The first weekend that saw games from Friday through until Sunday evening saw a slew of games throughout, with the feature game of the weekend between the Yellow Grass Wheat Kings and the Arcola/Kisbey Combines. A full weekend recap can be found at the bottom of the article.

Both teams had two games over the weekend, Arcola/Kisbey coming off a tough shootout loss to the Kipling/Windthorst Oil Kings on Friday, while the Wheat Kings were riding high after a big 8-1 win the night before over the Midale Mustangs.

Despite looking at the stats coming into the game, scoring would take a while to start as both teams would go back and forth quite a bit, including a penalty kill 12 minutes into the game that saw the Combines get more opportunities with a man down than the Wheat Kings could muster, and Cam Irwin was forced to make a couple nice saves to keep the game at a zero-zero tie. Only seconds after Brendan Vertefeuille left the box, Cole Rooney would wire home his first of the year off the point and give the Wheat Kings the first lead of the game after 14 minutes of play. 

That would be the goal that would get the ball rolling for the Wheat Kings as they would add another goal just over a minute later on a similar play, a screen shot from the defense man at the point, but this time the puck would stop short on the stick of Thomas Carleton who would turn and fire to put the Wheat Kings up two before the end of the period.

Much like the first, the scoring in the second period needed some special teams to get kicked off, though this time it would come only six seconds after the penalty was called. A blatant roughing call on Jeff Houston would cost the Combines as Shelby Grey would get the puck off the faceoff at the point and wire home another screen shot past Keegan Mitchell for the 3-0 score under four minutes into the second, the lone assist going to Tucker Neuberger for winning the faceoff clean.

The period wouldn't get better for the Combines special teams as Neuberger would help the Wheat Kings add two more before the end of it when Neuberger assisted a second power play goal on the second penalty to Jeff Houston when Jessie Watson potted the fourth, and a goal from Neuberger himself on the penalty kill this time on a beautiful two on one feed from Mike Onstad.

As the third period rolled around, the Wheat Kings would hit a milestone on the year when Kyle Crozier would come out from the corner to the right of the Combines' net, make a beautiful toe-drag around the defender in front and fire the backhand over the pad of a sprawling Mitchell to put the Wheat Kings up 6-0 and Crozier's first goal of the game.

Another penalty to the Combines would cost them in the third period, this time only taking nine seconds for Thomas Carleton to get his second of the game. 

The Combines would answer quickly and for the first time of the game however, as off the faceoff Levi Runge would steal the puck from the circle and race into the Wheat Kings zone, wind up, and blast a hard slap shot past Cam Irwin to ruin the shut out and put the Combines on the board.

That's as close as the Combines would get, as Mike Onstad would add two more for the Wheat Kings before the end of the game to finish with a four point night on his own, as well as a 9-1 win for the Yellow Grass Wheat Kings. 

The win puts the Wheat Kings in a tie for the league lead with the Carnduff Red Devils, who share a 3-1 record with the Wheat Kings.

 

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FRIDAY'S GAMES

BIENFAIT @ CARLYLE

On Friday, the Carlyle Cougars broke out of their one-goal-game habit in a big way over a very strong although shorthanded Bienfait Coalers team.

Scoring was started on 19 seconds in when Cougar Captain Ben Johnstone would get the first goal of a very busy period for the Cougars, and five minutes later Billy Greenswood added another tally for the 2-0 lead.

Bienfait would answer just over a minute later thanks to Hunter Piche would get his first of the year, but the wound was already opened and the Coalers couldn't seal it up before the Cougars came back. Three straight goals would all be added for Carlyle before the end of the period from Mitchell Morrison, Johnstone's second of the game, and a third from Cooper Fox for the 5-1 score after 20 minutes.

The teams would go back and forth in the second as Cougars would get another on the board from Mark Shaw six minutes in, and just over a minute later Blaine Herzberg would answer for the Coalers to make it a 6-2 game.

From there, the game would go back to being an all-Cougars-affair as they'd pour four more shots past the only goaltender the Coalers had in the rink and make it a 10-2 game before the end of the second.

After that, the third period would calm down for both teams scoring-wise with only three more goals added to the final score, 2 for the Cougars including a fourth goal of the game for captain Ben Johnstone.

FINAL SCORE: 12-3 Carlyle Cougars

KIPLING/WINDTHORST @ ARCOLA/KISBEY

The two newest teams to the league and as a result the two bottom teams in the league met Friday night for the first of a double header weekend for both teams. 

The first period would see the Oil Kings would break the ice between the two teams early as 1:01 into the game Carson Harcourt would score his first of the season. The Combines would send a reply past Austin Toth soon after as Brett Lees would get Arcola/Kisbey's night rolling, and he'd add another before the end of the period for the 2-1 lead for the Combines after the first.

Not to be outdone, Oil King Harcourt would score his second of the game to tie the game back up 9 minutes into the second, and that would be the only goal of the frame.

The crowd would wait another twenty minutes of play for the tie to be broken when James Shaffer took the lead back for the Oil Kings for the first time since the 4:24 mark of the first period. 

That lead would not hold however, as Brady Third would score the third goal of the game for the Combines and tie the game once more with less 1:33 left in the game.

Overtime would solve nothing, so the game went to a shootout where the Oil Kings would strike on their first shot from Brandon Munro. On their third and final chance to stay in it, the Combines needed a score from Hayden Cutler, and they got it to send the shootout into extra rounds. Two shots later from each team and only Grady Bjork would score, giving the Oil Kings their first win of the year.

FINAL SCORE: 4-3 SO Oil Kings

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SATURDAY'S GAMES:

MIDALE @ YELLOW GRASS

Two teams that got a great start to the season the 2-1 Midale Mustangs and the 1-1 Yellow Grass Wheat Kings duked it out for the Wheat Kings' home opener, and they would not disappoint their home crowd.

The Wheat Kings took the lead 4:14 into the game off the stick of Brendan Vertefeuille, and they would not look back. They'd add another two more to their lead in the second period both from Devin Cobbold, but the third period would be where they'd really find their stride.

Three straight goals from the Wheat Kings would make it a 6-1 game halfway through when Midale's Connor Burk would put the only goal in for the Mustangs. The home team would please the crowd with two more before the end of the period for a 8-1 victory.

FINAL SCORE: 8-1 Yellow Grass

CARLYLE @ CARNDUFF

A game that on paper coming in might've looked like an easy win at first glance for the Carnduff Red Devils would be a little bigger than that when they welcomed the Carlyle Cougars into town. The Cougars had started the season with two close loses against defending champions Redvers Rockets and an overtime loss to the Midale Mustangs, but the Cougars were firing on all cylinders after the big win the night before.

The Cougars got four goals the game before from captain Ben Johnstone, so it's only fitting that he'd start things off for his team 14 minutes into the game. The Cougars would get another one in the second to increase their lead to two thanks to the stick of Nathan Deck.

In the third period, the Red Devils would kick things into gear and put two goals of their own less than a minute apart from Blake McMillen to tie the game up with 13:53 on the clock to play. From their, the two teams would paly in a defensive battle towards the end of the period, and it looked as if the game would head into overtime when Ben Johnstone would strike again with only 16 seconds to play, and the Cougars would knock the Red Devils down for their first defeat of the season.

FINAL SCORE: 3-2 Carlyle

KIPLING/WINDTHORST @ OXBOW

After gaining their first win of the season the night before, the Oil Kings looked to get their first win streak started when they made the trip to Oxbow. The Huskies on the other hand were looking to do the same thing the Oil Kings did the night before, get their first victory of the season, this time at home.

The Huskies would show their bark first when Derek Cooney would score his fourth of the year in just his third game, but the Oil Kings would reply four minutes later thanks to Caley Bjork. Before the end of the period, Taysen Holt would take the lead back for the Huskies, a lead they would not let go of in the back and forth game.

The second period would wait only two minutes for it's first goal, and the teams would exchange four goals in four minutes to bring the game to a 4-3 score. The Oil Kings would tie the game up before the end of the period.

Oxbow would take control of the game once more 10 minutes into the third period thanks to Taysen Holt's second of the game and Derek Cooney's second only a few minutes later. That would be enough to put the game in the books though each team would add another goal before the end of the game and give the Huskies' their first win of the season.

FINAL SCORE: 7-5 Oxbow

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GENERAL NOTES:

The next game in the Big Six Hockey League is this Tuesday when Redvers Rockets are in Carlyle for the second meeting between the two teams this year.

CJ 1150's next broadcast will be this Friday, November 23rd when the Kipling/Windthorst Oil Kings play host to the Wawota Flyers.