The best-of-seven series between Portage Terriers and Virden Oil Capitals resumes tonight. The Dogs currently lead the matchup 2-1 but Virden won Game 3 in Portage 4-2 and are starting to feel the momentum shift.
Treherne's own Roux Bazin has scored a point-per-game in the playoffs for the Oil Capitals and says they won't be making too many adjustments ahead of Game 4.
"I think we just have to keep doing what we're doing," Bazin explains. "Every game in this series has been close. Even if you look at the 5-1 loss, it was 3-1 at the end of the third period before they scored two on empty nets. I think we'll just keep doing what we're doing, follow our structure, and try to wear them down."
Roux Bazin 🚨
— #theMJ (@mjhlhockey) April 8, 2023
After the Terriers took a 3-0 lead, @OilCapsHockey found their way back to tie it up and send it to overtime. It started with this nice passing play from Dean Gorchynski to find Bazin. pic.twitter.com/KmotcwaRuS
At the other end of the ice, Portage is looking to bounce back from their first loss of the series. The Terriers were down 3-0 in the second period a tried to battle back but the Oil Capitals' late effort was too much for the Dogs to overcome.
Team captain Kian Calder describes their gameplan for Game 4 in Virden.
"I think we're just going to have to use our speed and get pucks behind their D. We need to get after it and cycle pucks. It's about the usual stuff that we can do really well," Calder continues. "There were some things (in Game 3), a bounce here and a bounce there, it's could've been in the back of their net instead of ours. It could've gone either way but we need a better effort (tonight), for sure."
Terriers defenceman Hayden Lacquette will miss one more game as he's serving a three-game suspension for his sixth fighting major of the season.Â
While tonight's game is in Virden, Bazin has been enjoying playing in Portage.
"Yeah, it's definitely good to have a series there since it's so close to home," says Bazin. "I have a lot of family nearby and even in Portage. It's nice to have some fans on our side in their building."
Brock MacDonald, Slade Stanick, and Brandon McCartney have led the way in scoring for the Terriers in this series, each with four points in three games. On the Virden side, Bazin, Ty Plaisier, and Joey Bielik all have a point-per-game to this point in the series.
This critical Game 4 between the Terriers and Oil Capitals, goes down in Virden with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. You can listen to the game live on 920AM CFRY.