Natives drop pair of weekend home games

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Published on Monday, February 9, 2015

Neepawa's Stephen Mather gets into a shuffle during the Natives loss to Selkirk on Sunday, Feb. 8.

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

Winkler 5-2 Neepawa

The trio of Scott Gall, Cam Whyte and team captain Patrice Wren proved to be the deciding factors in the game, as the Winkler Flyers topped Neepawa 5-2 on Saturday, Feb. 7.

Gall, an 18 year-old left winger from Morden, lead the way with a pair of goals and an assist, while Whyte added a goal and assist. Wren contributed a pair of assists and proved his leadership by consistently pressing the action in the Natives’ defensive zone throughout the game. For Neepawa, Reigan Buchanan and Kyle McDonald tallied goals in the losing effort.

Selkirk 4-3 Neepawa

Late game goals by Stephen Mather and Jaxon Elmes were not enough to spur Neepawa on to a dramatic comeback, as the Selkirk Steelers were able to hold on to a 4-3 win. Selkirk jumped out to an early lead on Sunday night at the Yellowhead Arena, with Adam Wowryk scoring 5:40 into the opening period. Thomas Lenchyshyn added a second for the Steelers on a power play at 13:18 of the first to make the score 2-0.

Neither team was able to light the lamp in the second period, though Neepawa did end goaltender Teegan Sacher’s shutout bid just 21 seconds into the third, with a power play goal by Stephen Phillips

The Steelers replied quickly with a pair of goals just 39 seconds apart at 5:16 and 5:55 of the third to make the score 4-1. Neepawa forward Stephen Mather cut the lead to two with just over five minutes remaining in the game, by tallying his 12th goal of the season. Defencemen Jaxon Elmes added another goal for the Natives in the final minute, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.

With the pair of weekend defeats, the Natives have fallen to 13-37-2 with 28 points. The team remains 10 points out of the tenth and final playoff spot.