The Melville midget Millionaires kicked off the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League playoffs in fine form, dominating the Regina Vics 6-2 in game 1 of the best-of-five series.
Playoffs game 1
Regina Vics 2 at Melville Millionaires 6 (Feb. 19)
The Millionaires and Vics finished fourth and fifth respectively in the SSMHL standings, but the gap looked much wider on this night as Melville’s midget AA squad was dominant to kick off its playoffs.
Luke Nkwama went high to the stick side, picking the corner to give the Mils a 1-0 lead in the first and Matt Turnbull added a short-handed marker to give the Mils a 2-0 lead after the opening frame.
The midget Mils got the contest’s next two goals, with Cam Maier sniping and Tyler Krausher adding a power-play goal.
The Vics would get on the scoreboard late in the second period, but the Mils responded with the game’s next two markers, coming off the sticks of Luke Wyatt and Jaxon Tait in the third.
The Vics would get one more puck past Mils’ netminder Ryley Bunz, who collected the win in the Melville cage.
Turnbull added three assists to count four points in the matchup and Krausher added a couple of helpers with singles going to Nkwama and Dylan Florek.
It was a chippy affair with each team getting whistled for 11 minor infractions.
Estevan Bruins 4 at Melville Millionaires 2 (Feb. 17)
This was a huge game for the Bruins, who needed a victory to leapfrog the Yorkton Terriers into first place in the standings. The game didn’t mean as much for the Mils, who were firmly entrenched in fourth spot, 10 points back of the Weyburn Red Wings but seven ahead of the Regina Vics.
The game was dead even at 2-2 through two frames but the Bruins came alive in the third, notching two goals in the first minute and hanging on for the win.
Nkwama and Wyatt took care of Melville’s scoring while Jaxon Tait, Tyler Pryhitka, Sheydon Woodhouse and Daniel Fiske each drew an assist.
Bunz started in goal for the Mils and took the loss, being pulled after the Bruins’ goals in favour of Aiden Elmy who was on mop up duty.
Estevan was the more penalized team, being assessed seven of 13 minors while the Millionaires picked up the lone misconduct.
Game 2 of the series was slated for Feb. 22 with the teams returning to Melville for game 3 on Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.
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