The Winkler Flyers picked up their 15th win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating the visiting Neepawa Natives 6-1. The Orange and Black fired 53 shots on goal while improving their home ice record to 10-1-1.
In search of their third straight win, the Flyers welcomed the Natives to the Winkler Rec Complex for their third meeting of the season. Winkler took the first two games of the season series by a combined score of 20-0. The Flyers’ offense picked up right where they left off on Tuesday night.
Just 1:23 into the hockey game, Nolan McGuire (2) put Winkler on the board with Jeff Michiels and Jordan Williamson assisting. The Flyers added to their lead just past the midway point of the first as they continued to dominate the opening 20 minutes.
With 7:32 to play in the first, Kurt Sonne took the puck from Tristan Keck inside the Neepawa line and fired a beautiful back door pass to defenseman Tyler Jubenvill who doubled the Flyers’ lead to 2-0 with his second of the season. With a 10-0 record when leading after the first period, the Flyers took their two goal lead into the second, while outshooting Neepawa 19-4 through 20 minutes.
Winkler increased their lead to 3-0, 3:08 into the second when Coltyn Bates (5) tipped in Zak Hicks’ point shot on the power-play. Nico Labossiere also assisted on Bates’ second goal in as many games.
Aiken Chop would score Neepawa’s only goal at the 8:04 mark of the period to cut Winkler’s lead to 3-1. The Flyers restored their three goal lead with 8:57 to play in the second when Coltyn Bates returned the favor and assisted on Nico Labossiere’s third of the season.
The Flyers led 4-1 after two periods, outshooting Neepawa by a count of 35-11.
The home team added two more goals in the final frame. Just over eight and a half minutes into the period, Jeff Michiels found a loose puck in front of the net and tucked it home for his seventh. Braden Billaney and Nathan Karlowsky assisted on the goal to give Winkler the 5-1 lead.
Winkler added their second power-play goal of the night with just over four minutes left in the game when Cam Whyte scored his team leading 13th of the season. Tristan Keck and Kurt Sonne both earned their second assists of the game and Winkler’s lead had grown to 6-1.
Connor Slipp made 19 saves while improving his individual record to 7-0. The Flyers outshot Neepawa 53-20 overall. Winkler went 2-for-6 on the power-play and 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill. Winkler is now 15-1-1 when they score a goal on the man-advantage.
The Flyers (15-4-1) will host the Dauphin Kings (8-9-0) in their next game on Friday, November 13th. The Flyers are 1-0 against the Kings, defeating them 3-0 back at the MJHL Showcase in Winnipeg on October 2rd. Puck drop at the Winkler Recreation Complex is 7:30pm. Winkler is now three points back of first place Portage Terriers in the MJHL Standings.
Great Canadian Oil Change Three Stars
1st Star – F Coltyn Bates (Winkler)
2nd Star – F Nico Labossiere (Winkler)
3rd Star – F Jeff Michiels (Winkler)