Railer Express open season with a win

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This article was published 21/09/2015 (3857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Railer Express delivered a hard-fought win in the Park City to open their regular season.

On Sept. 20, the Transcona Railer Express held their season home opener at the Transcona East End Arena (517 Pandora Ave. E). The local Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League club took on the Stonewall Jets in a well attended, heavy-hitting match-up that took a marathon shoot-out to decide. In the end the Railer Express prevailed, beating the Jets 2-1, with over 165 people in the stands.

“I think defensively we really played well,” Bruce Schmidt, head coach of the Railer Express, said following the game. “We had a really good team effort. We were able to roll about four lines and if you can do that throughout the season, we’ll have some success.”

The Railer Express, returning with a solid core of last year’s roster along with a number of new additions, took a while to get to full steam. But as the first period progressed, the Express began pouring on shots. By the end of the first, Transcona had outshot Stonewall 13-7, with both sides scoreless.

The Express kept the pressure up throughout the second. The larger Stonewall team laid the body on heavy, and the refs seemed determined to let both sides play, despite some questionably high hits from the Jets. Bryce Stovin, the big Jets winger, had a particular way of getting under skin of the Railer Express.

“They’re a physical team. We’re not a physical team,” Schmidt said. “But I think our guys showed a workmanlike effort out there and we stood up to them.”

Late in the second, the ref sat Stonewall’s Branden Meier down for high sticking. And not long after, Railer D-man Cole Jones went off for roughing. Scoreless, the Railer Express still held the advantage after two periods, leading the Jets 24-20 in shots on goal.

Transcona got on the board 2:27 into the third, when Jordan Weir hammered in from the slot on a beauty feed from Ryan Kotchon as the quick right-winger came around behind the net. The Jets answered back, raining shots in on net until, after 35 attempts, they finally put one past netminder Bailey Funk with 4:29 remaining in the period.

Stonewall kept the pressure up, and neither team could pot another one during regulation time. After five minutes of overtime, with a number of chances for the Railers, the teams remained tied at one.

In the shootout, Matt Gardner got one off the top for the Railer Express, but the Jets’ Robert Smith answered right back. It would take another seven rounds before Transcona’s Isaac Bellan rifled one past Stonewall’s netminder to end the game in a 2-1 win for the home team.
“I had a couple things going through my mind,” Bellan said after the game. “I was gonna go blocker, but the glove was pretty open.”

“We need to maybe work on our attack, make sure we shots on goal on the rush,” coach Schmidt said of his team’s play. “Our D was really good tonight, and obviously the goaltending. I’m really happy with that.”

The Railer Express take on the Charleswood Hawks 7:30 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 25 at Eric Coy Arena (535 Oakdale Dr.). On Sun., Sept. 27, they host the St. Boniface Riels 2:00 p.m.

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