Benny Walchuk:
Doug, a tough one last night — a 3–2 loss to the Nipawin Hawks. To start, how would you assess your group’s effort?
Doug Johnson:
I thought the effort was good. It’s just the mental mistakes that cost us. We let a guy in behind for a breakaway, and then we gave up another right off a faceoff after winning it and having full possession. We turned it over behind our net and couldn’t recover, leading to a wide-open goal. Then late, we take a penalty and give up a power-play goal by backing up instead of defending the rush. These are mistakes that shouldn’t be happening — and right now, it’s our older guys making them, not the young ones. The veterans need to drive the bus, and we’re headed in the wrong direction. But there are positives, and once we build some chemistry and guys realize the urgency, things are going to come together.
Benny Walchuk:
You mentioned the positives. You’ve been in tight games and picked up points here and there. What can you take from that heading into the weekend?
Doug Johnson:
We’ve held leads in every game, and they’ve all been close. And we’ve been playing some of the league’s top teams. That should give us confidence we can play with anyone. But we need that killer instinct — that swagger that says we know we’re going to win, not just hope we’re going to win. You can see it starting to come. We’ve adjusted to play a little more aggressively, and with that comes an adjustment period. Some mistakes are part of that. But if we stay focused, keep teaching through video, and clean things up, we’ll be tough to handle when we’re skating and pushing the pace.
Benny Walchuk:
A new face in the lineup last night — Kale Margolis made his debut. What did you think of his first game?
Doug Johnson:
I thought Kale was excellent. He’s a 200-foot player, skates really well for his size, has a great shot, and that was with only one skate in the last week. His line with Brendan Olson and Matt Edwards was our best line by far. Every time they were out there, it was scoring chances and puck possession for us. If they keep playing like that, they’ll be the best line I’ve had here in my three years.
Benny Walchuk:
Now a big divisional home-and-home against Weyburn this weekend. What kind of challenge do the Red Wings present?
Doug Johnson:
Weyburn gets up the ice quickly and plays a very aggressive game, similar to us. We need to make sure we don’t create offense for them. We’ll have to move the puck, make their defense turn and make decisions. They want to force opponents into mistakes — we’ve got to flip the script and take advantage of their aggressiveness. If we do that, I like our chances. But they do have a good top line that we’ll need to keep an eye on.
Benny Walchuk:
You’re rolling with your two rookie netminders now — Noah Sinagowitz and Kael Svenson. Both have been solid of late. What have you seen from them so far in their first SJHL season?
Doug Johnson:
Kael’s getting more comfortable all the time. He had some junior experience in the KIJHL, which isn’t this level, but it’s still experience. Noah’s a very athletic battler. Once he refines his positioning and movement, he’s going to be outstanding. Both of them work hard and have the right mindset. Kael’s starting to show more confidence and fire now that he’s settling in, which is great to see. They’re both very athletic goalies, and honestly, while people might worry about our goaltending, I’m sleeping pretty well at night in that area. It’s other issues we need to fix right now.
Benny Walchuk:
That’s Melville Millionaires Head Coach and General Manager Doug Johnson. I’m Benny Walchuk, and this has been the Melville Millionaires Coaches Show on GX94, brought to you by Future Ford in Melville.
Comments