Portage Terriers

Those who saw Dean Stewart in action with the Portage Terriers between 2014 and 2016 may not have understood at the time how far his hockey career would take him. After two seasons with the Dogs, Stewart was drafted in the seventh round by the Arizona Coyotes and would play four years in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top division with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, including filling the captain's role in his fourth year.

An outstanding performance in goal and some timely scoring were the difference as the Portage Terriers took down the Winnipeg Freeze 3-0 in their final game before the Christmas break.

A couple of penalties were all that would hit the scoresheet in the first period, as Portage's powerplay put several good chances to the net, but were unable to capitalize. The shots were 14-3 for Portage but the score remained 0-0 after 20 minutes.

The Portage Terriers will play one final game before the Christmas break will take players home for the holidays.

The Winnipeg Freeze come to town to face the Terriers for the fourth time this season, having lost all three previous contests by a combined score of 16-3.

The Dogs will look to extend the win streak against the Freeze with a sixth consecutive win over the last two seasons. Portage has only lost one game to the Freeze in their history, a 4-3 extra-time affair which saw the Terriers give up a goal late in the third period to tie it.

A wild affair at the Hockey For All Centre ended with Portage the victors by a score of 5-4.

The teams traded goals in the first ten minutes, with Evan Gradt and Decker Mujcin scoring for the Blues and Terriers respectively.

From there, the Blues would score three consecutive goals, to take a 4-1 lead early in the second period.

Nolan Nenow would start the comeback with a shot on the powerplay that beat Blues netminder Samuel Couture, making it 4-2 in Winnipeg's favour. 

The end of the first half of the season for the Portage Terriers will see most of the team leave the city for home. Will McKay and Adam Belzil will each travel significant distances by air to get home, with McKay hailing from Terrace, British Columbia, and Belzil from Lévis, Quebec.

Belzil says that travelling home by car is not feasible for getting a real break, with the trip being about 28 hours of driving.

The Portage Terriers weren't able to generate any sustained pressure on the Winkler Flyers Friday night and fell 3-0 on home ice.

Netminder Mitchell Kathler was the busiest Terrier throughout the night as Winkler outshot Portage 10-5, 15-4 and 12-9 in each period for a total of 37-18.

After a tight checking first period, Winkler opened the scoring in the second. Brady Craik tipped a Niklas Gudmundson point shot past Kathler three seconds after a Terrier penalty expired.

With only nine returning players in their lineup, the Portage Terriers may have expected a rough first half of the season. But their 20-9-0-0 record so far has shown that the team is once again competitive.

Defensive play has been a key to their success so far, with the pairings that can all be rolled out fairly comfortably. 

The Portage Terriers escaped Waywayseecappo with their win streak intact on Friday night.

Portage entered the contest with wins in their last three games, two of which were against the Wolverines.

Goals were hard to come by in the game, as each team only found the back of the net twice, with Nolan Nenow and newcomer Dawson Madden getting on the scoresheet for Portage.

Terrier netminder Mitchell Kathler would stop 19 of the 21 shots he faced, and Dawson Madden would play the hero, scoring the winner in overtime.

The Portage Terriers held off a late comeback from the Neepawa Titans on Wednesday night coming out with a 4-3 win at Stride Place.

Prior to the action, Parker Scherr was named the Terriers' Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Player of the Month. He says getting that recognition is always nice.

The accolades continue rolling in for the Portage Terriers as Portager Koy Funk was named the MJHL's Rookie of the Month for November. Funk secured the award by scored 12 points in 12 games. He shares how he found out about the award.

"I heard when I was out skating with Crescentview School, so I had a couple guys with me. They all came over, gave me fist bumps, then saw all the guys at the rink later, and it was warm all around, it was nice to feel that."

Funk notes that the community's support has been felt by the team, and himself especially.