It started off scary, but the Portage Terriers came back strong to defeat the Neepawa Natives 6-3 at Stride Place last night.

Neepawa's Tom Sweeney caught Terriers' goalie Ethan Peterson off guard 48 seconds into the first with a wrap-around goal. Ocean Wiesblatt tied it five minutes later with a shot from the point that found the back of the net. There was plenty of traffic around Kolby Thornton who did not see the puck go in. Neepawa added another goal a few minutes later, when Brad Marshall scored from the corner. Neepawa had just killed off a too many men penalty seconds prior.

In the second period, captain Ty Barnstable tieed the game a few minutes into the period with a snapshot from the slot. Nearly halfway through the period, Sheldin Howard scored his first of two to give the Terriers their first lead of the game.

"I just got it on the tape, and tried to bury (it)," says Howard. "I did, I guess!"

After the Terriers turned the puck over in their own zone, the Natives' Mackenzie Belinksi buried a goal of his own from the left side to tie the game at three.This was be the last time Neepawa found the back of the net. Under a minute later, Tyler Van Deynze hammered one home directly in front of the goalie, who lost sight of the puck.

In the third period, the Terriers outshot the Natives 12 to 6 and had two more goals. Howard got his second of the game, and Owen Murray added another.

"It felt good," says Howard. "We hadn't won at home for a while, so it felt good to win."

With the win, the Terriers improve to 37-8-1-1 (76 points) while Neepawa falls to 9-31-4-3 (25 points). You can check out the box score here.

The Terriers travel to OCN to take on the Blizzard tomorrow night. Game time is 7 o'clock.