The Winkler Flyers blanked the visiting Northern Manitoba Blizzard in two games straight last weekend to cement their place at the top of the MJHL standings.
Game one Friday night saw the home team up 1-0 thanks to a late first-period goal from Max Lavoie. Blake Matheson and Brody Beauchemin then made it 3-0 with unanswered goals midway through the second.
That was it for scoring that night from either side. Liam Ernst had a 15-save shutout while across the rink the Blizzard’s Taye Timmerman made 32 saves off the 35 the Flyers sent his way.
In the rematch Saturday night, neither team made any headway through the first two periods—Ernst stopped eight shots in the first and 12 in the second for Winkler, while Timmerman denied the five and seven that came his way.
The deadlock was finally broken in the final period when Brady Craik scored six minutes in. Nicolas Mckee then made it a 2-0 win for Winkler with two minutes to go on the clock.
Overall, the Blizzard outshot the Flyers 30-23.
The victories came after a rare Flyers loss earlier in the week, when they dropped a 4-3 OT decision to the Titans in Neepawa.
The Tuesday night game saw Winkler battle back from a three-goal deficit to force overtime. Isaiah Peters, Blake Matheson, and Mckee did the honours, but it was the Titans who got the winning goal in the resulting extra period. Leif Ekbald was in net for Winkler this game, making 25 saves as the Flyers outshot the Titans 42-29.
Winkler currently has a 30-6-3 record in the MJHL’s East Division, good for 63 points and first place. They are tied in points with the second-place Steinbach Pistons (30-8-2-1) but have two games in hand over them. Rounding out the top three are the Portage Terriers (29-11-0-1, 59 points).
Ten of the Flyers were in Winnipeg this Tuesday and Wednesday to take part in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase, while the rest got a few days’ breather ahead of Saturday’s game at home against Neepawa. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
