The Portage Terriers played their final game of the season against the Selkirk Steelers on Sunday night, and narrowly escaped with a 4-3 win.
Adam Belzil got the scoring started at 5:41 into the first period, as he picked off a pass in the offensive zone, dangled through one man and put the puck short-side on the Steelers netminder. Despite several chances each way, the score wouldn’t change following that goal for the rest of the frame, 1-0 Portage after 20 minutes.
The second period saw the Dogs end a couple of goal scoring droughts, as Drayden Uhrina and Rhett Platt each added powerplay markers on a double-minor. Uhrina received a great pass to put toward a wide-open cage, which he nailed. Platt’s goal would come at the side of the net, as a scramble found the back of the cage, snapping a 17-game goal scoring skid, which had been running since January 24th.
Jonah Lemoine would add his ninth goal of the season just under two minutes later, as Markus Knaub and Dexter Materi each made nice plays to hold possession before finding Lemoine in the high slot to wrist home the team’s fourth of the night. 4-0 in favour of the Dogs through two periods. 29 shots hit the cages in the second, for two period totals of 32-23 in Portage’s favour.
A wild third period saw the Steelers score three unanswered, but were unable to find the equalizer. With the win, the Terriers officially clinched third place in the MGEU East and a first round matchup with the Steinbach Pistons.
The Terriers are back on the ice on Wednesday in Winnipeg to play the Monarchs. The next Portage home game will be Friday against Niverville.
