Nominees for the MJHL’s six major awards have been finalized, Commissioner Kim Davis announced today. “Each team submitted a nominee for the awards and the league’s 11 coaches subsequently conducted a vote,” explained Davis. “Each of the nominees should be very proud of their accomplishment.” The Terriers have nominees in two categories this year. First is the MVP Award – Steve “Boomer” Hawrysh Memorial Trophy. Chase Brakel is among the finalists along with Mackenzie Graham of the Steinbach Pistons and Brady Keeper of the OCN Blizzard. * Former Terrier Captain Brad Bowles was last year's recipient. Chase currently leads the league in goals with 34 and third overall averaging 1.4 points a game. Chase is a leader on the Terriers wearing the A this year and logging big minutes playing on both the powerplay and penalty kill. Next up is the Hockey Ability and Sportsmanship Award – Lorne “Windy” Lyndon Memorial Trophy. Jeremey Leipsic is among the finalists for this award along with Scott Gall of the Winkler Flyers and Justin Metcalf of the Neepawa Natives. Jeremey sits atop the leader board and has for most of the season averaging 1.7 points a game with 93 points total. 63 of those points come as assists as Jeremey is known as a playmaker. In 55 games played, Leipsic has just 12 penalty minutes. Coach and GM Blake Spiller – "Chase logs  lot of important minutes for our club and it appears as though Jeremey is going to win the scoring race and at this point has only 12 pims. Both guys would be deserving of the league awards they are nominated for." The respective winners will be announced later this week. The Mike Ridley Award, given to league’s top point producer, will be known when the regular season comes to an end.  

James McIsaac does the fly by after completing the hat trick. The Terriers earned their way back in the win column this afternoon in front of 1000 fans at Stride Place with an 8-3 final over the Virden Oil Capitals. Portage’s top line of Brakel, Leipsic and McIsaac combined for 14 points on the night with McIsaac scoring 4 of the 8 goals. McIsaac opened the scoring burying a pass from Jeremey Leipsic back door on Riley Mcveigh. Ben Dalke tied the game for Virden scoring on the powerplay at 13:55. Less than a minute later Brakel regained the lead for Portage scoring from the slot. Once again Virden answered on the powerplay with Carter Cowlthorp beating Brock Aiken. James McIsaac picked up his second of the game with the extra attacker with less than a minute to go for a one goal lead after 20 minutes. "I thought we had a good jump right from the start," says Terriers head coach and GM Blake Spiller. "We were a few guys short up front but everyone came to play. We had our feet going and made it hard on their back end, we got the forecheck going and that's always key. We're not a big club and not really physical, but we need to play that style where we're on pucks quick to try and create turnovers that way, and I think we did that here." Just over halfway through the second, McIsaac completed the hat trick going top shelf on Mcveigh with Leipsic and Doyle assisting. Santin scored his eighth of the season at 14:57 and the Terriers were up by 3 outshooting Virden by 10 after 2 periods. Not willing to let Virden back in, Portage came out in the third with more of the same. Ty Enns finished a pretty pass from Santin back door and McIsaac scored his 4th of the game on the powerplay a few minutes later. Dalke got his second of the night and only even strength goal for Virden at the 7:45 mark. Mackenzie Dwyer added his mark scoring with an ice burner 5 hole from the ringette line for an 8-3 Terrier final. Aiken picked up the win in net facing just 15 shots. Next up for the Terriers is a home and home this weekend starting in Neepawa, on Friday. Don’t forget it’s Rain Cheque night on March 1st, our last home game of the year when we will be making our Cash Draw for the $10,000 Grand Prize. Don’t have your ticket yet? Call Heather at 870-1210 to get yours today. You have a 1 in 325 chance of winning!!!

Selkirk picks up 4 points in the home and home and sit in third 10 points ahead of Portage. A slow start crippled the Terriers' efforts at Stride Place tonight losing to the Selkirk Steelers in back to back nights. "A couple of the goals in the first Brock Aiken didn't have a chance on. I'm sure he'd like to have one or two of them back but it's been the same thing all year," says assistant coach Paul Harland. "We just don't have enough guys going at the same time to put a 60-minute effort together. At times we were pretty good and at other times we weren't, and at times guys were inconsistent. So if we can't get 60-minutes from everyone it's going to be tough to beat a real good team." The Terriers were first to strike early in the first with a powerplay goal from Mackenzie Dwyer. Like in so many games before the Steelers came right back with an even up goal from Braden Lozinski on their first shot. Selkirk took the lead a minute later as Gardiner found the back of the net on their third shot. Turner Santin evened the game at two at 9:13, but Selkirk would net 2 more before the frame ended – McCartan and Halvorsen, for a 4-2 lead after 20 minutes. Chapman came out to start the second in net for the Dogs replacing Aiken and soon faced a Connor Barley breakaway he was  unable to stop as it slid five hole. Of the 8 penalties handed out in the frame, 7 of them were to the Terriers. Playing short for almost half the period made it hard to fight their way back. Selkirk was up three after forty minutes. Looking to get back in it Portage had chances early in the period with breakaways from Sokoloski and Brakel that were unsuccessful. Selkirk scored their 6th of the night on the powerplay at 2:16. Kochanski wakened the quiet crowd scoring his third of the season by beating a sprawled Dola. Santin then picked up his second of the night to pull within two with 4:31 to go. Chapman headed to the bench with over three minutes left in the game, but the Terriers just couldn’t get it done and Cole McCartan picked up his second of the night with an empty netter. Shots on goal were 26-25 Portage with Brock Aiken recording the loss. The Terriers have tomorrow off and then face the Virden Oil Capitals in an afternoon game on Monday, puck drop 4:30pm.

The fans were treated to a fast paced, back and forth physical match last night in Selkirk with the home team coming out on top. Selkirk was able to hold on to a 4-3 win despite being outshot 36-26. Ryan Sokoloski opened the scoring just over halfway through the first period beating Hayden Dola on a breakaway. A minute later Selkirk tied the game with the extra attacker after Kain Stevenson was injured in a hit and Portage was assessed the extra minor for roughing. Halvorsen potted the rebound on Kurtis Chapman. Later in the period the Terriers scored their second of the game, but it was waived off as it was batted in with a glove from Mackenzie Dwyer. The period would end tied at one. Portage was back on top early in the second with a goal from Martin as he found the rebound in front, but Selkirk was quick to answer with a Jake Dudar goal on the powerplay. With :35 left in the frame, Jeremey Leipsic scores on the breakaway to restore the one goal lead heading in to the dressing room.    With his second of the game, Jake Dudar tied the game at three 4 minutes in to the final frame. It didn’t take long for the game to become physical after a Turner Santin hit in the corner. Santin, McMurdo and Kochanski along with Selkirk’s Pruden all receiving game misconducts. Portage was able to kill the 4 minute Steeler advantage, but gave up the lead to Selkirk for the first time on a goal from Carter Barley at 7:04. The Terriers battled for the rest of the period with opportunities including a diving Chase Brakel as the buzzer ended the game, but Dola was solid in net and Selkirk picked up the two points. Selkirk heads to Portage tonight where the Terriers will be looking to avenge last night’s loss. They are currently 8 points back of Selkirk in third and four points behind OCN in fourth. With 7 games to go, every point matters in the playoff push. Tonight’s game starts at 7:30pm.

Chapman gets the win in net. The Terriers came out on top last night at Stride Place in their last meeting of the regular season with the Winnipeg Blues. After a scoreless first period Chase Brakel was the first to find the back of the net just :55 seconds in the second frame. It would be the only goal of the game after forty minutes with the Blues tallying just 3 shots in 20 minutes. The Terriers came out in the third with two quick goals, McIsaac scoring both. "It's always fun to get a couple of goals against your old team. I thought my line played well so overall it was a good game," says McIsaac. "We like to do a lot of three on two drills at practice, so we kind of were prepared for that in this one. Leipsic, Brakel and I have built some chemistry between us, we found some space, and it worked out for us here." Le Blanc scored for the Blues with the extra attacker just passed the halfway point of the third, but were unable to sustain the momentum. With 3:45 left the Blues pulled their goalie looking to get back in it, but Portage shut them down. Ty Enns made the most of the empty net scoring his 26th of the year. Chapman registered the win in net making 24 saves. The Terriers hit the road Friday for the first of a home and home with the Steelers. Portage is chasing Selkirk in the standings and these are a big four points up for grabs.

After a slow start Portage was unable to come back and beat the Natives in Neepawa last night. The Natives jumped out to the early lead with goals from Sielsky and Metcalfe by the 4 minute mark of the first. Riley Thiessen scored an unassisted goal near the end of the frame to cut Neepawa’s lead in half heading in to the dressing room. “We’ve been playing this season knowing every team is beatable. Neepawa proved that here tonight. We needed to play 60 minutes and we didn’t.” – Terrier’s forward Ty Enns. Unwilling to let the Terriers back in, Neepawa’s Richards scored just 1:18 in the second to restore the 2 goal lead. Sokoloski answered with a powerplay marker to once again pull within one. Less than 3 minutes later Anderson scored his first of the game going 5 hole on Brock Aiken. Early in the third Leipsic picked up a rolling puck from Brakel and found the back of the net to once again cut Neepawa’s lead to one, but they were unable to get it done from there. With 18 seconds left and the Terriers’ net empty, Anderson scored his second of the night to shut the door and give Neepawa the win. Aiken made 35 saves in the loss with Portage outshooting Neepawa 42-40. This week the Terriers host the Blues on the last Wild Wednesday of the season and then play a home and home with Selkirk Friday, Saturday.

Leipsic scores two and Sokoloski picks up one in the 8-2 win over Waywayseecappo. Portage was in Wayway last night to take on the Wolverines. Looking to avenge the loss in their last meeting the Terriers offence dominated. The first of the game came from Jeremey Leipsic late in the first, finishing off a pass from Mackenzie Dwyer. Less than a minute later, Josh Martin would make it 2-0 Terriers scoring on the powerplay. Early on in the second Durdle scored for Wayway on the powerplay cutting Portage’s lead to one. Hendrix then hit the glass with a shot that rebounded to hit Lorenson in the back and netted his eighth of the season. Sokoloski and Barnstable added to lead in the second making it 5-1 after 40 minutes. The third period was more of the same. Former Terrier Brandon Stanley scored early with the extra attacker burying a pass from Landyn Cochrane before Portage went on another scoring spree. Santin, Dwyer and Leipsic all beating Lorenson for an 8-2 Portage final. With 23 saves on the night, Kurtis Chapman picked up his 7th win as a Terrier. Portage is back on the road tonight to Neepawa where they face the Natives at 7:30pm. You can listen to it live with Cody on CFRY.

Hendrix gets the Terriers on the board in the third. It was another fast paced game for the Terriers in Selkirk last night losing in overtime. Portage rallied in the third to tie things up, but were unable to close the deal in overtime. Selkirk opened the scoring in the first when Nathan Hillis won the draw to Connor Barley who one timed it passed Aiken. Cole McCartan doubled Selkirk’s lead in the second making a nice move in the slot to find the back of the net. Selkirk was up 2-0 on Portage heading in to the third. Ryan Hendrix got the Terriers on the board at 3:48 as he found himself in alone on Dola taking advantage of a great pass from Turner Santin. 4 minutes later Chase Brakel caught Dola out of position and buried the puck to tie the game at 2. Regulation ended in a tie and the game went to overtime with Jake Dudar scoring just 1:22 in for the 3-2 Steelers win. Selkirk outshot Portage 31-28. The Terriers sit 4 points back in the standings with 2 games at hand. Next up for Portage, the Wolverines in Wayway on Thursday.

Celebrating Enns first period powerplay goal The Portage Terriers beat the first place Steinbach Pistons for the first time this season in Steinbach last night. It was the fifth time the two have met. Portage got off to a great start and never looked back. 4:11 in to the first Ty Enns found the back of the net on the powerplay as the puck bobbled ever Bengert’s blocker. “It wasn’t a pretty goal, but it counts.” –Enns The goal stood as the only marker in the first with the Terriers outshooting the Pistons 16-8 in the frame. Portage matched their first period energy in the second and were rewarded when Chase Brakel scored the eventual game winner with a backhand on a sprawling Roman Bengert. Tyler Anderson cut Portage’s lead to one beating Kurtis Chapman on the powerplay halfway through the second. The Terriers were consistent in the third with everyone chipping in. Steinbach pulled their goalie late in the third, but were unable to even things up. Captain Riley Thiessen – “We got off to a great start with Enns’ goal on the powerplay and everybody did their part to get the win here tonight. We’re looking forward to bringing the same effort to Selkirk tomorrow.” Kurtis Chapman – just back from a call up to the WHL, picks up the win with 32 saves in the effort. “It felt good for the whole team to come together and get the win. It’s a great feeling.” Portage is on the road tonight to face Selkirk for the first time since December’s Showcase. Selkirk is currently in 3rd just 3 points ahead of the Terriers.  

20 Questions with Carter McMurdo Age:20 Hometown: Brandon Favorite sandwich: PB & Honey Stranded on a desert island, you can bring one person: Survivor Man Fave App on your phone: Snapchat Last Movie You Saw: Why Him Nickname: Murds If you could have lunch with anyone living or dead: George W One bad habit you have: Biting my nails A song you would sing at karaoke: Gold Digger – Kanye West Something that would surprise people about you: I want to become a dentist If you could be someone else for a day: The Rock Who is your biggest hockey influence: My parents Describe yourself in one word: Hardworking Your biggest accomplishment thus far: Booking a trip to Thailand and Bali this summer Fave Cartoon growing up: Looney Toons If you weren’t playing hockey, what sport? Lacrosse What animal best represents you? Warthog Who would play you in a movie? Mark Wahlberg Top of your bucket list: Travel the world Thanks Carter!