The Delisle Chiefs are back on the ice tonight for the first time since December 18th, as they welcome the Saskatoon Quakers to town. The Chiefs bring a 12-10-3 record into the new year, and will look to pickup a win ahead of a free weekend after the PJHL all-star game was cancelled earlier this week.

In between the team’s return to action tonight and all-star game news, captain Chad Westman received some recognition from the league.

As you can see Westman sits sixth in league scoring following his impressive month of December, and will need to keep that trend going if his team wants to continue their climb up the standings in the second half. 

PJHL Standings Jan 4 2021PJHL Standings as of January 4th, 2022

It must be easy for Westman to excel when he feels so comfortable with his team. The Chiefs love having Westman around, and the player must feel the same way as he has played his entire junior career in Delisle. One reason for the mutual respect is that the team has been kind to their captain over the years. The team played an exhibition at Westman’s hometown rink in Dodsland earlier in the year, something not out of the ordinary since Chad became a key component of the team.

“Dodsland is awesome. It’s something we’ve done the last five years simply because that is where Westman is from,” said Chiefs Head Coach and General Manger Eric Ditto.

The west central community does a great job supporting the game and team, and Ditto even mentioned their opponent this year in the Carrot River were alright with going the extra distance to play in a fun road atmosphere. 

It is their captain’s last year of Junior B, but Ditto hopes they can continue making the trip to Dodsland, as perhaps it could be a rivalry ground for match-ups between Delisle and the currently idle West Central Rage.

“Even if the Rage aren’t back, teams know the reputation of us going to play out there and have heard it’s a good atmosphere,” said Ditto, who then shared this about the Dodsland facility, “It’s got some character. It’s loud. Everything echoes in there, it’s a tin building for sure. I wouldn’t say its a barn but it’s definitely a tin building with a small town feel. It’s loud and it’s fun to play in there.”

It ended up in a loss, but the night was another great spectacle for the team and league.

Back to the cancellation of the all-star game that was set for this weekend, league officials must not have felt safe gathering players from across the provinces with growing COVID-19 numbers. Everything was set to go, including a U18 AA match-up, to only be cancelled less than a week out.

The Chiefs confirmed the news with a retweet of the leagues decision on Monday, and West Central Online will look to have more on the decision following tonight's game.

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