Coming off a Senior B provincial title last year and two straight Senior C championships before that, the Wilkie Outlaws have moved up to the Senior A ranks in their quest for another banner.
So far, they are finding themselves in a tightly contested battle with the Meadow Lake Broncos.
After dropping a wild 6-5 affair to the Broncos in Meadow Lake Saturday, the Outlaws rebounded with a 5-2 triumph in Wilkie Sunday to tie up their best-of-three series at a game each.
“Meadow Lake has good goaltending, a strong defence and a number of offensive forwards,” Outlaws forward Garrett Cameron said.
“When you have all three working it makes for a pretty tough battle, and that’s what we expected against these guys.”
Both teams will square off again in Meadow Lake Saturday, with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals against either the Lanigan Pirates or the Prairie Outlaws from Waldheim.
“We need to be ready to go and make sure that we are doing the little things right,” Outlaws goaltender Jared Herle said.
“We can’t be too cute out there as you can’t get away with efforts that aren’t strong from start to finish when it’s provincials.”
Herle was impressive in goal in Sunday’s win, as he made a number of dramatic saves in the third period as the Broncos tried to claw their way back.
“Meadow Lake has a lot of big guys that clog up your vision, which makes for a few challenges on shots from the point,” Herle said.
“Our guys were able to tie up their sticks and they were working a lot harder in front of the net, which was a big difference from our first game against them.”
Cameron led the way up front for the Outlaws with two goals and an assist, while Rory Gregoire had a goal and an assist.
Andrew Herle and Brock Harrison also scored in the victory.
“We came out kind of flat in Meadow Lake and we fell back a little bit too far to make a comeback,” Cameron said.
“We were a lot better today in getting pucks out and working hard in the corners. We also had the lead coming into the third period, which is huge at this time of the year.”
The Outlaws, who finished first in the Saskatchewan West Hockey League standings this season with a 17-1 record, are currently waiting to see who they will face in the league playoffs, as they had a bye in the SWHL first round.
The Macklin Mohawks hold a 1-0 series lead over the Biggar Nationals in their best-of-three series, with game two taking place in Biggar Wednesday night.
The Luseland/Dodsland Mallards will look to complete a sweep of the Kerrobert Tigers Saturday in Kerrobert, while the Kindersley Red Lions hold a 1-0 advantage over the Eatonia Huskies ahead of a Sunday afternoon contest in Eatonia.
