Winkler native Dionne Demke scored twice and added an assist as the Winkler Flyers beat the Swan Valley Stampeders 5-2 in the middle game of their three game weekend road trip. The victory was the Flyers third in a row and increased their record to 5-1.
After beating the Dauphin Kings 7-3 the night before, the Flyers travelled up the road to Swan River for their first meeting of the season against the Stampeders. Friday night in Dauphin, the Flyers power-play was in full force and that continued early on against the Stamps.
Before the game was three minutes old, Will Blake scored a power-play goal to put the Flyers on the board first. Tyler Jubenvill earned the first of three assists on the night with the helper on Blake’s second of the year. The Stampeders tied the game with a power-play goal of their own around nine minutes later. The Flyers would take the lead again before the end of the period when Jason Cohan assisted on Braden Billaney’s second of the season. Outshooting the Stamps 16-6 in the first period, the Flyers took their one goal lead into the break.
The Flyers started the second with a goal from Dionne Demke who tipped in a Tyler Jubenvill point shot to push Winkler ahead 3-1. However, Winkler would give up a short-handed goal near the end of the period and led 3-2 after 40 minutes.
After surviving a solid push from the Stampeders in the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Flyers got some insurance with 6:11 left to play in regulation. Picking up the puck in the neutral zone, Demke carried it in over the blueline and ripped home his second of the game to give Winkler a two goal cushion.
In the final moments of the frame, Demke then assisted on Gino Lucia’s empty net goal to secure the 5-2 victory for the Flyers. That goal was Lucia’s first as a Flyer.
Jakob Severson earned the win in goal in his Flyers’ debut. Winkler outshot the Stampeders 38-21 overall. The Flyers were 1-for-4 on the power-play and 2-for-3 on the penalty-kill.
The Flyers (5-1) will play in Virden on Sunday night in the finale of their weekend road trip, looking to run their winning streak to four games. Puck drop at Tundra Oil & Gas Place in Virden is 7pm with the pregame show on Country 88.9fm and www.pembinavalleyonline.com getting underway at 6:55pm.
GREAT CANADIAN OIL CHANGE THREE STARS
1ST STAR – F DIONNE DEMKE (WINKLER)
2ND STAR – F GINO LUCIA (WINKLER)
3RD STAR – D TYLER JUBENVILL (WINKLER)