Sam Noad had the primary assist on all three Steinbach Pistons goals as they defeated the Virden Oil Capitals 3-2 on Saturday night.
Over the last few weeks, the message, especially when it comes to road games with travel, was about starting on time. The team got the message and brought a tenacity right from the opening puck drop.
The Pistons earned a power play in the opening minutes and as they worked the puck around the zone, the Oil Caps got chasing. Brody Green took a pass from Sam Noad and wired one toward the net that appeared to hit off a defender in front and find it's way to the back of the net, giving Steinbach a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
For the Northern Michigan commit Green, it's his 6th of the year. Along with Noad, Reece Gault, who is currently 2nd among MJHL rookie defensemen in scoring, also picked up an assist.
Christian Green got the start in goal for Steinbach and while the defensive structure of the team kept a lot of the chances Virden could manage to the outside, his best save in the first came off a breakaway where he came out to challenge the shooter and turned away the chance with a fine blocker save.
Steinbach outshot Virden 15-13 and took 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the second, Virden managed to knot the game up 1-1 less than five minutes into the frame.
Noad would help give Steinbach the lead again as he, along with Brayden Barnett, broke into the Oil Caps zone. Barnett freed the puck up to Noad who put a puck toward the blue paint with purpose, hoping it would glance off someone. It did. That someone was Ryan McDonald, who celebrated his 4th goal of the year and 3rd in two games.
The 2-1 lead held thanks again to strong defensive play from both the forwards and defense, along with some timely saves by Christian Green.
In the third, both teams kind of went through the motions.
Spencer Penner, Luke Bogart Aaron Krestanowich, Eric Cote, Cale Quamme and Reece Gault were fantastic throughout the game, but mainly defending a third period lead. All 6 defenders worked their tails off, making smart, hard hockey plays, frustrating the Oil Caps time and time again.
The forward group, Jackson Kostiuk, Brayden Berg, Brody Green, Brett Kaiser, Noad, Barnett, Connor Paronuzzi, Mathis Laplante, Mcdonald and even the young guns line of Gavin Holod, Carson White and Blake Farthing, playing in just his second MJHL game, were fully engaged, fully bought into playing hard, smart, structured hockey.
In the final minutes of the period, Noad would spring Parnouzzi who broke in all alone and made no mistake, burying his team leading 8th of the year, putting Steinbach up 3-2. Noad and McDonald had the helpers on what would turn out to be a massive insurance marker.
In the final minute, the Oil Caps pulled the goalie to go with a 6 on 5 advantage.
A shot from the point was deflected by a Virden forward and found the back of the net to bring the game to 3-2 with 11 seconds still remaining.
Virden pushed hard but once again, the strong defensive play by Steinbach held the fort and the determined group came away with a 3-2 win.
Despite being ravaged by injury, missing the likes of Noah Szabo, Shane Burns, Cole Carins, Jamie Fuchs, Luc DeGagne and Ty Paisley (because of paper work), Steinbach managed to go 3-0 this week.
Christian Green followed up Zach Burleigh's shutout from the night before with a very strong effort, stopping 33 shots for his 7th victory of the year.
Steinbach's power play was 1-2 while the penalty kill was once again very strong, going a perfect 4-4.
The Pistons will enjoy some time between games. They don't see action again until Friday night when they head out to take on the MGEU East Division leading Selkirk Steelers on Friday night.
They'll follow up that game by hosting a suddenly somewhat surging Winnipeg Freeze club, who has points as a team in three straight games, in La Broquerie on Saturday night.