The Portage Terriers preparations for the second half of the season began Tuesday night as the team hit the ice for their first practice after the Christmas break.
A disappointing end to the first half of the season has the team motivated to achieve better results coming out of the holidays. They lost their last two games before Christmas in extra time.
Defenceman Parker Scherr gave us his insights on being home for the holidays.
"[The holidays] were good, it was kinda good to go back home and see my family and my relatives and stuff like that, so that was good. It was good to be away from the rink a little bit and get to spend a little bit of time seeing old friends and stuff like that. So, it was good, overall, I'm happy to be back though!"
Daniel Siso, the Calgary product and assistant captain for the Terriers spoke briefly about his holidays as well.
"Yeah, it was fun, got to see lots of friends that I haven't seen in a while, and obviously family so [the holiday break] was pretty good."
The Terriers finished their first half of the regular season with back-to-back losses to Selkirk in overtime and Niverville in a shoot-out.
Siso mentioned some of the things they need to do in the second half to get back to their winning ways.
"We're playing a really good team in Steinbach, and we just gotta do the little things right here leading up to that game. Hopefully we do that and we'll get a good result."
Parker Scherr also talked about some of the things that weren't in Portage's favour.
"I think near the end, getting close to the break, the fatigue and stuff like that was catching up to us, so I just feel like going forward, now that we have a little bit of an easier schedule, I just feel like we need to really focus on the details. Take it as an opportunity to try to get better every day, every practice and just build, and then hopefully going into playoffs, we'll have a lot of momentum, and we'll be able to go on a good roll."
The MJHL Christmas break trade pause has lifted and teams are once again able to make transactions ahead of the Jan. 10 deadline. One player is not returning to the team after the break as the club completed a couple of trades Wednesday. The Terriers traded forward Owen Underhill to the West-Kent Steamers (MHL) for a Player Development Fee (PDF). The team then turned around and acquired forward Adler Johnston (04) from the Austin Bruins (NAHL) for a similar PDF.
Johnston (6’0, 201lbs) has put up three points and 21 penalty minutes in 15 games this season. The big forward from Albert Lea, MN, split last season between the NAHL and the NA3HL.
The team now prepares for a matchup with the Steinbach Pistons on Friday night in La Broquerie, with game time set for 7pm.
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