The Winkler Flyers ten game home ice winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night with a 6-3 loss to the visiting Selkirk Steelers. The visitors scored four of their goals in the second period, while the Flyers failed in their quest for their 20th win of the year despite outshooting the Steelers 36-28.
Welcoming the Steelers for their fourth meeting of the year, the Flyers were looking for their third win after taking two of the first three games by a combined score of 14-4. Winkler had enjoyed a lot of success at home recently, having won their last 10 home games since falling to the Steinbach Pistons way back on October 12th.
Selkirk got the early jump on the Flyers as they opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game. Winkler recovered well and pulled even just before the midway point of the first thanks to Justin Paulson’s second of the season. Scott Gall and Braden Billaney assisted on the goal.
Early in the second period, the Flyers took the lead when Will Blake stripped the Selkirk defense of the puck and sent his wrist shot past Steeler netminder Hayden Dola for his sixth goal of the year. Blake’s unassisted goal came just 12 seconds into the period.
Just over a minute later, Ezra Hall tied the game with a power-play goal for Selkirk but Winkler would get that one right back. Before the five minute mark of the period, Braden Billaney chipped the puck ahead to Brayden Cullum and he scored his fourth of the season to put Winkler in front 3-2.
However, the Flyers would give up another power-play goal around three minutes later and the game once again tied. With 11:13 left in the middle frame, Jake Dudar slipped around the Winkler defense and scored the Steelers fourth goal. Selkirk increased their lead to 5-3 just before the buzzer and took their two goal lead into the break despite being outshot by the Flyers through 40 minutes.
The Flyers continued to outshoot Selkirk in the final period but failed to pull the trigger around the goal. The Steelers though would beat Cole Weaver for a sixth time just past the halfway of the period and the Flyers would go on to lose their first home game in nearly a month and a half.
Weaver took the loss while making 22 saves on 28 shots. Winkler outshot the Steelers 36-28. Winkler went 0-for-3 on the power-play and 0-for-2 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (19-9-0) will hit the road this weekend for a three game weekend road trip in Dauphin, Waywayseecappo and Virden. All three games can be heard live on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com.
NOTES: Nico Labossiere, Mitch Dyck, Jeff Michiels and Tyler Jubenvill all missed Tuesday’s game due to injury. The return for all four is expected in the next few games. Pembina Valley Hawks defenseman Owen Wiebe made his Flyers’ debut against Selkirk and played well. The MJHL roster cut down deadline is December 1st where each team must submit their 25 man roster while leaving some spots open for use at the January 10th trading deadline. The Flyers currently have 24 players on the roster. Stay tuned to www.winklerflyers.com as well as the Flyers Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for up to date information.
GREAT CANADIAN OIL CHANGE THREE STARS
1ST STAR – F EZRA HALL (SELKIRK)
2ND STAR – F CONNOR BARLEY (SELKIRK)
3RD STAR – F BRADEN BILLANEY (WINKLER)