Delisle Chiefs Organization Having Busy January

It has been a busy and frustrating start to the new year for the Delisle Chiefs of the Prairie Junior Hockey League, as they were forced to prevent the PJHL’s best players from coming to town for an all-star event thanks to increased COVID cases seen around the league.

The Chiefs returned from the holiday break with a 5-2 win over the Saskatoon Quakers, in what was expected to be a warm-up before the leagues best came to town. That win was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Delisle would not get their chance to host the all-star game. Following the news, the Chiefs were not back in game action until this weekend when they were set for a doubleheader. COVID would strike again as the Regina Silver Foxes postponed their trip to town, but the Chiefs did get some work in yesterday against the last place Southern Rebels.

That game finished 10-2 for the Chiefs as they found the score-sheet early and often in their return to action. The team was led by many multi-point performances, but games from leading scorers Chad Westman and Kyle Heintz collecting 4 and 6 points respectively led the way.

Ditto spoke on his stars producing against the teams they should be.

“We need our first line to score and that’s what they did,” said Ditto about his dynamic duo, “It was good to see. They should do that against the bottom team in the league.”

Heintz’s four goal night against the Rebels shows off why the Chiefs targeted the west central product, and why he along with Westman and another teammate were going to be league all-stars. With the all-star game decision come and gone, Ditto spoke on the leagues move to cancel.

“We probably could have run the game,” started Ditto, who said conversations between teams unveiled that most of the teams had at least one case of COVID, “We took it forward to the league and just thought that every team at that point had a few cases, so bringing in 50 players plus fans and parents from across the province. If something bigger comes out of it? Probably doesn’t look great on the league that we hosted an event that mixed all the teams in the league.”

Ditto still expects the Chiefs to host the next edition of the PJHL all-star game, but not until next year. It would have been an opportunity for Delisle to showcase its game-day operations to the rest of the league, and also for a pair of AA teams who were scheduled to have a special showcase as well.

The Saskatoon Riverkings took on the Northwest Stars, and Ditto said it was nice to see the two teams play in an atmosphere that they could very well end up in one day themselves.

“Going through the rosters there are currently 21 Riverkings players in our league. I think that was kind of an eyeopener for a lot of them realize they might end up in this league.”

There are 13 games left this season for the Chiefs counting their postponed match-up against Regina, and 5 more games in January alone following the slow start to the month. The Chiefs have a chance to secure their spot in the league with a strong end to a busy month, and they will look to do just that beginning this weekend on the road in Fort Knox and Pilot Butte.