The Steinbach Pistons continue to cruise through the pre-season with success, defeating the Winnipeg Blues 6-1 last night at the MTS IcePlex.
Wins and losses ultimately mean nothing in the pre-season. However, most would say they would rather go undefeated instead of winless. And so far, the Pistons have taken the high road winning all five of their pre-season contests by a margin of 27-7.
Despite little activity in the off-season, with the lone trade of Tyler Garrioch back to the Dauphin Kings in exchange for a higher draft pick and Bradley Schoonbaert. The Pistons seem to have a garage full of talented players looking to make the opening day roster.
The Pistons are currently at 27 players and need to cut down to 25 or less by opening day. The picture is starting to get much clearer on who will start the year apart of this year’s 2015/2016 Steinbach Pistons.
Sunday night didn’t make the decision process any easier for the coaching staff as the Pistons put forth another great team effort with balanced scoring throughout the lineup.
The Pistons went up 4-0 with goals by Mackenzie Graham, Matthieu Gomercic, Bradley Schoonbaert and Hayden Goderis before the Winnipeg Blues answered back with one of their own at 15:52 of the 2nd period. Gianluca Esteves scored the Blue’s lone goal assisted by Josh Curtis and Nolan Lilabrecht.
The Pistons added two more markers in the third off the sticks of Luke Amsbaugh and Shannon McFadden to make it 6-1. Newcomers Graham, Schoonbaert, Amsbaugh and Petkau have all been very productive offensively this pre-season for Steinbach, who were already deep at the forward position going into training camp.
Petkau (2), Buhler (2), Dan Taillefer, Tyler Penner, McFadden, Goderis, and Julien Uhryniak all picked up helpers in the victory.
Roman Bengert started in net for the Pistons, stopping 14-of-14 and then Jeremy Wik played the second half saving 7-of-8. The Pistons outshot their opponents 33-22.
Steinbach takes a break on Monday and will be back practising on Tuesday in preparation for their last home preseason game versus the Winnipeg Blues on Wednesday 7:30PM at the T.G. Smith Centre.