Portage Terriers

The Portage Terriers' season has concluded after a tough first round matchup with the Winkler Flyers. Off the ice, the team was active all year in the community, with many players taking part in volunteer opportunities in the region. Grant Dardis was named the Community Spirit Award winner by the team at their awards night, and says it feels good to be recognized.

The Portage Terriers’ season came to a close Saturday night when they lost 6-3 to the Winkler Flyers.

The Flyers continued their strong physical style of hockey in game 5 and used their home crowd to their advantage. They scored three unanswered goals in the first period from Brady Craik, Trent Penner, and Jakob Jones. All of the momentum was in Winkler’s favour as they outshot Portage 17-5. This was the first period in the series where not a single penalty was called.

A late surge couldn’t get the Terriers back into Game 4, falling 3-1 to the Winkler Flyers. Portage had a hard time generating offence and ended the game getting outshot 34-22.

The Terriers started the game slowly by taking a pair of back to back penalties. After killing them off, they weren’t able to capitalize when they got power plays of their own in the second half of the first period. Winkler got on the board off a turnover in the Terrier end and Jakob Jones fired it past Gavin Renwick to make it 1-0 Flyers.

A tough loss to the Winkler Flyers on Wednesday has the Portage Terriers down 2-1 in the first round playoff series.

Winkler's Jayce Legaarden scored a hat trick, including one short-handed to finish the 5-3 victory, which saw Terrier netminder Jayden Catellier exit early due to injury.

The two teams return to action tonight at Stride Place for Game 4, with the Dogs wanting to even the series.

The series has been a penalty-filled affair, with the last two games both reaching over 60 minutes in penalties.

The Portage Terriers couldn’t complete a late game comeback against the Winkler Flyers on Wednesday night and lost 5-3. The Flyers thrived on home ice playing a heavy physical brand of hockey.

The Portage Terriers are back on the road tonight to take on the Winkler Flyers in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series.

The Dogs felt pretty good about their last game on Sunday, a 3-2 victory on home ice after a tough loss to open the series in Winkler.

Parker Scherr was named the player of the game, and felt the team was better prepared for Game 2.

After game one of the Portage Terriers vs Winkler Flyers series put the Dogs in a hole, the message from the coaching staff was clear; everyone needed to show up and do their job.

Following a 4-1 loss to Winkler to kick off the series, it wouldn't be surprising if doubts started to creep in. Luckily, when it came to game two, the team returned to form as three different Terriers found the back of the net. The team was able to hold on defensively too, stopping a third-period surge from the Flyers to level the series at 1-1 after a 3-2 win.

The Portage Terriers held on to a late lead on Sunday night, beating the Winkler Flyers 3-2 at Stride Place. The win ties the best-of-7 quarter final series at one game a piece and sends it back to Winkler on Wednesday for game three.

The Terriers looked strong out of the gate, getting some good chances on Winkler goalie Malachi Klassen. Eventually one would get through as Slade Stanick finished off a nice pass in front from Gabriel Laflamme and Parker Scherr. 1-0 Portage after 1.

When the puck dropped Friday night and the MJHL playoff series between Portage and Winkler started, the two teams were doing something that hadn't happened since the 1990's - facing off in the playoffs. In fact it was 25 years ago in 1999 when the two squads last met up in the post season, four years before any of the current  players were even alive.

The Portage Terriers fell 4-1 in game 1 against the Winkler Flyers on Friday night. Two early Winkler goals were too much to overcome for the Terriers who had a hard time sustaining pressure.

Both teams started physical with a clear playoff intensity. Portage managed a couple opportunities before Mike Svenson scored low glove side for Winkler on a two on one rush. The Flyers added another a few minutes later with Daniel Siso in the box for cross checking. Jace Legaarden was left alone in front of the net and went upstairs to make it 2-0 Winkler.