The Portage Terriers managed to come away with a 7-4 win over Virden last night in MJHL action at the PCU Centre.

It was the Portage Terriers home opener last night in Portage la Prairie and the dogs came out of the gate firing. Ashton Clark picked up his first of the night with a great deflection and into the top corner off Layne Toder's point shot. Halfway through the period Oil Caps' forward Jeran Knorr slipped one under Terriers' goalie Wesley Ellingsen's blocker to tie the game at 1. Things seemed to get a little cluttered after that, as both teams had trouble making it through the neutral zone, making for back-and-forth action. Portage Defenseman Jordan Thomson would throw a puck toward the net with about a minute left in the first that found its way up a Virden defender's stick and into the top corner.

The Terriers had a 2-1 lead heading into the second period, after a slow start to the game for both clubs. Portage came out a little shaky in the second, which allowed Virden to tie the game up at two 6 minutes into the frame. The second half of the period was all Portage and their continuous assault led to another two goals, one from Captain Adam Wowryk and the other from newcomer Howard Yawitt.

The Oil Caps came within one early into the 3rd period off a turnover behind the Terriers' net, and after exchanging goals one more time in the period, the dogs finally ran away with it. Terriers' forwards Chase Brakel and Ashton Clark would each add goals near the end of the game to end Virden's chance of a comeback.

"I think both teams were sloppy," says Terriers Assistant Coach Paul Harland. "It's early in the season and we're still finding our way and trying to get our systems down and that sort of thing. We were happy with the way we responded when they came back and scored to make the game close. We were able to get some pucks through and some goals, so it's good to get the offense going. Obviously, we'll need to clean up our own zone a little bit, we were running around a little too much. That'll be the focus this week here in practice to make sure we clean up our own end and get it out as quick as we can."

3 Terriers goals were scored off rebounds in the blue paint. Harland says they'll need to go to those dirty places if they want to be successful.

Terriers' defenseman Thomas Lenchyshyn mucking it up with a Virden forward in front of the Portage net.

"I liked how we got some pucks to the net and got traffic because those are the goals we're going to have to get this year. We worked hard -- we didn't always work smart -- but we worked pretty hard for the most part. We were physical when we had to be and our forecheck was pretty good tonight."

Harland says it's still early to judge the team as a whole, but they do have a lot of great qualities that make up a strong team.

"It's still early and we still need to work on a couple things like our own zone, but I think we're going to be able to compete. We've got a good work ethic, goaltending has been pretty good so far, and hopefully, we improve as this young season goes along."

Terriers' goalie Wesley Ellingsen stopped 29 of 33 shots for the win. Ellingsen and Aiken are both 1-0 to start the season.

Road Trip Ready

The Terriers next 3 games are on the road. They're in Steinbach on Wednesday, OCN on Saturday and Swan Valley on Sunday. The Steinbach and OCN rinks are both a little smaller with very tight neutral zones. Harland says it doesn't take long for players to get used to the smaller ice.

"Obviously we're going to be playing in a couple of tough rinks with Steinbach on Wednesday and OCN on Saturday. Those are smaller ice surfaces, so we'll have to prepare our guys for that. A lot of guys haven't played in those rinks before, so they're always a little tough early on in the game when they haven't played in those rinks. We'll just be working on our own zone here and making sure that we're having cleaner exits from our blue line."

The Terriers and Pistons go Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Steinbach.