Story Courtesy Jared Thiessen (portageonline.com)
The Portage Terriers won a close game against the Swan Valley Stampeders 3-2, extending their win streak to nine games.
Neither team cracked the scoresheet in the first period, despite a couple powerplays each way.
The floodgates opened in the second with three goals scored.
Stampeder Riley Fequet would score the opener, after a long shift for the Terriers. An icing call led to an extended offensive zone shift for Swan Valley, and from near the goal line, a shot would beat Mitchell Kathler to make it 1-0 for the Stampeders.
The Terriers would have to wait until near the end of the second period to score their first of the evening. With just over two minutes left, Decker Mujcin would get off a shot from the high slot that beat the goalie to tie the game.
44 seconds later, Cameron Bullinger was the recipient of a pass from below the goal line and placed a shot perfectly over the goalies shoulder to make the score 2-1 for Portage. The period would expire with no more entries.
Early in the third, Decker Mujcin would add his second goal of the game on the penalty kill, getting a breakaway to make it 3-1 Portage.
He says that it’s new ground for him to be leading the offensive charge.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to score many goals in my junior career, so it feels pretty good right now, but I’ve gotta keep it going, gotta stay consistent.”
The Stampeders would add one more to make it close, but were unable to cash in with their net empty, sealing the deal for Portage.
Captain Parker Scherr says what they need to do in order to continue the streak.
“Good teams find a way to pull those games out and we did, so that was awesome to keep the streak alive,” Scherr continues. “I think we just need to stick to doing things the simple way. Simple but hard, and I think that’s really effective. Once we get one, once we get a lot of momentum, I think we’re a team where we can just close games out that way.”
With the weekend off until Remembrance Day, the team will travel down Highway 1 to face the Winnipeg Freeze at 6:30 p.m.
