The Portage Terriers looked like they were in a different league Wednesday night as they overpowered the Steinbach Pistons 6-2 at the TG Smith Centre.

 

The Pistons needed a good start if they wanted to have success against arguably the best team in the Mantioba Junior Hockey league. When the Pistons score first they are 8-3-3, when their opponents score first they are a meager 3-18-0 this season.

 

Things didn't look good when the Terriers got on the scoreboard first, Tyler Larson wristed the puck between Zach Rakochy's pads on the power play for his fourth goal of the season at 13:03 of the first.

 

Steinbach breathed a sigh of relief going into the first period intermission only being down by one. Rakochy faced 15 first period shots compared the the Pistons eight.

 

The tides looked to have changed when Nicholas Kobelka flipped the pack over the stacked pads of Shea Cooper for his second goal of the season to tie the game at 10:41 in the second.

 

But the momentum quickly came to an abrupt halt when rookie defenseman Taylor Friesen took a tripping penalty seconds later. This was bad news for the Pistons because that meant their 11th placed penalty kill would have to face off against the leagues' best power play, which had already struck for a goal earlier in the game.

 

The Terriers power play didn't disappoint, scoring one minute in on the stick of Lac Du Bonnet native Brent Wold for his 16th of the season.

 

Steinbach was never able to recover, even though Rakochy made 44 saves on the night.

 

Tyler Larson, Dylan Butler, Riley Hay and Steinbach native Brendan Harms rounded out the Terriers scoring. Brett Fargher was able to snap in his 16th of the year, but the damage had already been done.

The Steinbach Pistons move to 11-22-3 on the season, they will prepare to play in Selkirk this Friday against the Steelers.

 

 

Game Notes


The last time these two teams met was back on November ninth, when Rakochy made his debut kicking away 33 shots as the Pistons shut out Portage 2-0.

 

Dennis Bosc was kicked out of the game in the earlier going when he hit a Portage Terrier from behind warranting a two minute minor for checking from behind and a game misconduct.