Sulivan Shortreed and Jaden Townsend both scored for Winkler in a losing cause as the Orange and Black dropped a 5-2 decision to the Portage Terriers in their first game at the MJHL Showcase in Winnipeg. Meeting the defending champions for the first time this season, the Flyers ran into some penalty trouble in the middle period which was their undoing in the game.
Coming into the contest riding a two game winning streak, the Flyers had the task of trying to take down the first place Terriers in front of scouts and fans at the Seven Oaks Arena in Winnipeg during the league’s annual Showcase event.
The Flyers and Terriers traded chances in the first period but it was the Terriers who got on the board first, taking advantage of a fortunate bounce in front of the net. Winkler tied the game early in the second when Sulivan Shortreed scored his team leading fourth goal of the season just 1:28 into the period. Bryce Krauter and Justin Svenson drew the assists. All three skaters increased their individual point streaks to three games.
Unfortunately for the Flyers, the Terriers took advantage on the power-play in the minutes to follow and scored two quick goals on the man advantage to take a 3-1 lead. Then with just under six minutes to play in the period, and less than a minute after the Terriers had taken a 4-1 lead, Assistant Captain Jaden Townsend snapped home his first of the season to cut the Terriers’ lead to 4-2.
Winkler came at Portage in the final frame and outshot them 16-9 in the final 20 minutes but could not make the score any closer. Portage capped it off with an empty net goal in the final minute to hand the Flyers their third loss of the season.
Dorrin Luding took the loss for Winkler in goal stopping 28 of the 32 shots he faced as Portage outshot Winkler 33-28 overall. Winkler went 0-for-5 on the power-play and 3-for-5 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (2-3-0) will take on the Neepawa Natives (0-5-0) at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon in their second game of the Showcase. You can catch the game live from the Seven Oaks Arena in Winnipeg on Country 88 and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com beginning with Matt Friesen’s pregame show at 1:55pm. You can also watch the game live on www.hockeytv.com