It was as good a start as you could get for the Dauphin Clippers hockey team.
Forrest Karlson opened the scoring with his first of three on the night just 1:25 into the game to spark the Clippers to a 5-0 victory over the Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats in the season opener, Saturday in Dauphin.
Karlson added an assist to give him a four-point night and Xander Perih made 17 saves to earn the shutout.
On Sunday in Boissevain, Brayden Budolowski scored twice and added an assist and Ben Miner stopped all 20 shots he faced in a 5-0 victory over the Boissevain/Deloraine/Waskada/Pierson Broncos.
Clippers coach Drew Kulcheski said the Clippers are starting to see some pieces being put together after playing just three preseason games.
“Guys were starting to gel and play some meaningful games together. It was nice to see a full buy-in from the group,” he said.
The team’s resiliency showed in the two contests, with Kulcheski noting the Clippers got into some penalty trouble, Saturday.
“Guys were able to rally around each other. And then Sunday, we were down a few bodies guys were able to have a next-man-up mentality and we picked up where we left off on Saturday,” he said.
“Everybody is playing for the logo on the front of the jersey and it’s starting to bleed into our games.”
Kucheski was pleased with the team’s defensive play, allowing just 37 shots in the two games.
“That was one of our keys going into the season. We had set a standard for ourselves to be under about roughly 23 shots a game. That’s where I would like to be,” he said.
“Not that we don’t have trust in our goalies, but I would like them to face as little shots as possible and just buy into that team defence. If we can get the back end going, it just makes everything on the front end easier.”
Kucheski was grateful for the fan support in Saturday’s season opener.
“It was good to see a lot of people in the rink to support the Clippers to start the year,” he said.
Dauphin plays just one game this week, heading back out on the road Friday, to play the Falcons in Birtle at 7:30 p.m.
Kulcheski expects more of the same kind of effort he saw this past weekend.
“I think we have more to give. I know we’re coming off of back-to-back 5-0 wins, but I think we’re still a ways away from where we need to be,” he said.
“Some guys can get some confidence going into this weekend and start going from there.”