Neepawa dealing with early season woes
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- Published on Tuesday, October 4, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
The early portion of the MJHL season continues to be a case of so close, yet so far, for the Neepawa Natives, when it comes to accumulating victories. The team dropped to 0-4 on the regular season, after a 4-3 loss to the Selkirk Steelers on Friday Sept. 30. This contest, much like the others, has been a case of the players putting in a good enough effort to take the win, but just not getting the little bits of luck needed, at the right time, to sway things in their favour.
Selkirk was able to jump out to the lead early, by taking advantage of a a power-play opportunity about a minute after the opening face-off. Dallas Starodub notched the goal at 1:10. Before the end of the first, the Steelers added to their lead, as Taylor Fisher secured an unassisted marker.
Going into the second period, a sense of urgency hit the Natives bench and they executed on it quickly, as Dane Derewianchuk scored just 10 seconds into the middle frame. Neepawa’s newest arrival, 18-year-old forward Zach Johnson garnered the assist. Then at 13:11, Justin Metcalfe continued his strong early season offensive effort, by securing his fifth goal and eighth point of the regular season, to tie things up at 2-2.
A Selkirk penalty with just over five minutes left in the period provided Neepawa a perfect opportunity to keep the tide of momentum in their favour and take the lead. But instead, a blueline misplay with the puck ended up handing the Steelers a free chance on goaltender Jeremy Link. Dallas Starodub took advantage, scoring his second of the night. Less than two minutes later, another Neepawa miscue with the puck created a Selkirk goal, allowing the visitors to secure a 4-2 lead. Unwilling to surrender, Ste. Rose product Brad Marshall tallied his first goal of the season, to cut the Selkirk lead to a lone goal, with 20 minutes left to play in regulation.
Unfortunately for Neepawa, the team was unable to instigate any prolonged offensive pressure in the final frame, and ultimately fell to the Steelers 4-3. After the game, head coach Dustin Howden expressed disappointment with the end result.
“In the dressing room, [the players] do not feel as though we’re a 0-4 hockey team. There is a lot of second guesses going on in there, and maybe there should be,” stated Howden. “ Selkirk is proving very early in the season, that it’s a team to reckon with. If we want to compete through the remainder of the season, these are the types of challenges the guys need to step up to. They did tonight to a degree, but the execution needs to be a part of that effort as well. We had opportunities and couldn’t execute and we gave them opportunities that they took advantage of. Those types of plays can’t happen at this level and then expect to be on the positive end of the final results.”
Earlier in the week, Neepawa hits another sour note, this time against the Blues, as the club fell to Winnipeg 8-5 on Sept. 28. The Blues accumulated seven goals early (four in the first period – three in the second) and were able to hold on for the victory. A similar story had played out in Neepawa’s previous road game in Winkler, as the Flyer solidified a comfortable lead early, before the Natives roared back with three goals in the final 20 minutes of a 6-4 defeat.
In the Winnipeg showdown, Blues forward Joel MacGillivray opened the scoring early in the game for the home side, however Neepawa bounced back with a pair of power-play goals from Ashton Anderson and Nolan Richards respectively. But before the end of the first period, the Blues notched three goals of their own to secure a 4-2 score after 20 minutes.
The second period fell to pieces for the visitors, as Neepawa found itself outshot (22-4) and outscored (3-0), by an aggressive Winnipeg roster. The Natives bounced back in the final period however, as Justin Metcalf notched a pair and Nathan Hillis added a single.
The final stats would see a pair of Blues get hat tricks, as Dexter Kuczek ended the evening with a total of five points (3 goals - 2 assists), while Dallas Tulik was close behind with four points (3-1). Adam Derochie earned the victory between the pipes for Winnipeg with 23 saves, while Tyler Gutenberg and Jeremy Link faced a combined 49 shots in the Neepawa net, stopping 41.
Things do not get any easier for Neepawa, as the club is currently dealing with four game, three of which are on the road, over a five day span. The first two are versus Dauphin and Virden, Wednesday, Oct. 5 and Thursday, Oct. 6. (Those game results will be official after the Banner publication deadline). Then on Saturday, Oct. 8, the Natives face the CJHL’s top ranked team, the Steinbach Pistons. Finally, Neepawa returns home to play he Waywayseecappo Wolverines at the Yellowhead Centre on Sunday, Oct 9. Game time for that contest is scheduled for 6:30 pm.
