Another great start and a solid 60 minutes saw the Terriers beat the Oil Caps on the road last night to take a 2-0 lead in the best of 7 semi-final.
Lane Taylor opened the scoring on a nice pass from Kolton Shindle to beat Wallace and take the early lead.
Virden’s Cloutier answered minutes later on the powerplay batting the puck past Peterson on a goal mouth scramble.
Portage’s regular season leading scorer Joey Moffatt regained Portage’s lead before the end of the frame scoring from the high slot.
Ty Barnstable scored his first of the post season in the second on a rebound with the man advantage. Virden’s Wallace seemed to be fighting an injury after the goal and Thompson managed to score a blooper on a centre ice dump in.
Wallace’s night would come to an end as he headed to the bench and did not return, Brock Moroz taking his place.
With a 4-1 Terrier lead heading into the third, Virden came on in the last frame looking to get back in it. An early powerplay marker by Sidoni, cut the Terriers’ lead in half.
With just over 3 minutes on the clock, Virden’s Moroz headed to the bench for the extra attacker, but Henry scored his second empty net goal of the series to dash the home team’s hopes.
Peterson picked up the win with a strong showing backing 32 of 34 shots.
Game three is set for this Tuesday at Stride Place game time 7:30pm with McCain as game sponsor.
Tickets are available at Stride reception, make sure to get your tickets early to avoid line ups.