Hub game recap

Goaltender Dominik Wasik made 25 saves and was helped out by a five-goal opening period as Steinbach routed the Winnipeg Blues 8-0 on Tuesday evening.

Coming off an impressive win back on Sunday where the offense struck early and often, the Pistons picked right up where they left off by steamrolling their opponent with shift after shift of attack.

Ty Paisley, Travis Hensrud, and Davis Fry came into the contest 1-2-3 respectively in league scoring and their torrid scoring touch flashed throughout the first.

Paisley got things started after a good hard shift by defender Josh Nelson who kept a puck in along the boards, crashed down low, took a hit, and freed the puck up to Fry who fed Paisley to net his 7th of the year.

The 1-0 lead would grow to 2-0 a few minutes later when again it was Paisley who fought to get some free space near the top of the circle and fired a rocket toward the goal that was deflected in by Hensrud for the Thunder Bay products 6th of the season.  

Leo Chambers got into the scoring act when the 19-year-old potted his 5th off a beautiful pass from Ian Amsbaugh, who continues to rack up points and showcase impressive patience with the puck. 

With under two minutes to go in the period, Langley Kruggel used his strong defense to eventually lead to offense. The 20-year-old used his physicality to break up a Blues cycle, gather the puck and make a nice pass up the ice, getting Steinbach out of the zone with speed and numbers. Amsbaugh broke in and wheeled around the Blues net, eventually finding a streaking Kruggel who walked in, took the pass, and hammered home his 2nd of the year. Nick Mikan also picked up an assist on the 4-0 goal.

Before the period was done, the Pistons struck again as a newcomer, 20-year-old Landon Roberts, who was making his Pistons debut, buried a puck off an in-tight pass from Daniel O'Neill to cap off a 5-goal opening period. Neo Kiemeney delivered another strong performance throughout the game and was credited with the secondary assist.

Wasik finished the first period with 10 saves and despite the score, had to make some tricky stops when defensive zone breakdowns did occur, as the Blues pushed to try and find something but just couldn't.

In the second, Wasik again came up big making several stops through traffic, and displayed excellent rebound control as he rarely let the Blues have more than one shot on goal per rush. 

Fry scored his 9th of the year just past the midway point of the period as the top-line put forth a highlight reel tic-tac-toe passing display that resulted in the Fry goal to extend the lead to 6-0.

After a hat trick performance on Sunday afternoon and being named an MJHL Star of the Week, Nate Goodbrandson continued his hot streak scoring his 6th of the season to push the lead to 7-0. Hunter Degelman and rookie forward Brett Kaiser picked up a secondary helper.

In the third, Steinbach managed to score one more as a shot from Huge Larkin was deflected again by Hensrud as he capped off his night with his second goal and third point, as the lead swelled to 8-0.

Wasik was a perfect 25 for 25 earning his first MJHL shutout while improving his record to 4-1 on the year.

The power play was 0-1 while the penalty kill was rock solid going 5-5. Steinbach outshot Winnipeg 50-25.

Steinbach improves their record to 9-1 and moves back into a tie for the top spot in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Next up is a home game on Friday night as the Neepawa Titans come to town. That's followed up by a road game in Waywayseecappo as the Pistons take on the Wolverines Saturday night.