Ryan Botterill scored his 33rd and 34th goals of the season last night to propel the Portage Terriers to a road victory. The Terriers defeated the Virden Oil Capitals 4-1 last night to pick up their third consecutive win.
The local forward opened the scoring with his 16th power-play goal of the year seven minutes into the first period when he fired a point shot off a Virden defender’s stick. After Virden tied the game, Botterill put home his second of the game with assists coming from Slade Stanick and Daniel Siso. Portage played well in the second controlling the play for long stretches.
Noah Wanger beat Virden goalie Owen LaRocque early in the third, and Brock McDonald was able to seal the deal with an empty netter late.
Botterill now has eight goals in his last three games and has scored 11 in the month of February. The Portager is the first Terrier to score over 30 goals since the 2016-17 season. With 11 games to go, he would need to average a goal per game the rest of the way to hit 45.
The Terriers have struggled to hold onto leads over their last few games due to playing shorthanded. Last night they almost had a full lineup and it showed.
After this victory, Portage has a six-point cushion over the Steinbach Pistons for the #1 seed in the MJHL standings. The Terriers will return to Stride Place tomorrow night as they go head-to-head with the Winkler Flyers.
