The Portage Terriers are back in the dog pound today as they host the Swan Valley Stampeders.

This will be the first meeting of the season between these two teams. The Terriers sit just four points ahead of the Stampeders in the MJHL standings.

The dogs were able to snap their four-game losing streak in their last outing against the Neepawa Natives as they won 5-2. Forward Mackenzie Belinski faced his former team for the first time since coming to the Portage, he outlines what went well for the team in the win.

"It felt good," says Belinski. "We had a good couple of practices. We went in there with a lot of energy. I tried not to focus on it too much, but I had some new linemates and I think we had some good chemistry out there and it paid off."

That line of Belinski, Reece Henry, and Kolton Shindle contributed four of the five goals scored against the Natives on Wednesday.

Today's matchup will feature the two top penalty-killing teams as the Terriers have been at the top of that statistic all year but the Stampeders are now close behind. Portage has killed 89% of penalties this season but prior to their losing streak, that number was at 92.6%. As for Swan Valley, they are fighting off their opponents' power-play 87.5% of the time.

Forward Reece Henry explains what challenges the Stampeders will bring.

"They play hard," says Henry. "They're a physical team, we know that from last year. I think they have got a fairly new team but they're going to be good this year too. So, we have to come out ready to play."

Puck drop for tonight's game is set for 7:30 at Stride Place.

Tale of the Tape

Record
Terriers: 11-4-1-0
Stampeders: 9-4-1-0

Team Leaders
Terriers - Joey Moffatt (8G, 8A, 16Pts) and Kolton Shindle (7G, 9A, 16Pts)
Stampeders - Nathan Carl (8G, 6A, 14Pts) and Tommy Cardinal (4G, 10A, 14Pts)

Goaltenders
Terriers - Nathan Moore 0.901 save percentage and a 2.44 GAA
Stampeders - Michael Davis 0.916 save percentage and a 2.68 GAA