The Portage Terriers were on the ice in Manitoba Junior Hockey League action tonight. They managed to come out with a hard-fought 4-2 win over the Winkler Flyers.

It was the Flyers who would strike first as Griffin Leonard would put the puck past Terrier netminder Lasse Peterson. Portage would control much of the play in the period though, and the Flyers did not get many chances at Peterson. The Terriers forecheck was strong throughout the game as they hemmed the Flyers in their own zone for extended periods of time. Winkler would take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room.

Terrier Coach Paul Harland spoke about his team's defensive effort tonight.

"We didn't have the puck in our end a whole lot tonight and we seemed to be playing in their end which is what we want to do. Our forecheck was good tonight and we could have had a couple more and maybe could have given up less too."

In the second, the Terriers hard work would finally be rewarded. With less than three minutes left in the period, Ty Barnstable picked up the puck at the Winkler blueline, toe-dragged around a defender and sent a wicked wrist shot five-hole on Flyer goaltender Troy Martyniuk. Portage wasn't done yet though. Ryan Sokoloski sprung a two-on-one just over a minute later. Looking to pass, he flipped the puck towards the defender and it caromed off the defenseman's back and past a stunned Martyniuk. The Dogs would take a 2-1 lead into the final frame.

Winkler would tie it up less than five minutes into the third period. Brett Opperman streaked up the side and sent a blistering wrist shot from the high hash marks to tie the game at two. The tie wouldn't last long, however. During a scrum in front of the Flyer net, the puck squirted free right onto the stick of the waiting Duncan Pierce who wired a shot past a screened Martyniuk. James McIsaac would round out the scoring off a nice passing play on a Portage powerplay. Winkler pulled the goalie during a power play late in the third but couldn't must much offence as the Peterson and the Terriers would shut the door.

Terrier forward Scott Mickoski had this to say about how momentum swung during the game.

"I thought we kind of started slow and the last five minutes, we had a big ending to the first period and we brought the momentum into the second and the third. I think we got two bounces there before the end of the second that gave us the momentum into the third and we kept it going. It was nice to beat these guys after they took it to us last week."

Portage is back in action on Tuesday when they will head to Selkirk to face the Steelers. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.