The Steinbach Pistons fell by a score of 3-1 to the Selkirk Steelers Sunday evening at the Selkirk Recreational Complex.
The defensive lock down and dominant goaltending by Hunter Tarves is what led the Selkirk Steelers to a victory over the favourited Steinbach Pistons.
The Steelers opened the scoring making it 1-0 at the 13:01 mark of the first period. Dante Ballarin picked up a loose puck and put a wrist shot on net with Sheldin Howard tipping the puck through Will Hambley’s pads.
Each team took their turns in the penalty box, but the penalty kills for both teams locked down the defensive end and killed off all powerplays.
Selkirk went into the first intermission up 1-0 with Steinbach outshooting Selkirk 9-8.
At the 8:11 mark of the second period the Pistons tied the game up at 2 a piece. Jack Rogers made a nice breakout pass to Bryce Kilbourne who flipped it up to Cooper Rice. Rice made a nice move and gave it back to Kilbourne who had an open lane to the net and potted it on the backhand.
The second period ended with the game tied 2-2 and the shot totals 22-11.
Both teams battled hard in the third period, each getting some good scoring chances, but the goalies stood tall and turned away what they faced.
With 12-minutes left in the game the Steelers got a burst of momentum had control in the Pistons end for an extended period of time. After some good shots on the net Lucas Brennan was finally able to get it past Will Hambley off a beautiful pass from Spencer Penner making it 2-1.
Steinbach battled hard to tie the game but with just under 4-minutes left in the game Tyson Smith on Selkirk sprung loose on a breakaway, Dawson Milliken got back but ended up taking a holding penalty to stop the scoring chance. The Pistons killed of the 2-minute minor but lost some valuable time to tie the game up.
With just over a minute left in the game the Pistons pulled their goalie but midway to the bench Hambley noticed the Steelers took control of the puck. Matthew Gerke whipped the puck down the ice and as Hambley tried to race back to the net he made a diving swing at the puck but to no avail and Selkirk made it 3-1.
Selkirk closed out the game and secured the 3-1 victory and evened the series at 1-1.