Pistons win, to face Portage in semis

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2017 (2565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Steinbach Pistons finally eliminated the Neepawa Natives Monday night at Neepawa as the Pistons defeated a determined Natives squad 3-1 to win their Manitoba Junior Hockey League quarter-final series four games to two.

The pennant-winning Pistons, who garnered 99 points during the regular season, compared to 48 for the eighth place Natives, were the prohibitive favourites to despatch the Natives in short order in this first round of the playoffs.

But the Natives, playing their best hockey of the season, in fact playing their best hockey in years, would have none of it as they took two games off the vaunted Pistons, winning game one 4-1 and game four by a 5-1 margin.

But in the end the Pistons was just too good and were full marks for winning this first round series and a date with the Portage Terriers in the MJHL semis.

In last night’s game, it was again the Natives that scored first as Justin Metcalf scored midway through the first. Braden Purtill tied it for the Pistons five minutes into the second and Bradley Schoonbaert scored what proved to the winning goal with seven minutes remaining in the third. Purtill added his second of the game with 29 seconds left.

Roman Bengert was outstanding in net for the Pistons stopping 27 of the 28 shots he faced as the Natives, pushing for the victory, outshot the Pistons for the first time in the series, 28-24.

Pistons’ coach Paul Dyck, in a text message following the game, tipping his hat to the Natives, said “that series was a battle.”

The Pistons will now take on the two-time defending champion Portage Terriers in the semi-finals, who defeated the Selkirk Steelers in six games, wrapping it up with a 7-1 victory last night. The Terriers defeated the Pistons in each of those last two finals.

The other semi-final series pits the second place Winkler Flyers vs. the third place OCN Blizzard.

Steinbach finished first overall in the regular season with a record of 49-10-1 while the Terriers were fifth at 37-19-4. The Pistons dominated the Terriers this season, winning five of six games.

Game one of the series is tentatively scheduled to be played Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Steinbach. It is expected the MJHL will announce the official schedule for both semi-final series later today.

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