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sports
Weyburn Review, Weyburn, Saskatchewan -- July 14, 2021
Kicking the ball away from the net
Review Photo 4304 – Greg Nikkel
Burn City player Arliss Sidloski took the ball away from the front of her team’s net, during the first night of Weyburn Soccer’s adult soccer league on July 6 at Jubilee Park.The summer league has three adult teams and an Under-17 team who will play every Tuesday night until the end of August. The final score was 4-3 for the red team.
Red Wings coach shares philosophy, experiences as player By Greg Nikkel Rich Pilon shared his thoughts on coaching and experiences of getting to play in the NHL after being drafted as a midget player, as he spoke via Zoom to the Weyburn Rotary Club on Thursday. Pilon lives in Saskatoon in the off-season, and as the head coach and general manager of the Weyburn Red Wings, he is preparing for a new hockey season in the SJHL, which is set to start play on Sept. 24. As an NHLer, he played 15 years for the New York Islanders and the Rangers, and his son has been drafted by the Washington Capitals. As a coach and GM of Weyburn’s Junior A hockey team, he notes there are some big differences in how players are coached now compared to when he played hockey, and he laid
out his desire to be the best coach he can be. “Being an ex-pro guy, I always tell my players I want to do everything I can that I didn’t like as a player, and just be a better communicator with the parents and players and be as blackand-white as I can with them, out of respect for me and them,” he said, noting they live in a different era now than when he played. “A lot of players are just more educated than when I grew up and played hockey. My dad coached me for a long time. … In today’s game, kids skate basically year-round. A lot of kids have that drive, and it might be good or bad. Some agree, some don’t agree, but I’m pretty neutral on it,” said Pilon. He pointed out he was one of two players who were drafted into the NHL
out of midget hockey at age 15. “I just wanted to play in the NHL, and sometimes ignorance is bliss, and that’s really what it was for me. I didn’t know, and my dad didn’t know, the pecking order or the depth chart of a midget triple-A or junior hockey,” he explained. The challenge in coaching today, added Pilon, “is trying to treat these young men as much as I can all the same. They’re all different, but when it comes to a hockey team and winning, it comes to my getting them to believe in themselves and in each other and in the coach. That’s where the really good coaches have success, because when I coach … in today’s hockey world it’s kind of, ‘what do I get if I do that?’ You’re always in negotiations with them. You can’t rule with an
iron fist any more, the kid will just quit, and if you’re caught in a lie, you’re done, you’ve lost the room. So you have to be really honest with them, which is sometimes hard because you’re telling them stuff they don’t want to hear, and that’s the hard part of coaching.” Relating how he came to Weyburn, which he admitted he didn’t very much about prior to coming here, he noted that a former Weyburn coach and educator, Darren Larson, told him he should apply for the Red Wings coaching position. Pilon did apply, and found it difficult when he came and several people associated with the team quit, including coaching staff and former GM Ronnie Rumball. “It’s all worked out, and I enjoy coaching,” he said,
noting he will be bringing in players he’s been able to recruit for the upcoming season, with only one or two players left from when he first came in 2019. “There’s been a bit of a revolving door, which was not the plan,” he said, noting that he’s had to sell himself and sell Weyburn as a good place to come play hockey. The result will be a good team this fall, he said. “If you see us play, you’ll see a very different class of players. They’re players that could have gone elsewhere, but my strength is recruiting.” Pilon noted the Red Wings have a lot of history as a team, but the level of success has fallen off in the last few years, so he wants to get the team back on that road again. “The job of myself and the coaching staff
is to create a team that’s not only good on the ice, but is good around the community,” he said, adding there are only two things he cares about: “I care about how hard you work, and I care about how you treat other people. If you do these two things, you will never have a problem with me.” Pilon added that he wants to create a classy organization, as the players are not just representing themselves, they’re representing the team and their families, and the name on the back of the jersey. He said later the Red Wings will have some 33 or 34 players come to training camp this fall, but they will only have room for 24 or 25 guys on the roster, “so we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re going to be competitive, I believe we’re going to be a playoff team.”
SJHL to feature full 58-game season for 2021-22, starting Sept. 24 The puck will drop on the 2021/22 SJHL season starting on Friday, Sept. 24, and will feature a full 58-game schedule. All 12 of league’s representing teams will be in action for a home-and-home set on opening weekend. For the Weyburn Red Wings, this will be with the Melville Millionaires, starting in Weyburn on the 24th. After attempting to utilize a North/South Division split in the cancelled 2020/21 campaign, the SJHL will return to its more familiar three-div-
ision format in 2021/22. Weyburn will play in the Viterra Division, along with Estevan, Melville and Yorkton. The top eight teams regardless of where they finish within their division will advance to the SJHL playoffs. Each team will play their natural rival 10 times throughout the season and every other team within their division eight times. Teams will then face off against the remaining eight teams from across the league four times
apiece, rounding out the 58-game regular season. All 12 SJHL teams will have an opportunity at showcasing their skills in front of fans and scouts alike when the SJHL Showcase returns to the Legends Centre in Warman, from Oct. 4-6. Each team will play two regular season games (one home, one away) throughout the three-day hockey filled extravaganza. After three consecutive and successful years of Saskatchewan hosting the
Trying to gain possession of the ball
annual all-star event, the SJHL/MJHL Showcase will head across provincial borders and into Manitoba, where the top players representing each league will square off at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex in Winnipeg. The event, which features two veteran teams and one young guns team from each league, will take place on January 25-26, 2022. The regular season will conclude on Sunday, March 6, 2022. Weyburn’s last season game
Review Photo 4784 – Greg Nikkel
Players from the Weyburn U11 Rattlers and Regina tried to get possession of the ball, during the Rattlers’ inaugural field lacrosse game on Friday evening at Jubilee Park. The two teams went back and forth throughout the evening scoring on each other, and in the end, the Rattlers won by a score of 14-13.
is on March 5 at home against Estevan. Following the conclusion of the 2021/22 regular season, and the subsequent two rounds of the SJHL Playoffs, the SJHL Championship Finals is slated to begin on Friday, April 8, 2022. The SJHL Championship team will then advance to take on the champion representing the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in the
ANAVET Cup. The bestof-seven series is scheduled to start on Friday, April 29th, 2022. After the conclusion of the ANAVET Cup, the SJHL, and more specifically, the Estevan Bruins will host the National Junior-A Championships, better known as the Centennial Cup. Tournament play is scheduled to begin in Estevan on Friday, May 20, 2022.
Iron Pigs take doubleheader over Capitals The Weyburn Iron Pigs travelled to Regina for a doubleheader against the Capitals on Friday, and came away with two wins to give them a record of 3-2-1 so far. The Iron Pigs won by scores of 9-6 and 7-4 to add to their win column. In the first game, Weyburn got all of their runs in the first three innings, with two each in the first and second frames, and five runs in the third to clinch the win. For Iron Pigs hitting, Troy Miller had two runs and three hits; Mike Onstad had one run, one hit and three RBIs; Luke Niemegeers had one hit and one RBI; Will Morris had one hit and two RBIs; Kelton Hoium had one run and one RBI, and Cam Evans had one run, one hit and two RBIs. Eric Evans was on the mound for the entire seven innings for the Pigs, al-
lowing 14 hits and six runs, and getting seven strikeouts. In the second game, Weyburn scored two runs in the second inning, one in the fourth and four runs in the sixth inning to clinch the win. In the scoring department, Miller had one run, two hits and one RBI; Onstad had one run, two hits and two RBIs; Niemegeers had a hit, a run and an RBI; Morris had one run, two hits and two RBIs, including a home run; and R. Kolke had one RBI. Ethan Orsted pitched for five innings and James Giroux pitched the sixth, with Orsted getting the win with four strike-outs, and allowing five hits and four runs. The Iron Pigs next home game will be part of the Weyburn Fair Days, as they will play on Friday, July 16 at Tom Laing Park at 7:30 p.m.