The Portage Terriers are back to their winning ways. The Dogs redeemed themselves tonight against the Niverville Nighthawks, defeating them 6-2. Portage now leads the season series 2-1 after suffering their first home loss of the year to Niverville.
The Terriers' leading scoring got the ball rolling in this one. Hayden Lacquette found the back of the net just four minutes into the first period and dished out an assist 25 seconds later on a goal scored by Kaden Kohle to give the Terriers the early two-goal lead.
Braden Panzer responded a couple of minutes later for Niverville to bring the score to 2-1, which is how it would stay heading into period number two.
The Terriers brought the lead back up to two on the power-play as Matt Wisener put home his sixth of the season, and Lacquette picked up his third point of the contest.
Isaac Rentmeester kept the game within reach by scoring with just 12 seconds left in the period, making it a 3-2 contest after 40 minutes.
Portage really got down to business in the third. Wisener scored his second of the game near the midway point of the third, and newly acquired forward Karson King picked up his first point as a Terrier.
"The first point is always a monkey off the back," says King. "Next up is a goal."
Less than a minute later, Kian Calder tickled the twine to make it 5-2, and Slade Stanick beat former Terrier goalie Chris Fines in the final few minutes to bring us the final score of 6-2.
Terrier forward Karson King says they played very well as a unit tonight.
"I think the biggest thing was that everybody contributed. It was a whole team effort. There was no quit right from the start."
King notes this was an important victory after coming off of their first set of consecutive losses this season.
"This is a big win, definitely. You don't want to get in the losing column too often. To get back out of it is a good thing and a big positive."
Portage will look to carry this momentum into their two-game road trip, which kicks off on Sunday. The Terriers will be in Winnipeg to take on the Blues and will then travel to Waywayseecappo for a meeting with the Wolverines on Tuesday.