Story by Portage Online
The MJHL Turnbull Cup final is now tied at two. Home ice was an advantage for the Swan Valley Stampeders Saturday night as they blasted the Portage Terriers 7-2. After a slow start and penalty problems in the second period the Terriers were never able to recover.
Swan Valley opened the scoring halfway through the first. The league’s leading scorer during the regular season, Josh Tripp, was left alone in the slot and he buried it low glove side. A rebound would pop into the slot eight minutes later and Matthew Osadick put it home to go up by two.
The second period was one Portage would like to forget. The Stampeders scored three power play goals in two and a half minutes. That would signal the end of the night for Ethan Peterson who stopped 12 of 17 shots. Nathan Moore came into the game in relief and was tested early. Campbell Balk was hooked on a shorthanded breakaway moments later and scored on the penalty shot.
Stampeders captain Brian Harris would notch their seventh of the game just over halfway through the period. Portage started to show signs of life and finally got their first goal. Caelan McPhee walked into the slot and sent the water bottle flying. Scott Mickoski jammed one in minutes later to bring the defecit to five. Hoping to keep the momentum going Jared Roy dropped the mitts with Jakob Besnilian. Portage looked to get their third of the period but Morgan Poirier was stopped on a breakaway.
The play started to get physical in the third period with the lopsided score. 84 penalty minutes were handed out in total. Despite outshooting the Stampeders 12-2 in the final frame Portage wasn’t able to beat Pipes again. Moore finished the night for Portage with fives saves on seven shots. It was the first time Portage had let in seven goals this season.
Game five will be Tuesday night at Stride Place starting at 7:30 pm.