Purtill scores the winning goal.
The MJHL Semifinal will be returning to Stride Place tomorrow night as the Terriers were unable to pull the trigger in game 5 losing to the Pistons 3-2 in regulation.
Game 5 started with some jump as both teams came out of the gate ready to play. Portage had all lines firing as they were the first to hit the score board when Chase Brakel pocketed his own rebound, the only marker of the first period.
Steinbach evened things up early in the second when Pion scored on a screened Aiken from the point with the man advantage. Chase Brakel regained the Terriers lead scoring from the slot on a Turner Santin pass. It looked like Portage could double their lead as they had a 5 on 3 for more than a minute, but the Pistons did a great job on the penalty kill and the Terriers didn’t register a shot.
Once again the Pistons came out early in the third and tied things up when Taraschuk shot one off the glass that hit Aiken in the back of the leg and in the net on the powerplay. Steinbach took their first lead of the night when the Portage missed an opportunity to get the puck out and Purtill buried a backhand high blocker for the eventual game winner.
Aiken recorded his first loss in this series with 18 saves. The Terriers host the Pistons in game 6 tomorrow night at Stride Place 7:30pm with a 3-2 lead in the series.