The Flyers hosted the NorMan Blizzard on a Friday night with playoff and historic implications. Winkler sat 3 points ahead of Portage for 3rd place in the MGEU east, while Liam Ernst was chasing the MJHL shut out record he previously tied on Tuesday night.
The game began with a quick pace as both teams settled in. The Flyers came out physical and created some space as they made the Blizzard aware of their presence on the forecheck. Tanner George barrelled into the zone and found Connor Rieger with a nice feed giving Winkler the lead 1-0. The Flyers peppered the net with 14 shots in the first as they gained momentum towards the end of the frame.
Momentum, and Charles Bernier’s scoring touch of late carried on into the second just 1:02 in. Connor Rieger followed up with his 2nd goal of the game less that 30 seconds later (1:30), making it 3-0. Kade Stringer squeezed in a goal between 2 x Tanner George markers (26G,27G) on the period as the Flyers really started to dominate the game. Winkler finished the period with 22 shots and 5 goals in 20 minutes. The game was at 6-0 after 40.
In the final period, Tanner George capped of his hat trick and added to an impressive run of 21 pts (11G,10A) in his last 10 games. Completing his 3rd multi point performance in a row (5G,5A in 3 games), Charles Bernier helped make it 8-0 as the Flyers battled hard to seal Liam Ernst’s Flyers Franchise, and MJHL leading 16th career shutout. Ernst stopped all 23 shots he faced and took home the Heat Masters 1st star of the game.
Next up for the Flyers is a trip to Winnipeg Sunday afternoon to take on the Blues. Next week is a big one as the NEW Centennial Arena will host both the Steinbach Pistons and Niverville Nighthawks next Friday/Saturday. See you there!!
