The Steinbach Pistons lost a game in a shootout before picking up their first win of the pre-season the following night to end the exhibition portion of the schedule with a 1-1-1-1 record.
Bigger Loss Than The Game
On Friday night, the Pistons ventured into Winkler and while they lost the game in a shootout, a bigger loss happened earlier in the contest as a key player was taken out and did not return to the game.
Early on there was buzz and it felt like there was something on the line, despite it being a pre-season game.
Both teams had more veterans in the lineup and it showed in the quality of play and the physicality, too.
After the Flyers opened the scoring on a power play, Grady Hoffman brought Steinbach back to even taking a sweet dish from Bryaden Barnett and potting his first of the pre-season.
The Flyers managed to take a 2-1 lead and while looking to expand it on a power play, ended up giving up a two-on-one with Steinbach's Jackson Kostiuk leading the way. Kostiuk and Brayden Berg drove into the zone and with Berg driving the net, Kostiuk (1) wired a wrister home, knotting the game at 2-2.
Quick, rapid-fire offense for both clubs started the second.
Blake Farthing (1) finished off some great work in the Winkler zone and buried one to give Steinbach a 3-2 lead. Jamie Fuchs and Ryan McDonald. For McDonald, it was his 4th assist of the pre-season.
Winkler would answer back less than a minute later.
Just a minute after that, however, Chad Cote (1) restored the Pistons lead as the 19-year-old hulking defender leaned into a wrister that found its way home. Kostiuk and Berg had the helpers, giving the pair a solid two-point night.
With around 8 minutes to go in the period, a scary scene as a Flyer defender charged in and hit Steinbach's Brett Kaiser hard from behind. Kaiser was down while teammates, specifically Dawson McCann, stepped up to defend him.
Kaiser stayed on the ice for several minutes before finally making his way to his skates. With the help of teammates, Kaiser made his way very slowly to the dressing room in obvious destress. He did not return.
The Flyer's player was assessed a Match-Check/Behind 5-minute major and a game misconduct.
Steinbach could not capitalize on the major power play and the score remained 4-3.
Once again, the Flyers refused to go away and tied the game on a power play to even things up at 4-4.
More importantly, after spending some time in the room, Kaiser was able to join teammates who were not dressed for the game and watched part of the third while in street clothes.
With a bandage over the cut on his eye, he gave a thumbs up and said he was feeling a bit better and glad that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Kaiser and those not on the ice had a front row seat to a third period dust up where McCann did in fact drop the gloves and get a few shots toward a Flyers player but the officials were quickly on the scene to stop things from getting out of hand.
McCann and the Winkler player were both tossed for fighting.
The tie game held until the shootout where it took 7 rounds but eventually, the Flyers skated away with the win.
Zack Burleigh was in goal for Steinbach. He finished with a recorded 13 saves but it seemed there were more shots than that. "Can't fault him on any of the goals really", someone from Steinbach remarked. "Thought he tracked the puck well. Couple of deflections on the power play, but he was solid."
Ending In Style
In their final pre-season tune-up, the Pistons doubled up the Niverville Nighthawks, winning 4-2 on Saturday night at the CRRC.
In the first, Bryaden Barnett bulldozed his way toward the net and scored to put Steinbach up 1-0. Noah Szabo, who created the play after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone, had the lone assist.
A scary injury situation took place in the second period as Nighthawks forward Hayden Wheddon went hard into the end boards, causing the forward to stay down for several minutes.
Wheddon was eventually taken to hospital via ambulance and kept for observation. "He's doing better," Kevin Pauls of the Nighthawks said Monday morning. "It's still a bit of a wait-and-see but he's doing better."
In the third, both teams started to find the back of the net.
Ty Kennett scored for Niverville to tie the game 1-1. Aiden Corbett picked up the lone helper.
Grady Hoffman buried his second in as many nights from Cale Quamme and Connor Parounzzi to restore the 2-1 lead.
Reece Gault scored a highlight reel goal for the 17-year-old super rookie's first of the pre-season, putting Steinbach up 3-2 with Jamie Fuchs notching the only helper. But, it was all 5 Pistons on the ice that made that goal possible through hard work and dogged puck hounding.
Adam Vigfusson (2) managed to get Niverville closer on the power play from Dawson Zeller and Alex Ballard but that's as close as they would get.
Grady Hoffman buried his second of the game and third of the pre-season, putting the Pistons back up 4-2. Szabo and Paronuzzi both collected their second points of the night.
Zack Burleigh got the start for a second straight night and was very solid in goal finishing with 34 saves.
Raiden Legall and Joseph Bertram split time for Niverville. Legall finished with 18 saves on 19 shots while Bertram had 12 saves on 15 opportunities.
Up Next
Steinbach starts the regular season on the road in Winkler before their home opener at the HyLife Centre in La Broquerie on Saturday night.