Long weekend sports wrap: Natives lose two of three; Farmers advance to next round
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- Published on Tuesday, February 18, 2014
myWestman.ca
The following is a recap of what transpired in local sports over the long weekend . . .
MJHL: Natives go 1-2 over long weekend
The Neepawa Natives picked up two of a possible six points over the long weekend as the club winds down its regular season schedule in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
On Friday night, the Natives were able to open the scoring at the 2:26 mark of the first period, but surrendered seven consecutive tallies -- five of which came in the opening period -- as the Virden Oil Capitals defeated Neepawa 10-4 at the Yellowhead Centre.
Steven Phillips, Luke Karakas, Jaret Smith and Drake Lindsay scored for the Natives in the loss, while Artsiom Kalashnikov and Curtis Houlden each netted a pair of tallies for the Oil Caps, who received a 39 save performance from netminder Adam Iwan.
Ben Williams, Cody Nelson, Corey Haverstick, Kurt Johnas, Kevin Pochuk and Taylor Fisher scored the other goals for Virden.
Tyson Verhelst made 20 saves between the pipes for Neepawa.
On Saturday, the Natives were in The Pas and wound up coming away with a 5-2 win over the OCN Blizzard.
Luke Karakas scored twice for the Natives, while Drake Lindsay, Sam Briscoe and Jaret Smith netted the other tallies for Neepawa.
Anthony Agner-Bouchard and Bryce MacInnis scored for the Blizzard.
Matthieu Verreault picked up the win in net for Neepawa, making 29 saves, while Alex Henry and Brian Archibald combined to make 25 saves between the pipes for OCN.
On Monday, the Natives wrapped up the long weekend by playing an afternoon contest against the host Winkler Flyers and wound up falling by a score of 6-3.
Luke Karakas scored yet again for the Natives on the power play, while Reigan Buchanan and Brady Bouchard netted the other tallies for Neepawa, who were outshot 47-33 on the night.
Adam Vander Linden picked up the 'W' in net for Winkler, making 30 saves, while Natives goaltender Matthieu Verreault ended up with the loss, turning aside 41 Flyer shots.
The Natives now sit with a 13-37-5 record and remain four points behind the Waywayseecappo Wolverines for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Sher-Wood Division.
Both the Wolverines and Natives have five regular season games remaining on their respective schedules.
Here are the scores from the rest of games over the weekend in the MJHL . . .
Friday:
Dauphin 3 OCN 2 (SO)
Winnipeg 2 Selkirk 1 (OT)
Swan Valley 6 Wayway 4
Saturday:
Dauphin 4 Swan Valley 2
Winkler 4 Virden 3
Wayway 4 Portage 2
Sunday:
Virden 4 Wayway 1
Steinbach 5 Winnipeg 2
Dauphin 6 Portage 4
Monday:
Steinbach 6 Selkirk 5
Portage 3 Winnipeg 1
Wheat Kings struggles continue
The WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings losing streak has hit six games after the club lost all three of its contests during the long weekend.
On Friday, the Wheat Kings lost 3-2 to the Kootenay Ice in a shootout at Westman Communications Group Place. Brett Kitt scored both goals for the Wheat Kings in regulation.
On Saturday, the host Wheat Kings suffered a 5-2 loss to the Ice. Ryan Pulock and Jens Meilleur scored scored for Brandon in the loss.
The Wheat Kings wrapped up their long weekend with a 4-0 loss to the host Regina Pats on Louis Riel Day (Monday).
The Wheat Kings currently sit with a 28-24-6-2 record and have slipped to seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
Lisoway watch: Neepawa's Quintin Lisoway recorded a couple of assists during the weekend's action and now sits with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 57 games this season with the Wheat Kings.
Farmers win playoff series against Pilot Mound
The Neepawa Farmers were victorious over the weekend in their first round playoff series against the Pilot Mound Pilots in the Tiger Hills Hockey League.
The sixth seed Farmers defeated the third ranked Pilots on Friday and Saturday night, sweeping the Eastern Division best-of-three quarter-final.
"The guys feel pretty good after the win, but no one in our room is done," said Farmers blueliner Rodney White. "We want to keep making noise. Keep surprising people."
On Friday night, the Farmers travelled to Pilot Mound and were able to come away with a 6-1 win. The Farmers held a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play and were able to net three more tallies in the third period en route to the victory.
Bret Levandoski and Clarke Rempel each scored twice for the Farmers, while Bryan White and Tieler Fenning Cox netted the other tallies for Neepawa.
Juha Keinanen scored the lone goal for the Pilots.
On Saturday, the host Farmers found themselves down by a score of 2-1 in the second period, but were able to rebound, edging the Pilots 4-3 at the Yellowhead Centre.
Brett Oliver, Nathan Leblanc, Reg Delaloye and Devin Epp scored for Neepawa in the win, while Joe Wallace, Tyler Butler and Rod Buydens replied for Pilot Mound.
Neepawa will now take on the Carberry Plainsmen in a best-of-five Eastern Division semifinal series.
Dates and times for that series have yet to be announced.
For a look at how the other teams in the THHL performed in the first weekend of playoff action, click here.
Tigers fall to Vincent Massey in Game 1 of playoffs
The Neepawa Tigers lost 5-4 to the Vincent Massey Vikings in Game 1 of their Westman High School Hockey League best-of-three first round playoff series on Sunday.
Wyatt Salmon scored twice for the Tigers in the loss, while Garett Rempel and Brendan Harris picked up the other goals for Neepawa.
Kirk Dechka scored twice for Vincent Massey.
Game 2 of the series goes Tuesday night in Brandon at the Optimist Arena.
In other league action, the No. 1 seed Deloraine/Hartney Colts have a one game lead in their series over the Crocus Plainsmen, while the Dauphin Clippers have a one-game lead over the Melita/Waskada Devils.
BU review: men's volleyball team moves on to Final Four; women's team eliminated from playoffs
The Brandon University Bobcats men's volleyball team defeated the No. 2 seed UBC Thunderbirds in five sets on Friday night to sweep the best-of-three first round playoff series and advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Sebastien Steigmeier ended up with 18 kills for the Bobcats, who won Game 1 on Thursday in five sets.
Brandon now moves on to the Canada West Final Four, which takes place this upcoming weekend at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.
Meanwhile, the BU women's volleyball team was eliminated from the Canada West playoffs on Friday night at the Healthy Living Centre.
In a stunning upset, the second ranked team in the nation lost in four sets to the UBC-Okanagan Heat and in the process, were swept away in a best-of-three first round playoff series.
The Heat won the first game of the series in straight sets on Thursday night.
With the win, UBC-Okanagan will now advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Meanwhile, both BU basketball teams wrapped up their respective seasons over the weekend in Regina.
The BU men's team defeated the Cougars 81-67 on Friday and followed that up with a 69-66 loss on Saturday to finish the season with a 6-16 conference record.
The BU women's team meanwhile, lost both of their contests to Regina and also finished their season with a 6-16 conference record.
Chiefs down 2-0 to Wheat Kings
The Yellowhead Chiefs are down two games to none in their best-of-five Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League first round playoff series against the Brandon AAA Wheat Kings.
The Chiefs suffered an 8-3 loss in Brandon in Game 1 on Friday night and followed that up with a 6-4 loss on Sunday in Shoal Lake.
The Chiefs will look to keep their season alive when they take on the Wheat Kings on Wednesday night in Game 3 at the Sportsplex.
Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Canada now with 16 medals at Olympics
Canada is now up to 16 medals in total at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, with four gold, eight silver and four bronze medals.
One of the latest highlights consists of the Canadian women's short track relay team, which won a silver medal on Tuesday morning.
It first appeared as though Canada had won bronze, however the Chinese team that finished ahead of Canada ended up getting disqualified.
It was also announced that Carey Price will get the start in goal for the Canadian men's hockey team when they take on the winner of Switzerland/Latvia in a quarterfinal on Wednesday.
In photo: Riley Hillis of the Natives attempts to win a faceoff against Ben Williams of the Virden Oil Capitals on Friday night in MJHL action at the Yellowhead Centre.
Photo by Lanny Stewart
