Portage Terriers and Ryan Simpson

The Portage Terriers head into the Christmas break on a sour note after a 2-1 shootout loss Wednesday night to the Niverville Nighthawks.

Offense was tough to come by throughout the night with both teams struggling to find quality chances. The Terriers looked tired after playing the second game in a row and league-leading 36th of the season.

A strong first period propelled the Portage Terriers over the Selkirk Steelers 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Special teams were busy in this chippy affair, with 18 minor penalties and a total of 94 penalty minutes handed out. Portage went 1/7 with the man advantage while the Steelers were 1/11.

The Portage Terriers started the weekend by picking up their second win in a row on Friday night, beating the Winnipeg Freeze 6-2. It was the first time this season that they have won back-to-back games. Unfortunately for the team, they couldn't make it three in a row Saturday as they dropped at 3-2 decision on the road in Niverville. This game was decided by a shootout.

Not even overtime was enough to settle things last night at Stride Place between the Portage Terriers and Winkler Flyers. After 65 minutes of play a shootout was needed and even that required an extra shooter for each team. In the end, it was the Flyers getting the extra point and a 4-3 victory over the hometown team.

Most of the scoring came in the second period as things opened up with both teams taking several penalties. The Terriers went 1 for 6 with the man advantage and the Flyers 1 for 5. Whenever someone scored, the other team responded with a goal within two minutes.

Giving up three first-period goals proved costly for the Portage Terriers as they fell 5-3 to the Steinbach Pistons Thursday night. The game was the home opener for the Pistons in their temporary arena in La Broquerie, MB. 

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. 

The Portage Terriers grabbed their seventh win in a row Wednesday night beating the Winkler Flyers 4-3. With the win, the Dogs move into a tie with Steinbach for first place, plus they have three games in hand. The Pistons lost to the Winnipeg Blues 4-1.

It was a tight-checking back-and-forth first period. Midway through the frame Terrier forward Mike Stubbs tipped a Kian Calder point shot over the shoulder of Malachi Klassen to open the scoring. Portage hung on to the 1-0 lead into the intermission. 

The Portage Terriers picked up their 6th win in a row on Sunday night, beating the Winnipeg Freeze 4-2. It was a tale of two teams having completely different seasons. Portage improved to 26-6-1-1, two points out of first, while the Freeze lost their 26th in a row and are last in the MJHL with a record of 2-31-2.

The Portage Terriers picked up a big 3-1 win on the road Wednesday night over the Winkler Flyers. It was a much better start compared to two weeks ago when they traveled to the southern Manitoba community. That night, they fell behind 5-0 before the first period was over. The win means the Dogs head into the Christmas break tied for second in the standings with the Flyers and just two points back of Steinbach for first. The Terriers have also played two fewer games than Winkler.

The Portage Terriers wrapped up the first weekend of December with another win over the OCN Blizzard. After blowing out the Blizzard 7-2 on Saturday night, it took until the last minute of play on Sunday for Portage to pull out a 4-3 victory.

The night was a penalty filled affair with both teams finishing 1/7 on the power play. The Terriers got the first goal on the man advantage midway through the first period when Hayden Lacquette scored his 9th of the season. The Blizzard responded quickly from Drayden Kurbatoff to tie the game at 1.