Swan Valley wins big in Neepawa

Details

Published on Sunday, December 7, 2014

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

The recent string of injuries to the roster of the Neepawa Natives appears to have finally caught up with the team, as the Swan Valley Stampeders were able to win in impressive fashion on Sunday night 7-3.

About a half dozen players remaining out of the lineup with a variety of ailments, the Stamps were able to take advantage of that lack of depth early, scoring three times in the first period and outshooting Neepawa 16-7.

In the second period, the Natives were able to regroup and register three goals. Brayden Atkinson, Kyle MacDonald and Stephen Mather each tallied a single goal, while Riley Hillis drew an assist on all three. Swan Valley however were also able to keep up its strong showing from the first, by registering two more goals to make it 5-3 after 40 minutes.

In the final frame, Carter Johnson netted his third goal of the game for the Stampeders, while Bo Sigurdson scored the seventh and final goal of the evening in the Swan Valley win.

Natives head coach Dwayne Kirkup said the team had to deal with a tough start to the game and were unable to recover.

"I obviously didn't like our start. When you get down 3-0 in this league, it's tough coming back out of that hole," said Kirkup. "It was a frustrating night."

Kirkup added that getting the players currently on I.R. back onto the ice is a priority.

"We'd really like to get healthy. The six guys that we are missing really throw a little bit of a kink into our lineup and I'd really like to get some of those guys back," said Kirkup.

The loss to Swan Valley drops Neepawa to 10-20-1 on the season.The next game for the Natives is on Tuesday, Dec. 9 in Winnipeg against the Blues. The next home game will be Sunday, Dec. 14 against the Portage Terriers.