Natives falter at worst possible time
- Details
- Published on Thursday, January 26, 2017
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
(Editor's note. This article was written prior to Neepawa's 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Blues. A separate story will examine that game.)
If the Neepawa Natives don’t make the Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs this season, they’ll likely look back at this past week as the reason why, as the team dropped a pair of important games.
First, they lost 6-0 to the Dauphin Kings on Friday, Jan. 20. That was followed up with a disappointing 5-2 defeat to the recently resurgent Waywayseecappo Wolverines on Saturday, Jan. 21. Combined with a 3-0 loss to the eighth place Swan Valley Stampeders on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the Natives’ record has now dropped to 11-25-5 (27 points) on the year.
Several recent injuries have hindered the roster that the Natives were able to put out on the ice, as Tyler Gutenberg, Matthew Millan, Peyton Malcolm and Skyler Thorsteinson were all recently diagnosed with concussions. As a precautionary measure, those players were wearing suits in the press box instead of lacing up the skates. Combined with a horrible facial injury sustained by Kruz Listmayer during a game against Selkirk, Neepawa has found itself severely undermanned. Natives head coach Dustin Howden said the team needs to put those games behind them and focus on their upcoming matchups. The Natives will host the Selkirk Steelers on Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Yellowhead Centre. Start time for that game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 28 will also be a historic night for the Neepawa Natives, as the club plays their 1500th game in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. As they approach this accomplishment, the organization would like to invite all alumni to the home game versus the Steelers.
As part of the night, the team will have a brief ceremony acknowledging the inaugural roster and other alumni in attendance. Following the game, current coaches, players, families, and alumni are invited to a meet and greet in the Yellowhead Hall.
Then on Sunday, Jan. 29, Neepawa will host the Winkler Flyers. Opening faceoff for that game will be at 6:30 p.m.
As for upcoming games for the teams Neepawa is chasing for the final playoff spot, the Swan Valley Stampeders will host Winkler on Friday, Jan. 27, while the Dauphin Kings will challenge Portage on Friday and then Virden on Saturday. All those games have a scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time.
