The Portage Terriers took to the ice tonight at Stride Place for their homeopener. They were up against the Winnipeg Blues and it was obvious right from puck drop that there was no love lost between the two teams. The Terriers hammered Winnipeg 9-1 in the season-opener on Friday. Today was a different story however. The Blues put up a strong fight and were able to down the Dogs 3-2.

It would be the Blues who would strike first with Tyler Van Deynze off for hooking. Nathan Hillis would capitalize on a scramble in front of the Terrier net and fire the puck past Terrier 'tender Nathan Moore. It would stay that way for much of the period despite good scoring chances for the Dogs from Ocean Wiesblatt and Sheldin Howard. On a power play of their own, Portage would knot the game at one when Cody Thompson wired a point shot past a Blues' netminder Jeremy Link who was screened by Scott Mickoski. The teams would go into the dressing room all tied up at one.

Ocean Wiesblatt looks to make a play.In the second, the Terriers would put pressure on early. It would be Mickoski again in front of the net with a wide open cage. Link would make the impressive glove stop while falling, preserving the tie. Hillis would strike again for the Blues when he was left alone in the left circle and would fire a wrister five-hole on Moore. Portage had a couple chances to tie it up again including a beautiful cross ice pass from Reilly Funk to Wiesblatt but Link would flash the leather again. Winnipeg took a 2-1 lead into the final frame.

Van Deynze would tie the game halfway through the third when a large scrum erupted in front of Link who got bowled over in the process. Van Deynze would hammer the puck into the empty net. It would stay that way until with two minutes left to play, the Blues once again took the lead. Codey Behun would be the recipient of a juicy rebound off Moore. He would make no mistake and the score was 3-2. Portage would pull Moore with two minutes left and did manage a couple decent chances but Winnipeg held on for the victory. Terrier Assistant Coach Paul Harland said it was a game where Terriers simply didn't work hard enough.

"We probably didn't really deserve to win here tonight," says Harland. "I didn't think that we competed hard enough, we didn't make enough plays and our passing wasn't great. We let them do some things in our zone that defensively we need to get better at. That'll be the focus moving forward."

Thompson's power play marker was his first goal of the season and he says they need to put forth a better defensive effort overall.

"Tonight we didn't battle hard enough, passes weren't clicking," says Thompson. "Bounces weren't going our way but we had lots of chances, there's no excuse to lose that one. You can't come out and play like that and expect to win games."

Portage will take the home-and-home split with the Blues up north when they make their annual trip to face the OCN Blizzard next weekend on the 28th and 29th. Their next home game is October 3rd when they welcome the Winkler Flyers.

Full Boxscore
1st Period
1:42    WPG Nathan Hillis (1) ASST: Mikol Sartor (1), Codey Behun (1) (PP)
15:17  PORT Cody Thompson (1) ASST: Darren Gisti (2), Ty Barnstable (2) (PP)
2nd Period
7:50   WPG Nathan Hillis (2) ASST: Coby Stauss (2), Riley Cusack (1)
3rd Period
9:46   PORT Tyler Van Deynze (2) ASST: Lane Taylor (2), Reilly Funk (2)
17:46 WPG Codey Behun (2) ASST: Kelton Sutherland (1)