The Red Wings made it two straight wins to open up the season using home ice advantage to skate to a 5–2 win. Ben Hiltz and Sean Olson had a pair of goals each and Riley Lamb made 38 stops to help lead the team to victory.
It was a much faster start to the game for Weyburn who jumped out to a 1–0 lead midway through the opening period on Hiltz’s first goal of the night. The powerplay marker from the high slot was his third goal of the season and assisted by Cade Kowalski and Garrett Szeremley. Hiltz would double-up just 71 seconds with a goal in close, notching his sixth point of the season with his linemates Kowalski and Jordan Kazymyra picking up the helpers.
“Whenver you get off to a hot start it’s always great, especially when the teams rolling — that’s always the best part about it. If you can score goals and get wins, it’s getting a great start to the season,” Hiltz said.
Olson would get his first goal of the year before the end of the opening period and the Red Wings were in total control with a 3–0 lead and outshooting Melville 13–12. Lamb made a couple tough stops to perserve the shutout through 20 minutes.
Another powerplay goal from the Wings in the middle frame made it 4–0 with Olson scoring his second of the night on a five-hole shot from the slot. Connor Pyne and Kazymyra picked up their second assists on the night on some great work in the offensive zone.
Melville would get one back with under nine minutes to go in the second period. A bad offensive zone turnover allowed a Millionaire to sneak in behind the Wings defence, catch a breakaway pass and tuck it through the legs of Lamb. Other than a few missed asignments, the defence as a whole played a more sound game compared to the season opener.
Later on, some great work on the penalty kill by Burke Johnstone and a huge blocked shot by Rhett Frey eventually led to a Will Cruise shorthanded break that he made no mistake on. His first snipe of the season restored the four-goal lead for the red and white.
Playing with a sense of urgency, Melville made a bit of a push in third period. Tyler Pryhitka unloaded a rocket of a slapshot from inside the blue line that beat Lamb over the glove to cut the lead to 5–2. The 20-year-old netminder would shut the door on all other 15 shots he faced in the final period. The Wings would push for a sixth goal, but fellow 20-year-old goalie Colby Entz made some fantastic saves to keep the Millionaires in it.
The final buzzer sounded with another victory for the home team and all 702 in attendance witnessed another solid Red Wings performance. Special teams was a huge factor, with Weyburn going 2–7 with the man advantage. They also killed off all six Melville opportunites and added a shorthanded goal as well. A much better start for the Red Wings allowed them to find their feet early and not have to panic and play catch up.
“That’s [slow start] one thing coach said to the boys after the first game. We really picked it up tonight,” Hiltz said. “I thought we were really pushing the pace for the first 10 minutes there and throughout the game too. It’s always nice to get a start like that, it helps get the win.”
