The Winkler Flyers took Game Two of the exhibition Goose Cup series on Saturday night, downing the Thief River Falls Norskies 5-2. Forward Matty Harrold and defenseman Will Irvine both had a goal and an assist for the Orange and Black who now move to 2-1 in preseason play.
A night after the Flyers soared past the Norskies 9-1 at home, the series moved back to Thief River Falls, Minnesota with the Flyers looking for the same type of effort and result with a number of different players in the lineup.
For the most part, the game followed the same script as it had Friday in Winkler with the Flyers hitting the scoreboard first. Just past the eight minute mark of the opening period, Winkler native Trenton Penner scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. And just as they did on Friday, Thief River Falls was quick to tie the game at one.
The rest of the opening 20 minutes belonged to the Flyers as they would rattle off three more goals to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission. First it was Alex Cattani scoring on the power-play to put the Flyers back in front. Not even two minutes later, veteran forward Everett Bestland snapped a shot over the goaltender’s shoulder to give the Orange and Black a two goal cushion. Then with eight seconds left in the period, Matty Harrold scored the Flyers’ fourth goal of the frame and the Flyers found themselves in full control heading into the second.
The Norskies bounced back in the middle period and cut Winkler’s lead to 4-2. The game once again had a physical tone to it with a number of scrums around the net and a couple of entertaining fights. In the third period, 16 year old defenseman and Morden product Will Irvine put the game to bed with Winkler’s fifth goal of the night.
The Flyers split their goaltending duties between Carson Cherepak and Dorrin Luding. Both goaltenders performed very well as the Flyers outshot Thief River Falls 29-24 overall.
The Flyers will continue to trim down their preseason roster as they get ready for an exhibition trip to Virden on Wednesday night. You can catch the game live on www.hockeytv.com