Seven different Flyers found the back of the net on Saturday night in a 7-2 win over the visiting OCN Blizzard in their final game before the MJHL Christmas break. After beating the Blizzard in overtime the night before, the Flyers offense clicked again in a big way in their final regular season meeting against their rivals from the north.
Snapping a four game losing skid with a 6-5 overtime win against the Blizzard on Friday night, the Flyers looked to head into the break with back to back wins, something they had not done since the first week of November.
Just like they did on Friday night, the Flyers got off to a good start as Gino Lucia brought the puck into the zone on a two on one and snapped home his third goal in as many games just 3:51 into the first to put Winkler in front 1-0.
OCN got that one back around four minutes later on the power-play and then took the lead with 9:36 to play in the first. However, the Flyers tied the game just 23 seconds later when Lucia fed Brody Moffatt with a nice pass in front of the net and the Flyers assistant captain punched in his 10th of the season to pull Winkler even.
The Flyers regained the lead before intermission thanks to a great individual effort from Jesse Korytko in front of the Blizzard net on the power-play. Eric Fawkes drew the assist on Korytko’s 10th of the season and second in as many nights.
Taking their one goal lead into the second, the Flyers cracked the game wide open with four more goals in the middle frame. First it was defenseman Garrett Kuklica sending a point shot into the back of the net on the power-play to put the Flyers ahead 4-2, 3:38 into the period.
Then it was defenseman Caydon Meyer scoring his second of the season from the blueline just over a minute later. Exactly four minutes after that, Jesse Korytko and Jayden McCarthy assisted on Eric Fawkes’ sixth of the season and the Flyers had a 6-2 lead. It was Fawkes’ fifth point of the weekend after chipping in with two goals and an assist the night before.
Winkler wasn’t done there as Drake Burgin would score the Flyers’ third power-play goal of the game with 31 seconds left in the period to give Winkler a five goal cushion heading into the third.
The offense subsided in the final period as the Flyers held the Blizzard to just eight shots on goal in the final 40 minutes. The win was Winkler’s biggest offensive showing of the season and gave Winkler a two game winning streak heading into the break.
Riley Morgan earned his second straight win in goal for the Flyers who outshot the Blizzard 57-18 in the game. Winkler went 3-for-8 on the power-play and 3-for-4 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers, who are now just one point back of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League Standings will return to the ice on January 4th when they host the Dauphin Kings.
Winkler’s offensive showing was a well rounded affair as 12 of the Flyers’ 18 skaters recorded at least a point in the game
The Flyers would like to wish all of their players, fans and supporters a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all again in 2019.
Winkler Meats Three Stars
1st Star – F Brody Moffatt (Winkler)
2nd Star – F Jesse Korytko (Winkler)
3rd Star – D Garrett Kuklica (Winkler)
