Early advantage for Pee Wee Badgers

The Shaunavon Pee Wee Badgers have a four-goal lead in their provincial “C” total-point series with the Davidson Huskies.

The Badgers gained their early advantage with a 7-3 victory over the Huskies in the opening game of the series Sunday night at the Crescent Point Wickenheiser Centre. Brock Oberle was a one-man wrecking crew for Shaunavon, scoring his team’s first four goals and adding a pair of assists for a six-point night. Oberle opened the scoring just seconds after the puck was dropped to give his teammates a huge early lift. But Travis Griffin responded with a marker for the Huskies in the early going as both teams had goals in the first minute of action. In fact, Oberle and Griffin exchanged a pair of tallies each in the first period as the teams were deadlocked 2-2 after 20 minutes of play. Oberle scored twice more in the second frame as the Badgers pulled out to a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes. Shaunavon continued their onslaught in the third period on goals by Taylor Lind and Jaxson Barton before Davidson replied with a marker of their own by Hunter Wall late in the frame. Lind, however, capped things off for the Badgers with her second goal of the game, this one coming in the final minute of play, giving the Badgers a four-goal cushion heading back to Davidson for the rematch. “Everyone was nervous before the game started, but once the puck dropped they were fine,” admitted coach Devin Floberg. “I thought, overall, we played a pretty good game.” Floberg, however, was quick to point out that Davidson has a strong squad and that his team will have to be prepared for a tough battle back in Davidson on March 1. Playing on the road after a lengthy bus ride will present a challenge for the young Badger team. “This series definitely isn’t over yet,” said Floberg. “But if we show up ready to play we should be okay.” Taylor Lind also had a strong game for the Badgers with a pair of goals and three assists. Tyson Goffinet had two assists for the Badgers and Jenna O’Neil had a single helper. Goffinet and O’Neil play for the Ponteix Penguins but were picked up by the Badgers for their playoff run. Evan Fournier is a third Ponteix recruit. Colt Kornfeld, who normally plays as a forward but had a strong game on defence for the Badgers on Sunday, also picked up an assist. Blake Allan, Nolan Allan, Maguire Scheidt and Derrick Schmidge had assists for Davidson. Badgers netminder Janson Davidson, meanwhile, played a strong game, making a number of good saves to pick up the win for Shaunavon. Huskies netminder Josh Warkentin was tagged with the loss. Shaunavon and Davidson are considered two of the top teams in the Pee Wee “C” division. Sunday’s game was a cleanly played affair with each team only assessed one minor penalty each.

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