By battlefordsNOW Staff

Wilkie Outlaws win fourth straight SWHL title

Mar 24, 2018 | 3:06 PM

It wasn’t that difficult for the Wilkie Outlaws to wrap up their best-of-five finals with the Kindersley Red Lions, as they completed the sweep Friday night with a convincing 10-2 win for their fourth straight league championship.

The victory means the Outlaws managed a perfect 8-0 in their 2018 Sask West Hockey League playoff run, the second straight time they have won the league without suffering a post-season loss. Since joining the SWHL in 2014-15 the Outlaws have won the league title each and every year.

“The way that we won the last two, going undefeated, it’s something you can be proud of,” Outlaws defenceman and coach Derek Keller said. “You probably say the last one you won was the sweetest because you just don’t know if you’ll get another one. A lot of guys on our team are getting older; we’re getting up there in age, so you don’t know how many more of these we’re going to have.”

Although the Outlaws outscored their opponents 61-23 throughout the course of their perfect playoff run, Keller said it was never easy.

“It may seem that way but I know, being on the ice and playing in the games, it wasn’t always as easy as maybe the scores indicated,” he said. “Yeah, we went 8-0 and had some pretty convincing wins, but I don’t think we should be taking anything away from the other teams in the league.”

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Before joining the SWHL, the Outlaws also won back-to-back North Sask River Hockey League titles, making Friday’s win their sixth championship in a row.

Goaltender Jared Herle was named playoff MVP after winning all eight starts and recording a .906 save percentage.

“He showed up and played well every single game — he never had an off-game,” Keller said. “If you’re going to go undefeated in the playoffs, that’s what you need: a guy you can rely on. He allows us to have that confidence in him and allows us to be a little bit more aggressive on the offensive side of the puck.”

Herle was also named a second-team all-star this season for the third time in the last four years.

Friday’s title-clinching win was dominated by Wilkie, as they outshot Kindersley 55-21. Brock Harrison led the way on offence with a hat-trick and an assist. Six other Outlaws had multi-point nights, including former Battlefords North Stars captain Kendall Fransoo.

“We got the early lead, and I think the game kind of got away from Kindersley a little bit, and we ended up with a lot of time on the power play,” Keller said of the title-clinching win. “It was more indicative of the way they played. They started getting into penalty trouble.”

The Outlaws also saw their provincial season come to an end last week but weren’t able to go out on top as they fell in the ‘A’ division North Final to the Prairie Outlaws. Wilkie had to play the deciding third game on the road and came up just short, losing 2-1.

“That was a tough one for us to swallow,” Keller said. “Game three was just a straight out goaltending duel. Our guy [Herle] played really well, but their goalie played amazing. He was probably the difference in the series, not to take anything away from their team. They have a really good team but at the end of the day we just couldn’t get enough pucks by him.”

cjnbsports@jpbg.ca

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