I hope everyone had a great Christmas because I sure did. I just returned back to Kindersley late Wednesday night after a long and awesome holiday back home in Edmonton. A nice long break really does wonders in terms of motivation. Relaxing for a while really lets you sit back and think about your current situation, for me the break really helped me get motivated to get back to Kindersley and put in work from a media standpoint to the best of my abilities. I'm back and ready for the final stretch of the SJHL season.
At this point Kindersley is not out of playoff contention, they have 19 games remaining and are currently 8 points back of Notre Dame for the final Sherwood playoff spot. Notre Dame also has 19 games remaining on their schedule as well. The best news for Kindersley's playoff hopes is that they still have 3 meetings this season with the Hounds. 2 of those games are in Wilcox and 1 in Kindersley. That's all in the future though as Kindersley has been practicing this week in preparation for this weekends action. Kindersley will host Weyburn tonight and Yorkton on Saturday.
Tonight's pre game blog is brought to you by:
VSFirst off at a quick glance it would appear that Kindersley had the longest Christmas break in the SJHL. The Klippers last contest dates all the way back to December 20th when they fell just short against Humboldt by a score of 3-2. Like I mentioned above the break really motivated myself, and you would think a long break like that really motivates a player to get back and play as hard as possible for the duration of the season. I had a quick chat with Travis Geislinger at the team gym yesterday and he said he had a good Christmas but he was more than ready to get back to work. I would assume most of the players feel the exact same way.
Tonights game is a big test for Kindersley against the Sherwood's best Weyburn Red Wings, a squad that has beat Kindersley in all 3 meetings so far this season. Weyburn currently has a strangle hold on the Sherwood Division as they sit 13 points above Yorkton and Melville for 2nd spot. Having said that it hasn't been the start to 2012 that you would expect from Weyburn. They have dropped back to back games in the new year losing 3-2 to Estevan on New Years Day and 6-2 to Melville on the 3rd.
In terms of Kindersley we all know this season to this point has been a struggle. They are 9-27-2-1 on the campaign and 2nd last overall in the SJHL. The first portion of the season seen alot of trades being made as the organization turned focus to a rebuild. There still will likely be a few more moves to come with the January 10th trade deadline on the horizon, but at this point the players can really treat these next 19 games as a fresh start. The team in my mind started to show alot of positive strides over the last few games of 2011 and you would think that would carry into 2012. Tonight I expect to see a ton of jump from this well rested Klippers squad.
A few players I think the long break will really benefit are Tanner Kissick, and Brennen Bosovich. Both players have been battling nagging injuries all season long and should come back more healthy then any point so far this season. Another player who benefited from the break is veteran forward Taylor Wasden. Wasden is back skating with the club and is very close to returning. I am not sure if he is able to go tonight but I hope to find out shortly this morning.
One player however who wont be playing for Kindersley tonight or tomorrow is Wheaton King. King was picked up over the holidays by the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western Hockey League. In 3 games with Moose Jaw, King picked up 1 assist. With Howden coming back to Moose Jaw from the World Juniors and Hansen and White returning from the World Under-17 Challenge in Windsor, you would think that would mean King will likely be sent back to Kindersley shortly. I have heard from a few people that King could be back to Kindersley as early as Sunday. I cant confirm anything at this point but if Moose Jaw likes what they seen from King during his time there, then maybe he will get a longer look.
Should be an exciting weekend of hockey here in Kindersley. I hope to see you down at the WCEC but if you cant make it you can catch the web cast with pregame at 7:20 http://sjhl.neulion.com/sjhl/
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