For the first time in 26 years, the Winkler Flyers are the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions, having swept their best-of-seven final series against the Steinbach Pistons with a thrilling 5-4 OT win in game four Friday night.
Dalton Andrew had the crowd in the packed Winkler Centennial Arena on its feet just 13 seconds in. Additional goals from Brody Beauchemin and Jayce Legaarden kept the Flyers in the lead 3-2 heading into the first intermission. Avery Anderson then made it 4-2 with the lone goal of the second period.
A Steinbach goal midway through the third began chipping away at Winkler’s lead. The Pistons then benched their goalie for the extra man and managed to tie the game at 4-4 with just 39 seconds left on the clock.
A pair of slashing and high stick penalties four minutes into overtime gave Winkler an edge, allowing Zach Nicolas to get the game-winner a second shy of the five-minute mark to win Winkler its first championship since 1998.
Goalie Malachi Klassen made 31 saves in net off 35 shots that game. His success between the posts through the series earned him the Playoff MVP award.
Flyers coach and general manager Justin Falk says the team is thrilled to have been able to bring the Turnbull Cup to Winkler for the first time in a generation.
“It’s exciting for the community and for the guys in the room,” he says, stressing the team goes far beyond the players out on the ice. “There’s the support staff—your security guards, your billet coordinators, your community relations coordinators, to all the board members that have given their time over the years. That’s what it’s really all about. Seeing the smile on their faces and having that feeling and experience is what it’s all about.”
The Flyers have been steadily working towards this moment for years, Falk says. He came on board as coach and GM in 2021.
“It’s been a three-year process for our staff and a lot of the players in the room, wanting to build accordingly to make sure that we were playing our best hockey at this time of year,” Falk says. “We were able to do enough good things throughout the course of the season, especially down the stretch here. We’ve had our moments of adversity throughout the course of the season as well, so we were able to build some resiliency and some hardness in our character as a group as a whole and we were able to find a way through it all and come out on top.”
The Flyers finished the regular season in second place behind the first-place Pistons, trailing them by eight points.
In the first rounds of the playoffs, Winkler knocked out the Portage Terriers in five and the Virden Oil Capitals in six, the latter series going to overtime multiple times for a decision.
“That was a tough series,” Falk says of their head-to-head with Virden. “That was double overtimes, the quadruple overtime, the one-goal games, the nail-biters, the grind … but we were able to rally from that and stay even keeled and be ready to approach the finals in a responsible way.”
The road to Friday’s championship win started with earlier victories against the Pistons of 2-1, 3-1, and 4-3.
Heading into game four up 3-0 had the players flying high but also feeling the pressure.
“There was a bundle of nerves and the pressure was all on us in this final game,” Falk says. “The fourth one is always the hardest to get.
“Trying to keep them focused and playing within our structure and staying in the moment was a task, but these guys found a way to get it done.
“It’s a testament to their hard work to go out and sweep a finals. I’m not sure the last time that’s happened, and I’m proud of the effort they had.”
Team captain Trent Penner said on Monday the fact that they are Manitoba’s junior champs still feels a little unreal.
“It’s crazy. It’s been a surreal couple of days,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s even really set in for all the guys. We have a truly incredible group here in Winkler, so I’m pretty proud of this group for being the team to be able to bring it back to Winkler.”
The energy in the arena that night was electric, Penner says.
“It was incredible. The fans were good to us all season, and then when playoff came around it was truly insane,” he says. “I think the doors opened at six [Friday] and it was probably 4:30 and there was a lineup outside the rink already.”
Photo by Rick Hiebert/Voice
Fans cheered the team on as they worked to bring home the Turnbull Cup for the first time since 1998
The team really fed on that excitement, Penner says.
“I mean, we scored 13 seconds into the game, and I think that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard that arena in all my time,” he says. “I’d just like to thank the community of Winkler for coming and supporting us all season long … we couldn’t do it without them, and we really appreciate it.”
The Flyers will now head to Oakville, Ontario to represent Manitoba at the 2024 Centennial Cup National Junior A Hockey Championship May 9-19.
It’s the team’s first time vying for the Centennial Cup in decades, and Falk intends to have them ready.
“We’ve got some bodies that need to be rested up and some injuries that need to be healed up here in time,” he says, adding that making sure “we find a way to keep our conditioning at a good level and our game sharpness and hardness at a level will be the job for us at hand through the course of this week.
“There’s a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement, and a great national stage experience coming for these guys.”
“I think we’ve really got a shot at doing something special there as well,” adds Penner.
They’ll start off by playing four preliminary games against four other CJHL member leagues. In their pool are the champions of the Superior International Junior Hockey League (Sioux Lookout Bombers), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (Melfort Mustangs/Flin Flon Bombers), Maritime Hockey League (Miramichi Timberwolves/Summerside Capitals), and the host, Oakville Blades (OJHL).
Photos by Rick Hiebert/Voice
