The Winkler Flyers evened their preseason record to (2-2) with a 7-5 home ice win over the Portage Terriers on Sunday night. Rookie forward Chase Fincaryk scored twice and veteran defenseman Connor Hamonic had four assists in the Flyers second straight game against the Terriers.
After losing 3-1 in Portage on Friday night, the two teams squared off Sunday in Winkler in the rematch. The Flyers offense struggled at the PCU Centre two nights earlier but certainly did not in this game.
The Flyers opened the scoring just before the four minute mark of the first period when Tyler Jubenvill and Cam Whyte assisted on Nico Labossiere’s power-play goal. Just 26 seconds later, Brandon native Jordan Robertson deflected in his first of the preseason and the Flyers had a 2-0 lead. Connor Hamonic picked up his first of four assists on the night.
Cam Whyte then extended the Flyers lead to 3-0 before the end of the period and the club took their three goal cushion into the break. Again, it was Hamonic, along with Coltyn Bates drawing the assists.
Early in the second period, Nolan McGuire scored from Thomas Mansbridge to push the Flyers ahead 4-0. Just over a minute after that, the Terriers hit the score board, cutting Winkler’s lead to 4-1. Winkler was quick to respond though thanks to Chase Fincaryk’s first of the game at the 5:23 mark of the period.
Coltyn Bates gave Winkler a four goal lead at the midway point of the second before the Terriers added their second to send the game into the second intermission with Winkler leading 6-2. Flyers goaltender Mason Swerdyliak, who played the entire game for the Flyers was strong through the first 40 minutes.
The Flyers scored their seventh of the game just over a minute into the third period when Connor Hamonic drew his fourth assist on Chase Fincaryk’s second of the game.
However, between the 9:39 mark and the 17:02 mark of the third, the Terriers scored three times to cut Winkler’s lead down to 7-5. But Swerdyliak and the Flyers would shut it down the rest of the way to pick up the 7-5 win.
Mason Swerdyliak made 28 saves in the win as Winkler outshot Portage 43-30. Connor Hamonic led the way with four assists. Chase Fincaryk (2 goals), Nico Labossiere (1 goal – 1 assists), Cam Whyte (1 goal – 1 assists), and Coltyn Bates (1 goal – 1 assists) all had multi-point games.
The Flyers will host the Selkirk Steelers in their next exhibition game on Tuesday, September 15th. Puck drop at the Winkler Recreation Complex is 7:30pm. The Steelers are (0-3) so far this preseason.