The Blues had the daunting task of hosting the league leading and CJHL number one ranked team on Saturday night.
But as last year’s playoffs showed, the Blues have little regard of who’s in front of them in the standings. The first period saw both teams at playoff intensity but with the Terriers holding a 1-0 lead after one.
In the second, both teams had their powerplay chances but it was Portage who extended their lead by a goal 8:43 in. Blues captain Brett Brooks cut into the deficit two minutes later with his 9th of the campaign and the period ended with the Blues down 2-1.
The Blues turned up the heat in the third and, from a goalmouth scramble, tied it up 12:22 in with Mitch Hansen’s 5th. The pressure continued by the Blues, keeping the Terriers on their heels. The boys could have folded when, following a great chance at the Terriers end, the visitors came down and regained the lead with 1:46 left. Not so fast! With a faceoff deep in the Portage end, the Blues pulled the goaltender and tied it up again as Taeron Lewis was able to push his 8th past the Terriers tender and off to another overtime.
Overtime solved nothing so a shootout was needed. It took until the fifth round for a winner to be decided as Portage’s shooter was able to beat Parsons for the 4-3 shootout victory.
Game Notes: The Blues Boston Pizza player of the game was Brett Brooks while the OMG hardest working player was Geordie Keane. Congrats to Mishaela who was the Boston Pizza Shoot to Win contestant and was our first winner of the year taking home a large pizza. Up next, Sunday night versus Swan Valley, gametime 6:30.
HELLOOOOOs