Portage welcomed Waywayseecappo to Stride Place last night in front of one of their biggest crowds this season.
Portage’s Mickoski opened the scoring just passed the halfway point of the first period. The recipient of a drop pass from Joey Moffatt he scored from the slot on his own rebound. It would be the lone goal of the first, Portage outshooting the Wolverines 10-3.
Less than a minute into the second Portage doubled their lead, Billaney beating Labelle from the slot on a feed from Funk.
With a 2 goal lead and all the momentum, Portage began a steady procession to the penalty box serving a total of 32 minutes in the second.
The Wolverines took advantage of a 5 on 3 to score 2 goals to draw even with the Terriers, Doyle and Vautour finding the back of the net. Lucken gave Wayway their first lead of the game scoring their 3rd powerplay goal, all 3 markers scored in a 2 minute 4 second span.
Back at even strength Portage’s leading scorer Joey Moffatt picked up his 17th goal of the season to tie the game at 3 heading into intermission.
Portage came out in the third and went to work. Henry and Shindle restoring the Terriers’ lead with a goal a piece.
The Wolverines pulled Labelle with just over 2 minutes to play looking to cut into Portage’s lead, but Billaney scored the empty netter to seal the deal for a 6-3 final.
Nathan Moore picked up his 19th win of the season backing 14 shots. Portage went 0/5 on the powerplay.
Both teams are back at it tomorrow night in Wayway, game time 6:00pm.
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Tonight Jason Bond of Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries was on hand to make the player of the month presentation for December to Nathan Moore. Leading the league in wins, Moore went undefeated last month with seven wins and a GAA of 1.62 and .924 save percentage.