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.