Terriers make it a perfect weekend with two wins

The Portage Terriers looked strong from start to finish beating the Winnipeg Blues 4-1 on Sunday night. The Terriers outshot the Blues 37-14.

Portage started red hot, pouring the pressure on Winnipeg goalie Brock Moroz. The Blues netminder held his team in the game early making multiple point-blank saves on Terrier forwards. Eventually, Portage was able to solve him when Brandon Funk tipped a Hayden Lacquette point shot with five minutes to go in the first period.

The ice continued to be tilted in the Terriers’ favour in the second period with the Dogs dominating the number of chances. The Blues started to get some pressure late in the period and Bailey Monteith had to make a glove save on a clean breakaway. Winnipeg also got some chances late in the period with Kian Calder in the box for holding.

The goals started to come for Portage in the third period after being frustrated for most of the night. Bryden Kiesman had a point shot find its way through traffic in front of the net to provide some insurance and open the floodgates. 58 Seconds later Matt Wisener hit Ryan Botterill on the rush and he snapped it home from the top of the circle to make it 3-0 Portage. He is now tied for the team lead with 10 goals.

 Kaden Kohle then got the puck in front of the net, went between his legs, and fired it upstairs for his 8th of the season. Janus ruined Monteith's shutout bid with less than 4 minutes to go in the third. He was left alone at the side of the net and slammed it home. It was too little too late as the Terriers hung on for the victory.

Portage is back in action Tuesday night in Waywayseecappo against the Wolverines. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. Following that, the team has two home games on the weekend as they host OCN in back-to-back matches. Saturday night is also the annual Teddy bear toss game for the Salvation Army.

The win, combined with a home ice victory Friday against Niverville, leaves the team with an 18-5 record, which is good for third place in the East division. The dogs are two points behind Winkler (3 games in hand) and 4 behind league leading Steinbach. (1 game in hand)

The team's newest player Zev Podolski was not in the lineup after being traded earlier in the weekend to the Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL) for future considerations. Podolski had only played one game with the team since his arrival last week and went pointless in that match.