Courtesy of TheCarillon.com – Written by Terry Frey
The Steinbach Pistons hand their hands full with the OCN Blizzard this weekend at OCN as the Blizzard beat the Pistons twice, 2-1 in overtime on Saturday and then 2-1 in regulation Sunday afternoon, as the Pistons’ incredible 13-game win streak to start this MJHL season has come to an end.
Steinbach started the three-game weekend road trip with a 4-3 victory Friday at Swan Valley and then were in a dogfight for two days with the talented Blizzard, who now have a superb 12-3-1 record, second only to the still MJHL-leading Pistons at 13-1-1.
In Saturday’s game, the two teams traded goals in the second period, with Brady Keeper opening the scoring for the Blizzard and Bradley Schoonbaert, with his eighth of the season, replying for the Pistons. Brady Valiquette scored the winner for the Blizzard at 3:38 of overtime.
The Pistons outshot the Blizzard 36-28 as Emilien Boily stopped 35 for the winners and Matt Radomsky made 26 saves for the Pistons.
It was another nail-biter Sunday afternoon as the Blizzard again pulled out a late victory with Justin Nachbauer beating Roman Bengert with the winning goal with just 43 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Pistons opened the scoring on a powerplay marker by Ryan Carlson in the second and the Blizzard tied it with a big powerplay goal of their own with 6:35 left in the third.
Steinbach outshot OCN 41-27 as it was Emiliem Boily again proving to be the difference for the Blizzard making 40 saves in the second straight upset victory.
Despite what transpired this weekend, the Pistons still garnered three of a possible six points from a difficult road trip and remain in first place in the MJHL standings.
The Pistons next see action Thursday night at the MTS Iceplex as they go up against the Winnipeg Blues.