Klippers drop pre-season Opener

In the first live action dress rehearsal for the Green and White of the 2017-18 season the Klippers dropped a 4-1 decision to the Notre Dame hounds in contest hosted by the Ochawopace Nation at the beautiful Chief Denton George Memorial Multiplex.

The Hounds opened the scoring by way of an awkward bounce off the shin of a Notre Dame player parked in front of Klippers starter Justen Close early in the first frame. The remainder of the first period was closely contested with a handful of chances coming off odd many rushes; but with a steady contingent of Klippers heading to the penalty box it wasn’t until very late in the period that the Klippers drew even with a strong effort in front from Jordan Funk to capitalize on a seeing eye point shot rebound from Tate Page.

Continuing the uphill battle theme with penalty troubles the Klippers found themselves in a deeper hole down 3-1 on another couple scrambles in front of Close, while a handful of posts kept the Klippers score at 1.

The final Hounds goal on the night came as the Klippers pulled Close for the extra attacker making it a 4-1 final.

Justen Close was solid in net playing the full 3 periods with Edmonton product Vince Benedetto backing him up. Notre Dame went with the 50/50 split time between their two goaltenders, both of which played great.

The Klippers will head north tomorrow for a showdown with natural rival Battleford with the first home exhibition game coming Saturday at the WCEC.