Following a weekend sweep of the Notre Dame Hounds, it was a disappointing performance for the Weyburn Red Wings. Melville used home ice to skate to a 3–1 win and pick up their second win over the Wings this season. 

Weyburn was sloppy at times and didn't seem to have their legs under them for most of the night. An ugly first perod saw them being outshot 10–2 at one point before a late powerplay woke them up. John Elliott had the lone goal in the first period to give the Mils a 1–0 lead just 4:43 into the game. He finished off a nifty passing play by the Melville top line.

It wouldn't take long in the second for the red and white to tie things up. Sean Olson tallied his sixth of the year on the powerplay just 69 seconds into the middle frame. Dylan McCabe and Riley Lamb drew the helpers — the sixth assist of the year for the Red Wings goaltender. That would be it for scoring for the Wings on this night.

They threw chances at the goal and hit a few posts, and Berk Berkeliev made some tough stops when he had too. The final shot tally was 30–28 in favour of the home team.

Trailing 2–1 in the third period and seemingly not able to generate any significant offensive chances, Ty Brown dropped the gloves in an effort to fire up the boys. He threw some hard lefts in his second tilt of the year and eventually got the helmet of Jaxon Tait off before wrestling him to the ice. For the most part, the Wings were unresponsive and still failed to string together effective offensive zone shifts. 

Luke Nkwama would eventually extend the lead to 3–1 with just under four minutes to go on his second goal of the season. The Wings pulled the goalie and were able to assault the Melville goal but couldn't put a puck past Berkeliev.

With Jordan Kazymyra out of the lineup with injury, coaches Wes Rudy and Jeff Schaeffer were forced to juggle the lines and try some different combinations. The switches continued as they looked for some offence and some gelling between forwards, but it remains a work in progress. With some new faces it will take some time for guys to get used to playing with new linemates in new roles. 

Some good news on the injury front, it appears forward Will Cruise will be back in the lineup this weekend. The 19-year-old veteran forward has been dealing with an upper-body injury for a number of weeks, but could draw back in over the next two games. 

The loss now means the Millionaires have drawn even in the standings with the Red Wings at 18 points. Both sides are now tied for third place, although the Wings do have three games in hand. Next action for the Wings will be this weekend when they head up to Kindersley and Battlefords on Saturday and Sunday for a tough road swing.

You can catch both of those games on the home of Red Wing Radio, BIG106. Game time is 7:30 for both contests.