Pistons complete sweep of weekend series

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2018 (1965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Steinbach Pistons had success on home ice this weekend, as they completed an important sweep in a pair of games, downing the Waywayseecappo Wolverines 5-2 on Friday and then edged the Neepawa Natives 3-2 on Saturday.

It was important because it was a nice bounce back from their 4-2 defeat Tuesday night in Selkirk and the two wins solidified their hold on third place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League standings.

In a league this year that has the most parity since the Pistons joined the loop 10 years ago, no team can be taken for granted. Case in point are the Natives, who are actually in last place, but are not playing like a last place squad.

In Friday`s win over the Wolverines the Pistons received goals from five different players: Max Neill, Easton Bennett, Brendan Martin, Tyson McConnell and Carter Loney, with his first as a Piston.

Steinbach took a 4-0 lead into the third and then went up 5-0 early in the frame before the Wolverines scored twice in a span of 20 seconds to narrow the gap to 5-2, as Wayway outshot the Pistons 14-3 in the third.

Wayway outshot the Pistons 36-28 in the contest as Matt Radomsky was superb in net making 34 saves.

Saturday against the Natives, Brendan Martin scored his team-leading 17th and 18th goals of the season to pace the Pistons to a 3-2 triumph. Steinbach skated to period leads of 1-0 and 3-1 as Curtis Ireland also scored for the Pistons. Boedey Vaeth picked up two assists on the night.

The Pisons outshot the Natives 37-27 as Radomsky, the leading goaltender in the league, was again victorious between the pipes. Radomsky leads the loop with a 2.11 goals against average and is second with a .924 save percentage.

With the two wins, the Pistons improved their record to 18-9-0-1, five points behind second place Swan Valley, and four points in front of fourth place Selkirk.

The Pistons are back in action Tuesday night at Winkler as they take on the Flyers at 7:30 p.m.

Goaltender Matt Radomsky and forward Kyle Bettens will not play in Winkler as they will be in Calgary attending the Team Canada West Selection Camp. If either one of them makes the team, they would then compete in the 2018 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge, which will be held Dec. 9-16 at Bonnyville, Alberta.