No playoffs for Neepawa Natives
- Details
- Published on Thursday, March 3, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
For the sixth straight year, the Neepawa Natives will be watching other teams compete for the MJHL championship, as a recent 7-2 loss to the Steinbach Pistons guaranteed another year without playoff hockey.
The game, which was played on Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Yellowhead Arena, started off on a very positive note for Neepawa, as the team took an early lead over the Pistons off a Brayden Atkinson goal.
Neepawa was able to keep the Pistons at bay throughout the first period and for the majority of the second. Near the end of the period, the Natives had a two man advantage on the power-play. Though they created many chances in front of the Steinbach net, goaltender Jeremy Wik kept it a close game. After the penalties were killed off, Steinbach was able to break through, by scoring a pair of goals late in the second. Then in the third, the preverbal floodgates busted open on Neepawa, catching them in an onslaught of bad penalties and disappointing goals. Neepawa’s own Quentin Lisoway, as well as Cole Smith and Tyson McConnell each scored early to make it a 5-1 lead for the Pistons. A sixth goal just after the mid-point of the third chased Neepawa goaltender Jeremy Link out of the net. Justin Metcalf scored a shorthanded goal for the home side, but he and the rest of the team couldn’t follow up with any sustained offence after that to make it respectable. One more power-play goal by the Pistons would make the final score 7-2. The Steinbach power play went 2-6 on the night, while Neepawa was 0-7 with the man-advantage.
With nothing left to play for other than personal pride, Neepawa travelled east on Tuesday, Mar. 1 to face the Winnipeg Blues.
Reagan Buchanan and Kyle McDonald each scored for the Natives, but it simply wasn’t enough as Winnipeg was able to hold on to a 3-2 win. Jeremy Link bounced back from the Steinbach game with a strong 38 save performance for the Natives, but still took the loss. The MJHL season comes to an end for Neepawa on Friday, Mar. 4 with a home game against the Winkler Flyers.
