Portage Terriers

The effort was there, the chances were there, and the goaltending was there but it still wasn't enough for the Portage Terriers. 

The Dogs are eliminated from the MJHL playoffs after dropping Game 7, 3-2 in overtime to the Virden Oil Capitals.

The Portage Terriers are fighting for their playoff lives tonight. 

The Dogs are welcoming the Virden Oil Capitals to Stride Place for the winner-take-all Game 7. Portage is coming off a crushing loss on Sunday, dropping Game 6 7-1 and now find themselves on the brink of elimination. Forward Mike Stubbs says, as weird as it may sound, they prepared like it was a regular game.

The Virden Oil Capitals have forced a game seven. The Portage Terriers couldn’t get their offense going on Sunday night as they lost 7-1 in Virden. It was the most lopsided loss the Terriers have suffered this season. 

The game was tight in the first period with both teams staying out of the box. Virden opened the scoring midway through the period. Colton Miller tipped a shot perfectly over the shoulder of Terrier goalie Jayden Catellier. Shots were 11-11 after 1. 

The Portage Terriers are one win away from the Turnbull Cup Finals. The Dogs are heading to Virden tonight for Game 6 in their best-of-seven series with the Oil Capitals. Terrier forward Austin Peters says they regrouped after the Game 5 win and are ready to return to Portage as finalists.

"We had a day off, and we used that as best as we could because we do have a lot of guys that are sick. We focused up and are going to bring it to them tonight. That's all we can do," Peters explains. "We're going to make it to the finals if we keep playing like this."

The Centennial Cup committee is in need of assistance during the big event. 

The group is looking for ice cleaners for 14 of the 25 games going down from May 11-21 at Stride Place. Volunteer Coordinator Tracey Waldvogel outlines what the job of an ice cleaner entails.

"We need five to six skaters per game, and they will go on the ice at scheduled times each period and scrape the ice near the penalty boxes, player benches, and the net," Waldvogel explains. "We're looking for skaters that are 12 or older to handle that. We still have a lot of spots to fill."

It wasn't the start they hoped for but the Portage Terriers were able to overcome the Virden Oil Capitals 4-2 in Game 5 last night. The Dogs now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with an opportunity to move onto the finals in Game 6.

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.

The Portage Terriers will have at least one more semi-final matchup at Stride Place. The Dogs dropped Game 3 to the Virden Oil Capitals 4-2 on home ice, giving the underdog hope. The Terriers now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.

The first major scoring chance came early in the first as Gavin Klaassen scooped up the puck down low for Portage. He kept the puck on his backhand as he wrapped around the net and made a centring pass for Brenden Holba but the pad of Virden goalie Eric Reid kept the game scoreless.

The Portage Terriers beat the Virden Oil Capitals 5-1 on Sunday night to take a 2-0 series lead. 

Portage started slow out of the gate and both teams had trouble getting shots through to the net. Portage killed an early penalty to Parker Scherr and then couldn’t capitalize on back-to-back penalties by the Oil Capitals. 0-0 after 20 minutes. 

Hotels, restaurants, and stores will be filled with fans, players, and coaches from across the country in just a month's time when the Centennial Cup comes to Portage.

Cody Buhler with Centennial Cup sales and marketing says the biggest difference with the Centennial Cup compared to when the city last hosted the tournament in 2015 is that the number of teams has doubled from five to ten.