Terriers will have hands full with Mariners in Centennial Cup quarterfinal

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This article was published 18/05/2023 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Portage Terriers will follow the biggest game of the season by an even more massive game Friday night.

That’s just a fact of life at the Centennial Cup, where the remaining six clubs have reached the point of win or go home in their quest for the national junior A hockey championship at Stride Place.

The host Terriers, who beat the Collingwood Blues 4-3 on the strength of Ryan Botterill’s goal with only 20 seconds left in the third period Wednesday to qualify second in Group B, will face the Yarmouth Mariners, who finished third in Group A, in one quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m.

Terriers GM and head coach Blake Spiller said the Maritime Hockey League champion Mariners will be a handful.

Forward Reilly Mayne leads Yarmouth with three goals and four points in four games. Rory Neill and Austin Peters have seven points apiece to lead Portage.

“I really liked their team,” said Spiller by phone Thursday as the teams had a practice day before playoffs begin. “I thought they are a composed team that works hard. I mean, everybody here is a different challenge and until you play them, you really don’t know how you stack up but we know they’re a good club. They’re going to be tough.”

In another quarter-final, Collingwood, third-place finisher in Group B, will take on the Ottawa Junior Senators, second in Group A, at 3:30 p.m.

The quarter-final winners advance to the Saturday’s semifinals to play the Brooks Bandits or Battlefords North Stars, who earned byes by finishing first in their respective groups.

Sunday’s Cup final, set for 3 p.m., will be carried live on TSN.

By virtue of their nine points in the preliminary round, the Terriers were given a choice of playing in the 3:30 p.m or 7:30 p.m. quarter-final.

“I mean, we’ve got to win (Friday) night to get to Saturday and you don’t want to think ahead, but at the same time we’ve been playing all evening games (in the tournament) and we seem to be getting better,” said Spiller. “So hopefully, that’ll help us.”

Spiller said he was encouraged by his team’s improved play since a sluggish performance in beating the MJHL champion Steinbach Pistons 4-2 on May 12.

Portage killed off all nine Collingwood power plays in Wednesday’s victory.

”We were fortunate (to score in the last minute against Collingwood) but I thought our guys played real hard and we got a real good game from everybody,” said Spiller.

“The guys battled and blocked shots. Obviously, when you’re shorthanded as much as we were, your (penalty killing) has got to be good and your goalie has to be, as they always say, ‘your best (penalty-killer)’. But we had good sticks and took away lanes and blocked shots. And that’s what you’ve gotta do.”

The Terriers boss also hopes to have a full lineup available to face the Mariners. Three players — forwards Gavin Klaassen and Kaden Kohle and defenceman Jordan Murray — saw their first action of the tournament Wednesday while regulars Slade Stanick, Brenden Holba and Tayem Gislason got the night off.

“We had a couple of guys dinged up that didn’t play yesterday, knowing that we were in regardless,” said Spiller, who didn’t mention Stanick, Holba or Gislason by name.

“We thought that it would be beneficial and our trainers thought it would be beneficial if they if they took (the game) off. So we should be healthy for (Friday)

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Following the completion of the preliminary round, Brooks right-winger Aiden Fink was named the tournament’s MVP, top forward and top scorer.

The 18-year-old from Calgary led all scorers with five goals and 11 points in four games. Earlier Thursday, Fink was named the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s MVP.

Meanwhile, Ethan Beyer of the Bandits was honoured as the event’s top defenceman. The 19-year-old Philadelphia, Pa., product had three goals and eight points in four games.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14