Neepawa Farmers make it 10 in a row
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- Published on Monday, January 23, 2017
Photo by Eoin Devereux A five point night from Matt Lowry helped the Neepawa Farmers to a 10-3 victory over Pilot Mound.
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner
A five-point effort (2 goals - 3 assists) from Matt Lowry helped to pace the Neepawa Farmers to a dominant 10-3 victory over the Pilot Mound Pilots on Saturday, Jan. 21.
Exceptional performances from Hayden Kolesar and Ward Szucki (1G - 2A each) also were a big part of the Farmers’ strong performance in their final home game of the Tiger Hills Hockey League (THHL) regular season. This was Neepawa’s 10th straight win and improved their record to 12-4-0, while Pilot Mound dropped to 1-14-2.
During the game, Matt Lowry opened up the scoring with a solid physical effort as he swept in off the Pilot Mound goaltender’s left side and slipped the puck past the keeper. A few minutes later, Ward Szucki scored a similar goal off the same side of the ice. Before the end of the first, the Pilots would answer back with one of their own to make it 2-1 at the first intermission.
In the second, Neepawa opened up the offence with four unanswered goals. First, Cam Tibbett collected one off of a shot that seemed to be on a string to the back of the net, making it 3-1. That was quickly followed up with Lowry’s second goal of the night, from what appeared to be a tip on a Tibbett shot. Then at the 13:44 mark of the second, Tieler Fenning Cox scored off of a bullet of a shot from the blue line, to make it 5-1. Before the second intermission, Lance Nugent added one more, to make it 6-1 for the Farmers heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Early in the final frame, Pilot Mound pushed aggressively to get back into contention. That effort paid off with a pair of quick goals to cut the deficit to three. That seemed to wake up Neepawa, as they responded with the final four goals of the night for the 10-3 victory. Riley Kolesar, Ward Szucki and a pair from Hayden Kolesar closed out the night for the home side.
With the win, Neepawa remains tied for first place in the eastern division with the Minnedosa Bombers, with identical 12-4-0 records. The Farmers will have to deal with a difficult challenge to close out the regular season, as they play a pair of games on the road next weekend. First, they travel to MacGregor to play the Wild (5-10-1) on Friday, Jan. 27. The following night, they’ll be in Killarney to take on the Shamrocks (15-0-0) in the final game of the regular season.
