The Pembina Valley Twisters had a great weekend both on and off the ice. They won one game and lost another, while also holding a successful CancerCare fundraiser during their most recent home game. These results have solidified their position in second place in the MMJHL standings, with an impressive record of 22-9-3.
On Feb. 2, the Twisters were 5-1 winners on the road against the Charleswood Hawks. Merek Degraeve led the way for Pembina Valley with a pair of goals, while Slade Sotheran, Riley Goertzen, and Cody Clark had the other Twisters’ tallies. Logan Enns stopped 31 shots in net for the win.
The next night, on Feb. 3, was the Twisters’ headshave CancerCare fundraiser night. While they experienced a tough 3-2 shootout defeat against the Ft. Garry/Ft. Rouge Twins, the night proved to be a triumph as they managed to raise an impressive $22,000 for the cause. Scoring for the Twisters were Caelan Russell and Riley Goertzen, while goaltender Owen LaRocque put up an admirable 32 saves in their loss.
“It was a tough back-to-back facing the Charleswood Hawks, where we played exceptionally, shutting them down all night and capitalizing on our chances,” said Twisters’ head coach Braeden Beernaerts. “The next night, we started slow and got our feet under us in the third period. However, we couldn’t buy a goal. Even though we didn’t get the win, it was nice to get out of that game with a point in the standings.”
Derek Wiebe from the Twisters is currently ranked third in the MMJHL’s scoring race, having accumulated 58 points over the span of 34 games. Meanwhile, Degraeve holds the fifth spot with 55 points in 35 games. Additionally, Enns is proving to be a top performer in his position as he currently sits at fourth place in the goalie rankings with remarkable stats of a 2.91 goals-against average and an impressive .916 save percentage.
It was also recently announced that Enns, Degraeve, Wiebe, Goertzen, and Mike Heppner from the Twisters have been selected for the 2024 MMJHL All-Star Game. The All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 10 at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex (3 p.m.)
“It’s always an honour to have your guys selected for an All Star Game as they’ve worked extremely hard all year to get the team where we are at. I feel with the run we had in the past few months, we could’ve had a few more guys named also.”
The Twisters are back in action with a road game on Feb. 9 against the River East Royal Knights. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
“We just got to get back to consistency in our game to get more wins now,” said Beernaerts. “We got too comfortable during our streak, and even after one win, we kind of relaxed a bit again. With the strength of the league, we can’t afford to take nights off based on the standings.”
Standard Photos by Lana Meier
