The Winkler Flyers earned four of a possible four points on their weekend road trip after a 4-1 win over the OCN Blizzard on Saturday night. Dylan Meilun had an unbelievable game for the Flyers, making 34 saves to help the Orange and Black move to within three points of first place in the MJHL Standings.
A night after beating the Dauphin Kings in overtime, the Winkler Flyers travelled to the Gordon Lathlin Memorial Centre in OCN to face off against the Blizzard for the second time this season. Winkler got past the Blizzard in their first meeting of the year back in Winkler and entered play on Saturday with a 7-1-1 record over their last nine games.
Getting the start between the pipes for the first time since October 19th, Dylan Meilun was very sharp in the first period and made save after save as Winkler got outshot 21-10 in the opening period. The Flyers’ offensive rewarded him with a goal as Griffin Leonard pulled the puck off the pads of OCN goaltender Zack Cloutier and cashed in the rebound to give Winkler a 1-0 lead, 11:29 into the game. Grady Lane and Jackson Arpin assisted on Leonard’s third goal in his last two games.
OCN tied the game 1-1 when defenseman Darren Gisti picked Meilun’s top blocker corner before the seven minute mark of the second. Then with just over a minute left before intermission, Jayden McCarthy snapped in his ninth goal of the season on the power-play to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Griffin Leonard and Drake Burgin drew the assists on McCarthy’s fourth goal of the weekend.
The Flyers opened things up in the third period as former Blizzard forward Carson Pawlenchuk scored off a rebound just over two minutes into the final period to extend Winkler’s lead to 3-1. With Dylan Meilun remaining confident between the pipes, the Flyers offense struck again on the power-play when Sulivan Shortreed scored from beside the net with 4:42 left in the game to give Winkler a 4-1 advantage.
Meilun finished the night with 34 saves while improving his record to 4-1-0. The Blizzard outshot the Flyers 35-30 overall. Winkler went 2-for-6 on the power-play and 6-for-6 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (12-6-1) will have one day off before travelling to Steinbach to face off against the Pistons for a Remembrance Day matinee on Monday. Puck drop at the TG Smith Centre is 2:30pm with Matt Friesen’s pregame show getting underway at 2:25pm on Country 88 and www.pembinavalleyonline.com. You can also video stream the game on www.hockeytv.com