The Davidson Cyclones senior hockey team beat the Nokomis Chiefs 7-4 last Wednesday at home giving them their fifth straight win, eighth in their past nine and a serious shot at securing a first or second place finish when playoffs roll around next month.
“Lately we’ve been playing really good as a team and we’ve had a good couple weeks,” said Cyclones goaltender Mark Zoerb, who stopped 34 Nokomis shots in the win. “This time of year you’ve got to come prepared or you’re going to get beat and nobody wants to lose.”
Cyclones captain Derek Allan once again led the offence against the Chiefs picking up two goals and two assists, which give him 14 goals and 46 points on the season placing him one point back of Chiefs captain Brett Leedahl despite playing three fewer games. Not to be outdone on the score sheet was Davidson forward Brett Siroski who also potted two in the victory while picking up a couple assists.
“It was a good game,” said Cyclones coach Jason Shaw. “We were both short players. I think Nokomis had two lines and an extra and we had two lines and one guy got hurt halfway through, Chad Manz has a bad ankle, so it was nice to get the win and keep our winning streak going.”
The win gives Davidson (11-6-1) 23 points placing them in a third-place tie with the Watrous Winterhawks and two points back of the league leading Lanigan Pirates. As of press time, the Cyclones have four games remaining with two of those coming against Watrous and one versus Lanigan.
“If we win out we’ll be in first place, but if we win three out of four we should be somewhere around first or second depending on what everybody else does,” said Shaw. “It would be nice to get first to have home ice advantage in the playoffs, but we’ll just see how it goes.”
Zoerb said the last four games are huge for the team as they get ready for league playoffs at the start of February and also their first round match-up versus the Kindersley Red Lions in a provincial A showdown.
“We’ve played really good the last couple weeks and put ourselves in a good position,” he said. “If we win all the games we’ll get first place and I think it would be great to have a bye in the first round (of league).”
To read more please see the January 20 print edition of The Davidson Leader.