Exhibition schedule comes to an end for Neepawa Natives
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- Published on Tuesday, September 22, 2015
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Press
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League pre-season concluded for the Neepawa Natives last weekend, as the team played a home and home series against the Winkler Flyers.
The first game was at the Yellowhead Centre on Friday, Sept. 18, and saw the Flyers defeat the Natives 4-1.
Winkler scored early in the opening period, as Jordan Robertson garnered a goal 3:04 into the game. Nolan McGuire and Coltyn Bates assisted on the play. The Flyers would double their lead about nine minutes later, as Cam Whyte would light the lamp, with a short handed marker.
Early in the second period, Neepawa found its stride, solving Flyers goaltender Ryan Larochelle. Justin Metcalf scored just 1:23 into the middle frame, to cut Winkler’s lead in half. The majority of the second period was an evenly matched defensive struggle, as neither team was able to generate significant offensive pressure. With less than 30 seconds left before the second intermissionhowever, Winkler reclaimed its two goal cushion, as Matthew Lambert secured a power-play goal, to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes.
In the third, Neepawa would give up its second short handed goal of the game, as Lawson McDonald scored for Winkler with just under six minutes remaining. Both sides would get a bit more physical with some rough stuff in the final few minutes, but the score remained the same, as the Flyers wrapped up the evening with a 4-1 win.
Neepawa had a chance at redemption the very next night on Saturday, Sept. 19 in Winkler. Unfortunately, it would be the Flyers, who controlled the tempo of play, on the way to a 6-3 triumph. Austin Rameriz, Kyle McDonald and Cameron Novak each scored for Neepawa, while Troy Pierce stopped 47 shots in net for the Natives.
With the exhibition schedule now finished, the team shifts its attention to the start of the regular season. Their first game is Friday, Sept. 25 in Dauphin against the Kings.
