To say emotions were high during this game would be quite an understatement. After getting knocked out of playoffs by the Blues last season, the Terriers were hunting for a win.
Just after the halfway point of the first, Portage was already up 2-0 with a goal from Scott Mickoski, assisted by Ty Barnstable, and another from Jay Buchholz, assisted by Logan Calder and Peyton Gorski.
After those first two goals, both teams were fired up, leading our Nathan Hillis and Portage’s Ocean Wiesblatt to drop the gloves at the 12:07 mark of the first period. Both players were handed 5-minute penalties and 10-minute game misconducts.
Less than a minute later, Codey Behun and the Terrier’s Reilly Funk got wrapped up near the boards. Both players started to tussle and earned another pair of penalties, this time for roughing after the whistle. When all was said and done, there were seven players in the penalty boxes at once, four for us, three for the Terriers.
With 4:49 left in the first, Portage’s Ty Barnstable put up their third goal with an assist from Jacob Brown to close out the period with a healthy lead.
It was neck and neck throughout the first half of the second period. Play bounced back and forth until Portage’s Darren Gisti found the back of the net to put the visitors up by four. His goal was assisted by Jared Roy and Buchholz.
With time winding down in the second period, we had several chances to finally put a puck past Portage’s Nathan Moore, but Moore was an impenetrable brick wall. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t find a gap.
The Terriers regained control to end the second period and carried it into the third. They put up another five goals before time expired.
At 15:42 into the third period, we finally found a hole in Moore’s wall. Codey Behun scored our lone goal with a little help from Coby Stauss and Jayson Szun.
On Sunday, Sept. 23, we’re on the road to Portage to take on the Terriers once again. Let’s just say we’ll be looking for redemption.