Dasan Sydora earned his third shutout of the season as the Winkler Flyers blanked the Swan Valley Stampeders 6-0 to conclude their three game trip up north. After taking three of four points in Dauphin and OCN, the Flyers got the effort they were looking for in their first meeting against the Stamps.
With a bitter taste in their mouths after giving up a late lead in their overtime loss to OCN the night before, the Flyers traveled to Swan River to put the finishing touches on a pretty decent start to the trip.
Cam Whyte, who had six points combined on Friday and Saturday, scored the game’s first goal, 10:18 into the first period. Linemates Scott Gall and Patrice Wren drew the assists. Just under five minutes later Austin Douglas ripped in a shot from the point pushing Winkler ahead 2-0 with 4:58 to play in the period. Evan Last assisted on Douglas’ first goal as a Flyer.
Winkler increased their lead to 3-0 with 3:32 remaining in the opening frame. After Shawn Pachet had his shot stopped by Stamps goaltender Lasse Petersen, Tristan Keck potted his team leading 14th of the year into the back of the net. Outshooting Swan Valley 21-14 through 20 minutes, the Flyers took their three goal lead into the second period.
Just 4:03 into the second, Jon Carlson and Evan Last assisted on Brett Klassen’s fourth of the year and Winkler’s lead was 4-0. Dasan Sydora stood tall in the middle frame and allowed the Flyers to take their four goal lead into the third, despite being outshot 14-7 in the period.
The Flyers put the game away in the third as Shawn Pachet and Cam Whyte scored back to back goals just 59 seconds apart to extend Winkler’s lead to 6-0.
That would be more than enough for Dasan Sydora (5-1-2), who made 37 saves while earning his third shutout of the season. The Flyers out-shot the Stampeders 48-37 overall. Winkler went 0-for-3 on the power-play and 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (9-2-4) will travel to Portage (14-0) on Wednesday night to play the Terriers in their next game. The second place Flyers are 0-1-1 against the MJHL’s top club this season. Puck drop at the PCU Centre in Portage is 7:30pm. You can catch the game live on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com with Matt Friesen’s pregame show at 7:25pm.