Story Courtesy River Foster (Portageonline.com)
Thanks to a 30-save performance from Bailey Monteith, the Portage Terriers are winners of four games in a row. The Dogs downed the Winkler Flyers 3-0 on home ice in a very hard-fought outing.
After already killing off two penalties, Portage had their first power-play opportunity near the midway mark in the first period, and the Dogs made sure to capitalize. Mike Stubbs got the puck near the top of the circle and fired a shot into the top corner of the net on the short side.
The perfectly placed puck made it 1-0 Terriers, and the score remained that way for the rest of the first period, as well as, the entirety of the second frame.
Early in the third period, the puck was loose in the slot in front of Flyers’ goaltender Malachi Klassen, and Stubbs was the first to get to it. He waited the extra second for Klassen to sprawl out, and then Stubbs found the open area and slid the puck across the red line. 2-0 Terriers.
Winkler put on some pressure late but an empty netter from Brock MacDonald was able to seal the deal with two minutes to go. This brought us the final score of 3-0 Portage.
Goaltender Bailey Monteith picked up his second shutout of the season. He says seeing the zero on the scoreboard at the end of the night is always a confidence booster.
“It’s awesome. It’s taken me a little bit to find my groove here but I think I’ve definitely found it, and at the right time,” Monteith explains. “When you have guys in front of you making the responsible decisions that they do, it’s easy as a goalie. It’s a good feeling but it’s a team thing too.”
Monteith notes the biggest factor in the win was the Terriers’ ability to keep their foot on the gas.
“I think playing the full 60 minutes. We’re going to be playing tight games like this down the stretch and into the playoffs. The biggest thing with those is playing a full 60 and playing hard and for each other,” Monteith continues. “Today was quite possibly our best showcase all year of that. We were blocking shots, getting pucks out, and playing for the guy next to us. That’s how teams win (a championship).”
The Dogs will have just one day of rest before returning to Stride Place on Monday for an afternoon contest against the Selkirk Steelers at 3:30.
