Neepawa Natives claim a must win over Swan Valley
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- Published on Thursday, February 15, 2018
Photo by Micah Waddell. Justin Metcalf shoots on Ethan Peterson in the second period. Metcalf would score on the play.
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press
The objective was simple enough for the Neepawa Natives, just win the darn game. And while the team did ultimately achieve that objective, the path to get there was anything but simple.Natives forward Ashton Anderson scored the shootout winner for Neepawa, as they claimed a 5-4 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Yellowhead Arena. In order to reach that conclusion, however, Neepawa had to twice rebound from a two-goal deficit.
It didn’t seem like it was going to be that type of struggle for the Natives early on in the evening, as Zach Johnson opened the scoring just 50 seconds into the game. A pair of power-play goal, to go along with an even strength marker before the end of the first, however, catapulted the visiting Stamps into the lead. Josh Tripp, Shane Roulette, Trevor Mann all scored.
Early in the second period, Justin Metcalf cut into the Swan Valley lead with his 27th goal of the year. Just over two minutes later, Swan Valley regained the multi-goal cushion, off a Jaden Townsend effort. That would end up being the end of the night for goaltender Spencer Eschyschyn, as head coach Dustin Howden decided to make a change, and have Brendan Benoit finish out the night between the pipes.
Later in the second, Ashton Anderson pulled the Natives within one once again as when he put away his 27th of the year, with just 2:52 left in the period. The second period would end with the Stampeders leading 4-3.
It would become a 4-4 tie early in the third, as Braeden Binda tied things up at 3:19. Both clubs would press to find that go-ahead goal, but find the back of the net for the remainder of regulation. During the five minute overtime, both Benoit and Swan Valley’s Ethan Peterson came up huge, with big saves.
After five minutes of OT solved nothing, things shifted into a shootout. In the end, it was Anderson, who scored the shootout winner, providing Neepawa with the extra point in the standings off a 5-4 game. The win improved the Natives’ regular season record to 24-26-2-1, good enough for 51 points. As for Swan Valley, they still claimed a point for the shootout loss, improving their record to 23-21-5-1. That provides the Stamps with 52 points, allowing them to hold on to sole possession of eight place in the MJHL standings. The final shot totals for the game were 49-36 in favour of Swan Valley.
Next up for Neepawa is a pair of games against the Portage Terriers (33-15-2-3. 71 points). First, the two teams will play at the Yellowhead Centre on Friday, Feb. 16. Start time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Those same two teams will face-off again on Monday, Feb. 19, this time at Stride Place in Portage la Prairie. Due to the Louis Riel holiday, that start time will be earlier than usual, at 4:30 p.m.
