The Swan Valley Stampeders went 2/2 at the MJHL Showcase in Portage la Prairie, beating the Selkirk Steelers 4-2 Tuesday afternoon at Stride Place.
Swan Valley’s offence was led by Brad Fortin (not a brother to Callum for anyone who watched the HockeyTV broadcast), Quinn Mulder, Carter Cockburn and Jacob Paler-Chow who all collected a goal, while Kobe Grant picked up his second consecutive win in net stopping 31/33 shots he faced.
It was all about quick starts for the Stampeders the past two games in Portage. Last night it was Paler-Chow scoring 36 seconds into the game en route to a 4-1 win. This afternoon it was Brad Fortin opening the scoring on an end-to-end rush 1:01 into the opening frame. The Selkirk Steelers didn’t roll over and play dead; they came at the Stampeders, tying the game at 10:06 (Ryan Ostermann) and threw 14 shots on Grant over the course of the next 19 minutes.
Mulder continued to add to his point collection, scoring 8:30 into the middle frame on a great down low passing play by Cody Barnes to give the Stampeders a 2-1 lead. Again the Steelers didn’t sit back, they sent nine more shots on net but couldn’t solve Grant who has been the talk of the showcase so far with his stellar play.
Keagen Abbott tied the game 3:03 into the third period making things interesting for the final 17 minutes of play in Portage this afternoon. The work boots went back on and the Stampeders pushed the play up ice where Swan River product Cockburn found a loose puck and slid home his fifth of the year 24 seconds later. Paler-Chow opened the scoring for the Stampeders at the Showcase and he also finished it off, scoring into an empty net at 18:43 giving the Stamps their second consecutive win and jumping the OCN Blizzard in the West Division standings to tie Virden with 20 points.
Final shots on goal
Swan Valley – 30
Selkirk – 33
The Stampeders had a very impressive outing in Portage winning back-to-back games and improving their record to 9-11-0-2.
Swan Valley will return home and get set for the Winkler Flyers Friday, Nov. 26 and Saturday, Nov. 27 at the Centennial Arena. Friday’s game is a proud presentation of Fox FM and GX94 Radio. (I hear on-air personalities will be in attendance for autographs).
Make sure to purchase your online 50/50 tickets leading up to our home games this weekend. Please click the image to buy.
Tickets for this weekend’s games are also available and can be purchased at Patty’s Sports Excellence, at the door or online by clicking the image below.