For the tenth time in their nineteen games played so far this season, the Winkler Flyers needed more than 60 minutes to decide a winner, and on Sunday night the Winkler Flyers defeated the Wayway Wolverines 3-2 in a shoot-out to capture their eighth extra time victory of the season. Eric Fawkes scored the only goal in the shootout and Riley Morgan stopped all three Wolverine shooters he faced to help the club pick up the win.
Playing their third game of a three game weekend road trip, the Flyers looked to rebound after falling 3-2 the night before in Virden. In their two previous games against Wayway, the Flyers had given the Wolverines 14 power-plays while losing one of the games in regulation and one in overtime. Winkler was a much more disciplined team this time around.
The Flyers were flat in the first period and fell behind 1-0 on a Jaymes Knee goal with just over three minutes left before intermission.
Winkler was a much improved club in the second but despite their increased level of compete, they fell behind 2-0 just 3:40 into the period. The Flyers responded on the power-play a few minutes later when Jayden McCarthy drove the front of the net and scored his 5th of the season to cut Waywayseecappo’s lead to 2-1. It was McCarthy’s fourth point in his last five games.
Then with two minutes left in the period, Everett Bestland skated the puck down the left wing side and spotted Trent Halfdanson in front of the net and the second year Flyer scored his second of the year to tie the game 2-2. The assist for Bestland was his fourth point of the weekend.
Despite both teams getting their chances in the third period, the game was headed to overtime. The Flyers remarkable run of overtime and shootout games continued this weekend with two of their three games going to extra time and all three of the games being decided by a single goal. Through their first 18 regular season games, the Flyers have gone to overtime or a shootout nine times and had come out on the right side of the score in seven of those contests.
The Flyers outshot Wayway 6-1 in overtime but failed to capitalize on their chances. In the shootout, Eric Fawkes would score the only goal in the three round competition as he snapped a wrist shot over the blocker arm of Wolverines’ goaltender Isaac Labelle in the second round. Riley Morgan, who had snapped the first two Wayway shooters, then stopped Trygve Many Guns to start round three, giving Winkler the extra point and the 3-2 victory.
Morgan made 23 saves in the game, winning his fourth start in a row. Winkler outshot Wayway 32-15 overall. Winkler went 1-for-5 on the power-play and 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (11-6-2) will return home to host the Waywayseecappo Wolverines (10-7-3) on Friday night. The game will be played at the Access Event Centre in Morden due to the ice plant issues at the Winkler Arena. Puck drop in Morden is 7:30pm with the game being broadcast on www.hockeytv.com