Photo: Erica Perreaux/Hockey Canada Images
The Portage Terriers’ season has come to end.
The Battlefords North Stars dominated the Terriers from start to finish in the semi final on Saturday night, winning 7-1.
The North Stars looked fresh and ready to go from the puck drop, catching a tired Terrier squad who had played the previous night against Yarmouth. Battlefords opened the scoring in the first six minutes when Alec Izyk walked in and snapped a shot past a screened Bailey Monteith.
The Terriers struggled to stay out of the box and it cost them dearly. Battlefords scored two straight goals with the man advantage. They weren’t done there adding a nice 2 on 1 goal to close out the first period. 4-0 North Stars after 20 minutes.
The second period went much like the first. Portage struggled to get chances on a stingy Battlefords club. The North Stars added two more power play goals to go up 6-0. Monteith’s night was done as he was swapped out for Jayden Catellier. He finished the night with 16 saves on 22 shots. Late in the frame Portage finally got on the board; Matt Wisener tipped a point shot from Austin Peters in the final two minutes. 6-1 Battlefords after 2.
By the time the third period started the game was already out of reach for the Terriers. A few chances early in the period were shutdown, and ultimately Battlefords added one more goal to add insult to injury.
Portage finished the night 0/5 on the power play and 1/5 on the penalty kill. Catellier made 15 saves in relief.
Battlefords now advances to the Centennial Cup final on Sunday afternoon at 3pm against the Brooks Bandits.
