The SVRSS Tigers hockey team started, and finished, their championship series this past weekend. When it was over, the Tigers walked away as champions of the Consolation side of the Westman High School Hockey League (WHSHL) playoffs.
The Tigers kicked off the finals by hosting the H-R-E-S Huskies - who are based out of Hamiota - last Thursday night (March 24). By Sunday night, the season was over, capping off a run of championship seasons by Swan Valley-based teams.
Huskies 1, Tigers 7
Following a tight opening 20 minutes that saw the two teams exchange goals, the Tigers opened the game up in the second period before coasting to the lopsided win.
Hamiota actually opened the scoring just 4:16 into the contest as Tanner Mervyn scored his 17th of the season, giving the visitors their only lead of the game.
Just over four minutes later, Brady Burg-hart pounced on a rebound for his 13th on the campaign. Assists went to Tavyn Boychuk and Kyle Graham.
The score stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until the 13:48 mark when senior forward Nick Baskier scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
Wyatt Rose picked up the only assist on Baskier’s 20th of the season.
Sammy-Jo Moshenko banged home a rebound to add to the lead just over 30 seconds later, scoring her second of the season, with assists going to Baskier and Rose.
Then, with just over two minutes to play in the second period, Boychuk picked up his second goal since joining the team earlier this month, giving the host Tigers a commanding 4-1 lead going into the second intermission.
Graham and Bailey Hunt picked up the assists on the Boychuk marker.
The third period started like the second ended, with Noah Weir pushing the lead to 5-1, just thirty seconds in.
For Weir, the goal was his 10th on the season, with assists going to Tyan Mykula and Kash Henkelman.
Graham would follow that up with his 10th of the year as well, with the lone assist going to Burghart.
Finally, Mykula’s 19th of the season, unassisted, would round out the scoring with 5:45 to play.
The Tigers outshot the Huskies by a 37-26 margin, yet Tigers netminder Nate Immerkar made several key saves in the contest while earning the win.
Despite being a fairly chippy game, the only two minor penalties called went against the Huskies.
Tigers 3, Huskies 4 (OT)
Hitting the road with a chance to wrap up the consolation final, the Tigers scratched and clawed their way to as close as it gets, dropping an overtime thriller, forcing the winner-take-all final game.
The Tigers went down 2-0 just Zane Dyck and Mervyn Tanner beat Immerkar in the game’s opening nine minutes.
But, Tavy Boychuk’s second goal in as many games (assist to Baskier) and Rose (Boychuk Graham) scored less than three minutes apart, tying the game heading into the first intermission.
Tucker Thompson, another AP for the Tigers, scored his first in a high school uniform less than two minutes into the middle period, bringing visiting fans to their feet.
Graham, and Boychuk with his third point of the game, drew the assists on the Thompson marker.
When Brett Melnyk tied the game for the Huskies with 10:58 to play in the second period, no one would have guessed the score would stay tied for the next 30+ minutes.
It wasn’t until a Shayne Hutchings goal with 7:34 to play in the opening overtime period that a winner would be declared.
The Tigers were handed five of the game’s 11 minor penalties. The host Huskies outshot the Tigers by a 25-21 margin.
Huskies 3, Tigers 5
Getting over the disappointment of not wrapping the series up on Friday night in Hamiota, the Tigers came out a determined bunch in the winner-take-all game three.
After a scoreless opening 13 minutes, the two teams broke out for four goals in a span of just over two minutes.
Noah Weir’s 11th of the season (assists to Rose and Mykula) and Tavyn Boychuk’s fourth (assists to Graham and Jack Mullin) scored 13 seconds apart to give the host an instant 2-0 lead.
Just 35 seconds later, the Huskies cut the lead in half on a goal by Garrett Kent.
But with just under five minutes to play in the opening period, Rose, with an assist to Mykula, found the back of the net, giving the SVRSS a 3-1 lead going into the second period.
Mykula scored his 20th on the season at the 17:03 mark, giving the Tigers a comfortable 4-1 lead. The assists on the goal went to Henkelman.
The momentum that goal should have provided though was quickly lost when Mykula was called for boarding just 13 seconds later.
They may not have scored on the ensuing power play, but that penalty seemed to spark the visitors who started to tilt the ice.
Shortly after the penalty expired, Huskies captain Zane Dyck scored twice in a four minute span, cutting the Tigers lead to 4-3 with half a game to play.
The score stayed that way until Mykula iced the game away with his second of the contest with 7:31 to play. Nick Baskier and Chad Brightnose picked up the assists on the Tigers insurance goal.
Likely hoping to coast to the consolation championship, instead, all hell broke loose with 4:44 to play.
Boychuk who went hard to the net got banged in a collision with both the goalie and post. The Huskies came to the defence of their goalie and plenty of frustrations were taken out by both teams.
In the end though, the Tigers would hang on winning the game 5-3, and the WHSHL’s consolation side championship.
Nate Immerkar made 25 saves in the win while the Tigers fired 36 shots at Huskies goalie Sawyer Mitchell.
Of the 13 minor penalties called, the Tigers were given eight of them.
Tiger tails
The Tigers graduate a handful of players in goaltender Kristen Moshenko, defencemen Brittan Yaschyshyn and Chad Brightnose, along with forwards Nick Baskier and Kyle Graham... Both home games in the championship were very well attended, with crowds well in excess of 300 fans ... Tavyn Boychuk had to be taken to hospital after the late-game collision. No word on his condition as of press time.
