Timberjaks #20 Keestin Danielson drives past a Quakers defender and towards the goal on Sept. 28, 2023. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

A harsh welcome

Quakers greet P.A. Timberjaks into PJHL with 8-1 beat down

Sep 29, 2023 | 12:26 AM

Family, friends, and fans packed Buckland Arena in Red Wing on Thursday to witness the Prince Albert Timberjaks play in their inaugural game in the Prairie Junior Hockey League (PJHL).

The Jaks played host to the Saskatoon Quakers in the season opener where the visitors welcomed Prince Albert into the league in a not so warm way. The game was scoreless heading into the second but that’s when the floodgates opened for Saskatoon asthey would score five in the frame.

The Timberjaks wouldn’t be blanked in the period however, as defenceman Kaleb Willoughby scored the franchise’s first goal while on the powerplay with a point shot through a screen in front. The marker came with six minutes to go in the period and on the play, forwards Cohen Noreikat and Aaron Campbell collected the first ever assists for the Timberjaks.

Timberjaks defenseman #21 Kaleb Willoughby gets some love from his teammates after scoring the first goal in franchise history. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

There was also more action than just goals in the frame too, as a check from behind into the boards on a Prince Albert player resulted in a line brawl and a lengthy delay to sort out the penalties as well. The aftermath of the scrap was a total of four 10-minute misconducts and two one-game misconducts, both of which were evenly handed out to three players on either team.

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The third period saw more offense but this time it was all done by the visitors. The Quakers would go on to score three more times in the frame to cap off the lopsided season, and franchise, opener.

Timberjaks Head Coach Moe Lemire said there is work to be done.

“I thought we had an excellent first period, [but] we need to be more consistent and play like that the whole game,” he said. “What we stressed between the second and third periods during the intermission was to never quit, regardless of the score. We wanted to see which guys would continue to battle and try to win every shift, that’s what we stressed. Some of the guys did that, we still have to get a few more of the guys to buy into that. It’s a process.”

In total, Saskatoon had seven different goal scorers in the game.

P.A. netminder Braydon Lyons made 38 saves in the loss, while Kade Woodrow stopped 25 shots for the Quakers to collect the win.

The Timberjaks are back at home Friday night to play host to the Saskatoon Royals. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com