Story Courtesy Portageonline
The Portage Terriers were able to avoid the sweep tonight as they won a hard-fought contest. The Dogs handed the Winnipeg Blues their first loss of the season tonight, taking them down 3-2 on home ice.
The Terriers and Blues played ten minutes of scoreless hockey before Austin Peters took a boarding penalty which resulted in a game-misconduct for him. The Dogs’ found themselves down a man for five minutes against the MJHL’s top power-play, however, they stood strong. Portage killed off all five minutes and kept the game scoreless after the first 20 minutes.
Just 17 seconds into the second period, Portage was able to get on the board and strike first. Local defenceman Darien Schaan scored the first goal of his MJHL career. He describes the play.
“I got the puck at the point from, I believe it was Calds (Logan Calder), down low,” says Schaan. “I just walked to the middle and fired. I lost sight of the puck but it found the net.”
The Terriers took the first lead of the game but didn’t hold it for too long. Joe Kraus had the puck on the rush and dished it over to Eric Fawkes, who was cutting to the side of the net, and he tipped it past Terrier goalie Jayden Catellier. This tied the game at one.
Still in the first three minutes of the second period, the Terriers took back the lead. Kaden Sutherland’s shot from the point was tipped by Brandon Funk and beat Dawson Cowan putting the Terriers back in front.
Brayden Foreman had the puck fall right to him in front of Catellier, later in the frame, and he capitalized on that opportunity, or that was the initial thought. The referees got together after the puck was in the back of the net and decided the stick that tipped the puck to Foreman was too high in the air, therefore, they called the goal off due to a high stick. This kept the score at 2-1 Terriers after two periods.
Just over five minutes into the final frame, the Blues converted on a 5-on-3 power-play as Mattieu Moreira put one home and tied the game. Once the Terriers got a chance with the man-advantage of their own, they took back the lead.
Jaden Pashe, received a pass near the top of the circle and he ripped a one-timer short side and beat Cowan. This was ultimately the game-winning goal as the Dogs’ finished the last 12 minutes without allowing a goal with the final score being 3-2.
Catellier stopped 23 shots tonight in his first victory of the season. He credits the rest of the squad for his play tonight.
“The boys did a good job keeping the shots from the outside and that’s what you have to do against a good team,” Catellier explains. “The defence was really good and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Schaan says taking down an undefeated team felt amazing.
“It’s very surreal,” says Schaan. “The boys played a full 60 minutes tonight and we’re happy with the outcome. Can’t complain.”
The Terriers will begin a new four-game series next week which kicks off on Friday as they travel to Steinbach for a meeting with the Pistons.
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