late in the second period was one of those picture goals from the right face off circle over a downed defenseman and just over Jon Hamlin's shoulder.
It was not an easy win for the Ramblers but then this season few games are easy as the league is well balanced and each of the teams have a lot of young and aggressive skaters. Nipawin's team has several former junior players and has only a few veterans on its roster. They played an excellent skating game keeping up with the Ramblers free wheeling fast skating pace. There were only twelve penalties in the whole game which is fairly typical of games this year with emphasis on skating, passing and putting together combination plays. Curtis Parkinson in the Nipawin Net and Jon Hamlin in Tisdale's are the sort of goalies that require a team to work for
every goal
and as you can seeboth goalies and players have to scramble to make things happen.
Friday night the Ramblers jumped on the Hudson Bay Hunters who are a slower moving team and the mobility of the Ramblers had them at a real disadvantage. But to make matters worse for the Hunters Jordan Spagrud went on a scoring spree. Jordan is really a quick and shifty player able to dodge and deek in the oppositions end. Six goals in one game and two of them in one shift moved him to second place behind Scott Homstol in the league's scoring race. Al Leblanc, Scott Homstol and Ryan Hudon put in the other goals. That game had only seven penalties handed out.
A week ago Friday, January 7, the Ramblers scored a 6 - 2 victory over the Mistatim Warriors who the week end before had won here in overtime. The Ramblers will be on the ice once again this coming Thursday night against the fast skating Nipawin Knights, that game is at 8:30 then a week from tonight Mistatim will be back in town for an 8:15 game.