The Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks are headed to the Tiger Hills Hockey League finals while the Virden Oil Kings’ successful season has come to a close.
The C-Hawks beat Virden 3-0 in the THHL West Division finals. They will now tangle with the Killarney Shamrocks, who got past the Gladstone Lakers, 3-0. A schedule for the finals was not available at the Empire-Advance’s deadline. In their lone regular season meeting, the C-Hawks fell 10-5 to Killarney. Both teams finished with 16-2-0-0 records.
Miniota-Elkhorn wrapped up its division finals series on Wednesday night with a 9-4 victory. The contest had been slated to be played in Elkhorn, but an ice plant issue caused it to be moved to Hamiota.
Game One
C-Hawks 8, Oil Kings 4
The C-Hawks won game one, 8-4, on March 8. Miniota-Elkhorn led 1-0 after the first period and built up a 5-0 lead in the second until the Oil Kings responded with three straight goals. One more C-Hawks’ marker made it 6-3 at the second intermission.
Taylor Sanheim netted a hattrick for Miniota-Elkhorn. Stacy Lowes scored twice, while Shawn Bowles, Drayton Shiner, and Brad Bowles also had goals. C-Hawks goalie Cory Gardham made 14 saves.
Virden netminder Tristin Rinn stopped 35 shots. Scoring for the Oil Kings were Ty Lewis, Jeremy Johnson, Devon LeBlanc, and Colin Cook. LeBlanc had four points, while Lewis had three.
Game Two
C-Hawks 6, Oil Kings 2
On the road on Match 10, the C-Hawks grabbed a 2-0 first period lead with goals by Brad Bowles and Zeanen Ziemer. On a powerplay early in the second period, Oil Kings forward LeBlanc cut the Miniota-Elkhorn lead to one, 2-1. Less than two minutes later, Sanheim boosted the C-Hawks’ advantage back to two. Then Brad Bowles scored his second goal of the day to give his squad a 4-1 advantage at the second intermission.
Early in the third, Colin Cook scored for the Oil Kings. Goals by Tanner Kyle and Shawn Bowles capped the scoring.
Twins Brad and Shawn Bowles each had three points while older brother Jason recorded two. Gardham stopped 25 shots. Rinn made 30 saves.
Game Three
C-Hawks 9, Oil Kings 4
In Hamiota on March 13, the teams battled to a 4-4 deadlock after 20 minutes of play. Gardham and the C-Hawks prevented the Oil Kings from scoring the rest of the way. Miniota-Elkhorn scored three times in the second period and twice in third.
Gardham finished with 20 saves. Rinn stopped 34 shots.
Jason Bowles and Brad Bowles each had two goals. Also scoring for Miniota-Elkhorn were Tanner Kyle, Ziemer, Shawn Bowles, Kyle Lougheed, and Sanheim. Ziemer recorded four assists to post five points on the night, while Brad Bowles had four points.
Tanner Hepp lit the lamp twice for Virden. He finished with three points. LeBlanc and Joel Cosens had the Oil Kings’ other goals.
