Courtesy of Steinbachonline.com – Photos Courtesy of Adeline Loewen of Studios on Main Photography
The game between the Steinbach Pistons and Winnipeg Blues got off to a late start but when the snow cleared it was the Blues that came out on top 4-1, halting the Pistons winning streak at 5 games.
Due to the weather, the game was 30 minutes delayed and it looked like it was the Pistons, not the Blues that were most effected by the waiting time. The Blues jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the first intermission. Rob Smith talked about his team not getting off to the start they wanted but battled hard. “I thought we were up and down tonight. Sometimes you lose games you should win but I don’t think we deserved it tonight. We could have been better.”
Hayden Goderis found the back of the net on the power play off a point shot from Dan Taillefer in the second period to cut the lead to 2-1. For Goderis, it was his 12th of the season while Taillefer padded his team points lead sitting now with 39 averaging over a point per game. It would be as close as Steinbach would get.
Early in the third period, Winnipeg would score on a shot that deflected off a Pistons player and past Roman Bengert before the Blues would put the game away at the half way mark with their fourth of the game. “It was just one of those games.” Smith said after the game. “There are two goals that we, as a team, maybe want back. The second goal was just a great shot and the third one was off a stick. They’re an opportunistic team, I don’t think they had a lot of offensive zone time but when they did, they were dangerous.”
Emotions at times boiled over with a lot of pushing a shoving after the whistles, both teams playing a tough physical game. The crowd reached a fever pitch after it appeared that Cole Smith had scored on the power play but the referee waved off the goal despite the goal light going on. After a quick conference with the other officials, the goal was ruled to have not gone in.
The Pistons have two more games before the Christmas break, a home and home with the Selkirk Steelers starting on Friday in Selkirk. Smith talked about what his team needs to do. “Turn the page and move on. We’re disappointed in this one here, but we have two big games against a team that always plays well against us and we’ll be ready to go.”