The Portage Terriers began their quest for a fourth consecutive Turnbull Cup tonight as the MJHL Playoffs got underway. It was a war of attrition as the game would end up going to double overtime where Winnipeg would win 3-2. In a series that looks to be a real dogfight, the Terriers and the Winnipeg Blues began the night in truly entertaining fashion.

Both teams came out of the gate on fire and ready to go. There were big chances and big hits aplenty. Blues goalie Jeremy Link would be the busier of the two netminders. Making a couple big stops to keep the Terriers off the board, none was bigger than his rebound save on Mackenzie Dwyer who looked like he had a sure goal bit Link got over on time. Terrier 'tender Lasse Peterson had to make a few steady saves as well because the Blues pushed almost as hard as the Terriers did. Portage couldn't capitalize on the Blues' weak penalty kill as the one full power play they had in the frame they really couldn't get anything going. The teams were scoreless heading to the dressing room.

The goals would finally come in the second. After two posts hit that were so close that the horn went off, the Terriers would finally get one all the way in. After Ty Barnstable's shot hit the post and bounced out, it came right to Ty Enns who made sure it went into the empty cage as Link couldn't track the puck. The Blues would get on the board thanks to their high-octane power play. Brady Castallano tipped a point shot past Peterson to tie it up. Shortly after that, the Terriers would get the lead back. On a broken rush that looked like it had petered out, James Mcisaac grabbed the puck in the slot, wheeled and fired beating an unprepared Link. The Terriers would take a 2-1 lead into the intermission. Defenceman Nick Doyle had this to say about they needed to do between the second and third period.

"Obviously tighten up in our D-zone, we gave them quite a bit of chances but I think we should have gone in and buried our chances in the second too. We kind of let them stick around."

The third would be much like the first period with the action being at both ends of the ice. Winnipeg managed to tie the game when Castallano netted his second of the night. Both teams battled hard but neither goalie would be beaten again so we were off to overtime. Head Coach Blake Spiller spoke about the game.

"The teams, you look at their lineups on paper it's pretty tight. They've got a couple lines that can score and I didn't think they had a whole lot of opportunities but Castallano buried the mistakes that we made. I thought we struggled a bit around the net, I thought we had some good chances that seemed to hit him (Link) and not go in for us but that's part of the game."

The first overtime would solve nothing. In the second OT, the Blues would stun the home crowd by firing a puck that just trickled past Peterson giving the Blues the 3-2 win. Forward Ryan Sokoloski spoke about the play of the goalies.

"Link played good tonight and kind of got a little bit lucky, we had a lot of chances that we could have buried to put them away. But we gave them that life and Lasse (Peterson) played unreal for us tonight."

With the win, the Blues take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven quarterfinal matchup. Game 2 is at the MTS Iceplex and goes Sunday, March 11. Puck drop is 6:30 pm.