It was a battle between the top two teams in the MJHL, and the Pistons came out on top once again.
Captain Braden Purtill and Bradley Schoonbaert combined for 8 points, Drew Worrad ended up with three points of his own and Matt Radomsky recorded a 13 save shutout as the Pistons blanked the OCN Blizzard 7-0. This is the second time these two teams have played this season, with the Pistons shutting the Blizzard 5-0 in the first meeting.
Decked out in their special pink jerseys to support cancer awareness, the Pistons got off to a quick start by outshooting the Blizzard 14-5 in the first period. MJHL leading scorer Bradley Schoonbaert picked up his 11th of the season on the powerplay. This came after OCN forward Brody Dale receive a 10 minute misconduct for hitting Pistons F Drew Worrad from behind.
And they never looked back. The Pistons proceeded to outskate, and simply outwork the Blizzard at every opportunity.
“We knew this was a big game,” Schoonbaert said after the game. “I think we just played a full 60 minutes and took it to them.”
Jack Johnson potted his fifth goal of the season midway through the second period. Purtill was back at again, setting up Austin Heidemann in front of the net to extend the lead. And Purtill notched his goal with one second remaining on a Piston power play with assists from Schoonbaert and Worrad.
In the third, Worrad and Schoonbaert hooked up again to give the Pistons a 5-0 lead at the beginning of the third. Purtill once again set up Schoonbaert with a beautiful backdoor pass on the power play for the Pistons’ sixth goal. And Brady Tatro ripped a bullet shot from the right faceoff dot to cap off the scoring for Steinbach.
“We just want to keep growing as a group,” said Head Coach Paul Dyck. “We’ve been doing a lot of teaching the last two weeks, and now some things are starting to come naturally. We want to just keep getting better.”
SPECIAL TEAMS
Steinbach went 3 for 6 on the power play, and a perfect 4 for 4 on the Penalty Kill
PISTONS SUPPORT CANCER RESEARCH
It was Pink in the Rink Night at the TG Smith Centre sponsored by Ste. Anne Co-op, and the Pistons auctioned off their game-worn jerseys after the game to support cancer research. Over $5100 was raised towards the Canadian Cancer Society Manitoba Division.
UP NEXT: Pistons conclude their 5 game homestand at the TG Smith Centre with back-to-back games against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines on Wednesday and Saturday.