Steinbach Pistons fall in MJHL quarterfinals

Dreams of breaking in the Southeast Event Centre with a championship season were dashed March 31, as the Steinbach Pistons dropped game six of their series against the Portage Terriers, losing in the quarterfinals four games to two.

A back-breaking short-handed goal doomed any chances for Steinbach to force a winner-takes-all game seven, with Decker Mujcin finishing a beautiful passing play to give the Terriers the edge they needed.

Scott Cousins showed incredible patience on the series-winner, faking the shot to freeze the first Steinbach defender, then laying a pass to Mujcin between two more Pistons, who had just enough space to rip a wrist shot past Christian Green.

“Short-handed goals so often seem to impact the outcome of the game as they can have a deflating effect,” head coach and general manager Paul Dyck said a day after the loss.

“It was their second one of the series and very timely for them. Unfortunately our powerplay went cold at the wrong time and we were not able to offset the short-handed goal.”

Steinbach celebrated what appeared to be a Sam Noad third-period tip-in tying goal, only for referees to wave it off, ruling Sam Noad had used a high stick to knock the puck into the net.

From there, Mitchell Kathler stood tall in net, as he had all series, stopping 38 shots in game six to help Portage advance.

Steinbach’s best chance aside from the disallowed goal to tie the game may have came off the stick of Connor Paronuzzi, the league’s leading scorer in the regular season.

Late in the second period, the Pistons took advantage of an icing to hem the Terriers in their own zone for a shift, with Paronuzzi twice possessing the puck right in front of the Portage net, but was unable to solve Kathler with either a shot or a pass.

Steinbach forced a game six by winning game five on home ice, with Ty Paisley and Zhenya Miles striking in the first period to power the Pistons to victory.

Two games in the series were the difference, with a terrible performance from Steinbach in game three on home ice, followed by a heart-breaking game four loss in Portage March 28.

Dyck said he thought game three had a bigger impact on the series than other results.

“We were never able to get anything going and didn’t play with pace,” he said when asked what went wrong for the team in game three.

“It was one of the few games this year where a lack of discipline was a factor for our team. It is hard to gain traction in a game against a team as strong as Portage when you spent a third of the game in the box.”

Steinbach took a 2-0 lead in the second period of game five, powered by goals from Brett Kaiser and Connor Paronuzzi, before the Terriers stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. While Mathis Laplante would tie the game, Cousins gave the home side the victory 10 minutes into the second overtime.

Caleb Lepitre drove wide on a partial three-on-two rush, getting a step on a Steinbach defender and flipping the puck out front to a cutting Cousins, who one-timed the puck home from in tight.

The series featured the second and third-ranked teams in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, as the league stays in division in the first round of the playoffs. With Winkler storming to a first place finish in the East Division, the Pistons and Terriers were forced to play in the first round of the playoffs.

Dyck said the series lived up to its billing, with two of the league’s top three teams battling for every inch.

“It’s the difficulty we all face in our division with the strength of the teams in it,” Dyck said.

“Not the ending we envisioned but there are still a lot of positives we will take from the season with this group of guys as time passes.”

The Pistons held their year-end banquet at the Pat Porter Centre April 3.