Three goals against in two minutes was the beginning of the end for the Klondyke Dental Molars on Wednesday. With a handful of players having a multi-point night, the Performance Centre Turbos downed the Molars 9-3 at Takhini Arena.
Topping the list for goals was Turbo Jason Cunning, scoring his third hat trick in two weeks.
“I’ve matched my goal scoring in the year in the last 14 days,” said Cunning. “It’s the competition with Mr. Dave White of AON (Flames) that spurred me into action. We were pretty much tied for goals about three weeks ago, and we (bet) who would end up with the most goals by the end of the year.”
However, when it came to points, teammate Grant Lyons was head and shoulders above the rest, amassing six points with five assists.
“I can tell you this: Grant got a new snowmobile last week and he’s been out hauling wood 10 straight days with his daughter,” said Cunning. “So he’s in tip-top physical condition, so that may account for his prowess on the ice.
“He’s been solid all year. He makes players on the same line better. So if you play with Grant, you go to the net and good things usually happen.”
With just nine wins under their belt, the Molars are entering the post season in last and will start the playoffs against the top-seeded Medicine Chest Sunday. But according to Molar Ron Daub, they’re right where they want to be.
“We took a strategy early in the season—in fact right after the initial draft at the Edgewater Hotel—we decided our team would take a stand-back approach and underwhelm everybody, lure them into a false sense of security and nail them in the playoffs,” said Daub. “So far it’s worked quite well—we’ve won two or three games all season.
“We’re definitely at the bottom of the pile, so we achieved our goals. And I just want to say to Medicine Chest, Sunday at 4 o’clock, you’re going down.”
Playing with a short bench because “half our team is either in Hawaii or the Dominican Republic,” said Cunning, the Turbos will be playing Yukon Inn in their first play off game on Sunday.
“Yukon Inn has outscored us by about 50 goals over the five or six games we’ve played them,” said Cunning. “We’ll see what happens—maybe half their team is in Hawaii too.”
Kilrich shuts out league leading Medicine Chest
Medicine Chest players were understandably not in a very talkative mood after their game. Not only were the Meds shut out 6-0 against sixth-place Kilrich, the loss marks the team’s first of 2009.
“They scored more goals than us, that’s the main reason we lost,” said Med’s Dean MacKay, facetiously.
Kilrich players, on the other hand, were a little more jubilant and positive.
“It’s great—we’re heading for the top now,” said Kilrich’s Bob Allison, making a prediction for the post season. “We’ll take it in four games.”
Allison had plenty of cause to be positive. After going scoreless for the entire season, Allison not only found the back of the net for the first time, he did it twice and grabbed a pair of assists to boot.
“They put me up forward and fed me all night,” said Allison.
Not only was Allison moved about, all the defence was moved to forward and vice versa.
“It’s just nice to score on (Med’s goalie) Glen Traverse,” said Allison. “We proved that he’s beatable tonight.”
Another player keeping the scorekeeper busy was Mike Blower, who also produced two goals and two assists.
“He played awesome defence and we in the right place at the right time,” said Allison. “He made some nice passes and played a great game.”
Kilrich begins its playoff journey Sunday against the Firth Rangers.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com