The Dauphin Clippers ended the Westman High School Hockey League regular season in seventh place after winning two of three over the weekend.
The Clippers began the weekend with a 12-0 route over the Deloraine/Hartney Colts, Thursday in Dauphin.
Matthew Zurba led the way with two goals and two assists and Cole Delamare also had a four-point effort with a goal and three assists. Logan Chapman, Jaymen Fee and Linden Smigelsky also scored twice, while Austyn Roos, Liam Chartrand and Jake Kuzmiak added singles.
Owen Chubka stopped all 12 shots he faced to record the shutout. Colts goalie Ethan Williams was a bit busier, finishing with 52 saves.
On Friday in Minnedosa, Zurba and Braydyn Paskaruk each scored once and added an assist to lead the Clippers to a 3-1 win over the Chancellors.
Landon Brown had the other Dauphin goal, while Victor Lamb scored for Minnedosa. Cody Coombs stopped 25 shots to record the win, while Minnedosa’s Daylan Hunter made 37 saves.
On Sunday in Brandon, the Vincent Massey Vikings scored a 2-1 win in the season finale for both teams.
Porter Ewert and Hudson Brosseau scored for the Vikings, while Logan Chapman tallied for Dauphin. Matt Stephens had 38 saves for Vincent Massey and Chubka made 28 saves for Dauphin.
The Clippers finish the regular season with a 20-10-2-2 record for 44 points, good for seventh place.
Clippers manager Jason Alf was pleased with the team’s season. He admits he and the coaching staff did not realize until the last few days that the Clippers had a chance to finish with the fewest goals allowed.
“We only had a couple games that we lost by more than a goal. All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how things went,” he said, adding he did not realize how young the Clippers are with only two Grade 12 players. “I like how things have gone this year and I really like how we’re set up for the next couple of years.”
Dauphin will face Russell’s Major Pratt Trojans in the quarterfinals, which will begin, Mar 14, in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., with game two in Russell, Mar. 16. Game three, if necessary, has yet to be scheduled.
The Clippers will have their work cut out for them. The Trojans finished with a league-high 233 goals, led by Luke Decorby’s 53 goals and 109 points.
Major Pratt had eight players finish at more than a point-per-game pace and had six players with more than 20 goals and three with more than 30.
“We’ve got to keep playing our defensive game. But we’ve got to try and convert some more offence. If we had a point that we need to work on it’s offence,” Alf said. “We’ve outshot a lot of teams. Even last night in Vincent Massey, against that high-powered team, we outshot them and lost 2-1. But we’re going to have to play well defensively and really limit mistakes, because they’re a team that can really take advantage of your mistakes.”
