Story courtesy portageonline.com
The Portage Terriers have been swept by the Steinbach Pistons. The Pistons took down the Terriers 4-1 tonight in their final outing of a four-game regular-season series.
Steinbach got on the board early as Langley Kruggel took a shot from the point that went off the glass, but the rebound came right to Copper Rice, who tapped it into the back of the net. Terriers’ goalie Chris Fines made some key saves near the end of the frame to keep it 1-0 after 20 minutes of hockey.
The lead would build in the second, just two minutes in. Dawson Milliken went behind the net but quickly turned around, catching Fines out of position. He dished the puck in front to Davis Fry, who put it in the open cage. A minute later, the Pistons scored again as Rice buried his second of the game on an odd-man rush and brought the lead up to 3-0, which is how it would stay for the rest of the period.
The Pistons, once again, struck first in the third as Jack Rogers fired a shot that beat Fines clean while they had the man advantage.
Despite taking another penalty moments later, Portage was finally able to get on the scoreboard short-handed. Logan Calder poked the puck away from a Pistons’ defender, creating a breakaway chance for himself. The local forward ripped a shot on the blocker side that beat Simon Harkness and trimmed the lead to three.
Unfortunately for the Terriers, this is as close as they would be able to get, with the final being 4-1.
Forward Brenden Holba says they need to convert when they have the opportunity.
“I think we just have to bear down on our chances,” Holba explains. “If we pot those goals that were right in front of the net, it would’ve been a lot closer of a game. I thought we tried hard, but we just didn’t get the bounces we wanted.”
Holba notes their effort in the third was something they can build on.
“No matter what the score was at the end, even though we were down by three or four, we still went out every shift and tried our hardest,” says Holba.
Portage will begin a new four-game series next weekend with the Selkirk Steelers. The first contest will take place on Friday, October 29 in Selkirk.