Yellowhead Midget Chiefs open up regular season

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Published on Friday, October 9, 2015

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The 2015-16 Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League regular season has started for the Yellowhead Chiefs with a road trip to northern Ontario, to take on the Kenora Thistles. The season opener was on Friday, Oct. 2, and would see Kenora earn a 5-4 shootout win over the Chiefs. 

Yellowhead forward Tucker Scantlebury lead the way for the Chiefs, by scoring a hat trick in the season opener. Ryan Heino contributed the other goal, while Riley Lamb stopped 31 of 35 shots he faced in goal.

The following evening, the two team would go at it again and for the second straight night, it would go to a shootout. Once again, it was Kenora who came out on top, with a 3-2 victory. Jacob Tibbatts and Ryan Heino each notched a goal in the losing effort, while Riley Lamb stopped 26-of-28 shots he face in regulation and the five minute overtime for the Chiefs.

The rigorous schedule would catch up to the Chiefs in their third and final game of the weekend, on Sunday, Oct. 4 against the Eastman Selects, who would be victorious by a margin of 5-2.

Ryan Heino scored for the third straight game, while Beniot Mowbray notched his first goal of the year for Yellowhead. Goaltender Reece Jones played his first game of the regular season between the pipes for the Chiefs, stopping 35 of 40 shots that he faced. 

Yellowhead Chiefs coach Craig Geekie said that overall, the team played very well throughout the weekend. 

“It was a solid effort in all three games. It was not the results we wanted obviously, but that will come with time. We had some missed opportunities. There were one or two bounces that didn’t go our way. But, really, those first two games could have gone either way,” said Geekie. “As for Sunday, [against Eastman], I think it was simply a case of fatigue finally catching up with them. They started strong, but as the game progressed the legs were just not there. Overall, I think we deserved a better fate than what we got over the weekend, but with the competition so close across the league, there are no easy games.”

The next game for the Yellowhead Chiefs will be their home opener at the Shoal Lake on Friday, Oct. 9, against the Southwest Cougars. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm