Angelo Zol was the calm in the storm for the Weyburn Red Wings on Saturday night in game one of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Canterra Seeds Cup championship series.
The 19-year old provided the steady presence in the crease that the team needed in securing a 2-1 victory to take a 1-0 series lead turning aside 27 of the 28 shots that he faced.
There will be ice packs for some of his defenders who stepped in front of hard shot attempts as the game wore on, too.
Zayden Sadlemeyer’s first of the playoffs opened the scoring for the Mustangs. The speedy winger blew past the Weyburn defender and beat Zol’s low glove to give Melfort a 1-0 lead just 3:37 into the contest.
The Wings didn’t respond until late in the second when Jerome Maharaj beat a defender to the puck and beat Kristian Coombs low to tie the game 1-1.
Ethan Dekay scored the game winner with 6:25 to play after pouncing on an open puck and beating Coombs with a nifty deke, five-hole.
The Wings held on from there to win the game with solid defensive play.
Game two in the series goes Sunday night at 7:30pm from Melfort’s Northern Lights Palace.
The series will shift to Weyburn for games three and four beginning Wednesday.
