Neepawa fall once again to Winkler

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By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner

Issues on the power-play and penalty kill continue to hamper the efforts of the Neepawa Natives.  The club hit the road on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to play a game in Winkler against the Flyers. Neepawa was hoping to end a recent seven game losing streak. They’d find it a difficult challenge though, as they were competing against the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s most offensively potent team.

Heading into the contest, Winkler had scored a league leading 81 goals. By the end of the evening, hey would add to that impressive tally with a 6-1 win over the Natives.

Just 1:23 into the game, Winkler’s Nolan McGuire scored to put the Flyers on the board. Jeff Michiels and Jordan Williamson assisted on that effort. The Flyers added to their lead just a little over the midway mark of the first as defensemen Tyler Jubenvill secured his second of the season, to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes. Neepawa found itself outshot by Winkler 19-4 through 20 minutes.

The Flyers increased its lead to 3-0, a little over three minutes into the second when Coltyn Bates tipped in a Zak Hicks’ point shot on the power-play.Aiken Chop replied with Neepawa’s only goal of the evening at the 8:04 mark of the period to cut Winkler’s lead down to 3-1. The Flyers restored their three goal advantage with just under nine minutes to go in the middle frame, when Nico Labossiere’s scored his third of the season. After 40 minutes, the Flyers led 4-1 and had outshoot Neepawa by a margin of 35-11.

The home team added two more goals in the final period, Jeff Michiels scored his seventh of the year at 8:36. Winkler added their second power-play goal of the game with four minutes remaining, as Cam Whyte scored his 13th of the season. When the evening was over, Winkler had won 6-1. The Flyers also outshot Neepawa 53-20 overall and went 2-for-6 on the power-play. Neepawa meanwhile, went and 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.

The victory improved the Winkler’s record to 15-4-1 on the season, while Neepawa fell for the eighth straight game and stood at 5-14.