It was a busy Remembrance Day weekend for the Portage Terriers.
The hectic three-day stretch started Friday as the club hosted NHL Hall of Famer Paul Coffey at the annual sports dinner and auction. The joint venture with Central Plains Cancer Services was a huge success and guests enjoyed getting pictures with the smooth skating defenceman while hearing some of his stories from the 80's and 90's. Following that, over $20,000 was brought in for both groups with various sports-related items auctioned off. Final fundraising totals from the evening are still being calculated.
“It’s a great feeling seeing a large crowd of people who are there to support your organization,” commented event organizer Cody Buhler. “Paul Coffey was awesome. It was great hearing his perspective on some major events in hockey history.”
Later in the weekend, it was announced Coffey would be a part of the new coaching team of the Edmonton Oilers and he was behind the bench as they picked up a win last night.
Saturday, things were much closer than the Terriers wanted but they still managed to pick up a win on the road against the Winnipeg Blues. Parker Korman scored his 10th of the season just over two minutes into overtime to lift the team to a 2-1 win. Jayden Catellier turned aside 20 of 21 shots against the Blues who have only 4 wins so far this season.
The win set up a big battle against one of the league's best on home ice Sunday as the Steinbach paid a visit to Stride Place. In this one, the Piston showed why they are the 4th ranked team in the nation as they skated away with a 6-1 win. The Terriers actually opened the scoring in the match just 54 seconds into the game when Tayem Gislason scored his third of the year on the power play. Gavin Renwick took the loss in goal. A win would have left the Terriers a point behind the Pistons who have now won 6 in a row.
The weekend leaves the Terriers with an 11-5-4 record which is good for third in their division, one point ahead Niverville and three behind Winkler. The team hits the road for a game in Selkirk tonight at 7:30 p.m. (listen here) It starts a stretch of 5 games in a row away from Stride Place and they won't play at home again until November 26th.
Three Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams are inside the top 10 of the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 20 rankings for the third week in a row. The Steinbach Pistons (15-2-1) moved from the eighth spot to number four. The Winkler Flyers (14-2-0-1) dropped from three to five. The Dauphin Kings (13-3) fell from six to number nine. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers (14-1-1) are the number-one ranked team in the country for the third week in a row.
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