The Portage Islanders made the Winkler Royals look more like peasants last night in the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League. They shut them out 7-0 on the road in Winkler.

"We were breaking the puck out a lot better and we were a lot more disciplined," says defenceman Jeremy Brooks. "We didn't take many penalties, which is always a big help to our game. And Mitch Wiebe played well in net and that always helps."

Eric DeLong finished the game with five points, four goals and assists. Tanner and Zach Waldvogel, and Dan Leslie each had goals as well. The win moves the Islanders one point back of second place Carman and three points back of first-place Notre Dame.

"We're definitely trying to climb up a bit in the rankings still," adds Brooks. "We want to line ourselves up as best we can for playoffs, and with only two games remaining they're all pretty important points so we want to finish strong and carry some momentum into playoffs."

The Islanders are in Altona Saturday.