Photo Courtesy of Dave Mikkola
The Steinbach Pistons come out on top 6-1 in an ugly penalty filled game versus the Neepawa Natives Saturday night at the T.G. Smith Centre.
There were 107 minutes of penalties handed out during the lopsided affair that looked like it was going to be a lot worse on the scoreboard after the Pistons took a five-goal lead into the first intermission. Pistons netminder Jeremy Wik didn’t see much action in the first as Steinbach outshot the Natives 20-3.
Neepawa started the game with five consecutive penalties and the Pistons took advantage scoring 3 of their first period goals on the power play. Cole Smith scored twice while Bradley Schoonbaert, Joe Carney and Julien Koga also found the back of the net.
There was no scoring in the 2nd and both teams would exchange goals in the third. Brayden Atkinson broke the shutout at 6:56 of the 3rd and Koga added his 2nd of the game with 45 seconds left to play.
Wik received the start for Steinbach steering away 19-of-20 while Troy Pierce on the other side was a little busier making 38 saves on 44 shots.
The win proved to be valuable on a night that saw both the Winkler Flyers and the Portage Terriers lose to their opponents in extra time.
Steinbach is idle the next two days before they travel to south central Manitoba to match-up against the Winkler Flyers Tuesday 7:30 PM at the Winkler Recreational Complex.