The Steinbach Pistons and Neepawa Titans went to battle on the final day of February as Steinbach looked to pick up its 12th straight win at Southeast Event Centre on Saturday.
Pistons goaltender Chris Quizi returned between the pipes for the first time since playing only the first period against the Winnipeg Blues on Feb. 16. Easton Thvedt had started the previous three matchups.
The opening 20 minutes saw no scoring, but Steinbach dominated the shot clock 15-6. Even though the numbers looked lopsided, Neepawa had some grade-A scoring opportunities, a couple of them being breakaways that required Quizi to be dialed in despite not seeing a lot of action.
Steinbach continued the shooting gallery in the second until William Picklyk finally broke through Titans netminder KC Couckuyt to open the scoring at 12:48. Grady Hoffman intercepted Couckuyt’s attempted pass behind the net, and Hoffman, who was below the goal line in the left corner, fed Picklyk inside the left circle. The 16-year-old beat Couckuyt before he could get set for his 19th of the year.
Steinbach held the one-goal advantage after 40 minutes despite outshooting Neepawa 41-14, but Couckuyt was standing on his head.
Zhenya Miles gave his squad some breathing room at 6:18 on the power play, firing a wrist shot right down main street past Couckuyt for the former Vernon Vipers defenceman’s ninth of the campaign.
Just 1:09 after Miles’ tally, Jackson Kostiuk extended the lead to three with his 12th, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play between Brett Kaiser and captain Sam Noad.
Jack Greenwell made it a 4-0 game at 11:16, wiring a one-timer set up by Kostiuk in the slot for the London, Ont. native’s 31st.
Jack Clark finally got the Titans on the board 43 seconds after Greenwell’s goal with his 29th, capitalizing on a miscue between the Pistons’ defencemen and Quizi that allowed Clark to fire the puck into the open cage.
Steinbach managed to hang onto its three-goal lead and hand Neepawa a 4-1 loss. The Pistons improved to 43-8-2, earning their 12th straight win, while Quizi picked up First Star of the Game honours in his return, making 22 saves.
The Pistons now hit the road to Winkler, where they’ll take on the Flyers at the newly renovated Winkler Centennial Arena on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Article provided by Evan Waldner – Picture Courtesy of Ice Wave Media
