The Swan Valley Stampeders stumbled out of the gate, dropping game one of their best-of-seven series Saturday night in Dauphin.
The Stampeders were their own enemy taking way too many penalties and giving the Kings life after a solid opening ten minutes of play.
When the puck dropped it seemed to be a different Stampeder team as they took the play to the Kings, outshooting Dauphin 7-3 through ten minutes of play but, even then, they couldn’t solve Carson Cherepak. It was all good until Trey Sauder took an interference penalty midway through the opening frame and the Kings power play went to work. Colby Jaquet was left completely alone at the side of the goal, scoring his first of the post-season at 11:38 of the first period.
Safe to say it was all Dauphin after that. Nolan Wickham sent a shot on goal from the point at 7:05 of the second period giving the Kings a 2-0 lead. Garrett Hrechka was left all alone in-front of the goal, snapping home his first of the playoffs seven minutes later. Owen Wareham added his first of the post-season, sending a wrist shot on net that handcuffed Kobe Grant with 1:15 left in the middle frame.
Ethan Matchim was assessed a 5 minute major for high-sticking early in the third period, giving the Kings a 5 minute power play. Not only did Swan Valley kill that off and limit the Kings to just a few shots, they scored short-handed. Nicolas Roussel snapped home his first of the post-season at 2:30 into the third period. Colby Jaquet all but iced the game with an empty net marker for his second of the game and the Stampeders fell 5-1 in game one of the MJHL Playoffs.
Final shots on goal
Swan Valley – 28
Dauphin – 46
Game two goes Tuesday, March 29th back in Dauphin. Puck drop at Credit Union Place is set for 7:30 pm. The next two games come back home on April 1 and 4.
Tickets for Game 3 (presented by Kal Tire) and Game 4 are available online at stampedershockey.com or at Patty’s Sports Excellence.