Stampeders look to stage upset Swan Valley faces powerhouse Steinbach Pistons in MJHL semifinal By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 5, 2023

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Barry Wolff’s Swan Valley Stampeders went to six games before eliminating the defending MJHL champion Dauphin Kings from the post-season Tuesday night.

Their reward, a best-of-seven semifinal match-up with the Steinbach Pistons, is even more daunting.

The powerhouse Pistons, who finished seven points ahead of Swan Valley and second overall in league standings during the regular season, will be favoured over the West Division champs, but there is potential for an upset.

Steinbach was outscored 20-19 while eliminating Winkler in seven games.

“(The Pistons) are a high-end, skilled team up front for sure and their defence can add offence,” said Wolff, Swan Valley’s GM and head coach by telephone Wednesday.

“Even though they didn’t seem to score a lot of goals against Winkler I think that they have the ability to score goals and it’s probably only a matter of time before they break out. So we’ve got to be smart defensively and make sure we take care of that part of the game.”

Steinbach won three of four meetings between the teams during the regular season. The only blemish came on March 10 when the Stamps skated away with a 2-1 shootout victory on home ice.

Swan Valley’s offence has come from its reliable group of veterans: overage defenceman Collin Jennings leads all playoff point-getters with four goals and nine points in six games while the No. 1 line of Justin Keck, Jakob Jones and Trey Sauter has combined for 11 goals and 20 points thus far.

Jennings, who has taken some shifts at forward with the roster depleted by a three-game suspension to Steven Arp and injury to Landen Gulutzan, had 16 goals and 41 points in 54 regular-season games. He tallied a hat trick, including the game-winner, in Game 2 of the Dauphin series, a 6-5 win, which followed a three-goal game during a Feb. 25 regular-season game against Winkler.

“I love it. It’s been awesome,” said Jennings of his added workload. “It’s just cool to change positions and play with guys that you’re not used to. You kind of get to see both sides of the game… In the regular season, I was around 22 to 24 minutes a night which is lots of hockey for sure and it’s ramped up in the playoffs. I’ve been closer to 30 minutes a game, so it’s been a lot of ice time.”

Wolff said Jennings has elevated his play in the post-season.

“He just brought more energy and shot a lot of pucks,” said Wolff. “He’s definitely scored some big goals for us.”

In Portage, meanwhile, GM and head coach Blake Spiller is preparing the Terriers for what could be a grinding semifinal with the Virden Oil Capitals.

Portage has the cushion of having a spot in the Centennial Cup national junior A championship next month as the host club, but Spiller admitted his players were ill at ease during a five-game series with the Niverville Nighthawks.

“We’re still an inexperienced group even though we’re older than we were,” said Spiller. “Playoffs wise — obviously we didn’t make it last year and we missed the year before due to COVID — we’re inexperienced. I thought we got better as (the series) went on and I’m hoping that just getting through a round here, maybe we’ll relax a little bit more and play as opposed to being a little bit nervous and uptight.”

The Terriers’ top unit of Ryan Botterill, Mike Stubbs and Austin Peters combined for eight goals and 20 points against Niverville and will have to be similarly productive against the Oil Caps.

“They played real well and obviously by beating OCN, especially winning (Games 1 and 5) up there, and they’re definitely not going to be easy,” said Spiller. “So we’re going to need everybody for sure.”

Forward Nolan Chastko led the Caps with six goals and eight points in the opening round.

“We were successful right from the Christmas break doing certain things and and it made no sense for us to change things at playoff time,” said Virden GM and head coach Tyson Ramsey. “Our guys were real patient with our game plan and real disciplined to stick with the structure. And at the end of the day, I think we had a little bit more desire than (OCN) and were able to get it done.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca