Neepawa Farmers blank Melita Bisons
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Photo by Eoin Devereux. A shot by Matt Lowry (20) hits the back of the net, during Neepawa's 6-0 win over Melita on Saturday, Dec. 17.
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner
The Neepawa Farmers are quietly rounding into form, as the team put in a dominant performance on Saturday, Dec. 17, shutting out the Melita Bisons 6-0. Matt Lowry, Cam Tibbett and Cole Krutkewich all had big nights on the score sheet, helping the Farmers to their fifth straight victory (7-4-0)
Though there was no scoring in the first period, there was still many exciting chances as Neepawa pushed the pace and put constant pressure on the Bisons in their own zone. That pressure included a pair of shots that rang off the post early.
With about seven minutes left in first though, the Farmers began to slow down and Melita started pushing the action into Neepawa’s end of the ice. The Bisons had a few chances but not to the same degree as the Farmers produced earlier. Neither team could capitalize as the score remained 0-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.
Finally at the 15:57 mark of the second, Matt Lowry fed a no-look pass to Cam Tibbett, who sent a bullet into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. Tibbett returned the favour at the mid-way point by registering the helper for Lowry’s first of the night. That provided the Farmers with the 2-0 cushion going into the third.
The figurative floodgates opened up in the final frame, as Neepawa kicked its game up a notch. This effort left no doubt to Melita or any other clubs across the Tiger Hills Hockey League that the Farmers are a team they need to start paying attention to. Cole Krutkewich put away a pair of goals, while Lowry also secured this second goal and third point of the night. Tibbett and Speiss each added their second assists of the game on the play. Cody James contributed a single, to give Neepawa the comfortable 6-0 decision. Brady Plett earned the shutout for the Farmers between the pipes.
With the win, Neepawa has set up an important matchup against the Minnedosa Bombers (7-2-0) for Friday, Dec. 23 in Minnedosa. The winner of this showdown will be tied for first place with the Carberry Plainsmen (8-4-0) in the Tiger Hills Hockey League’s eastern division. Start time for the final game before the Christmas break starts at 8:00 p.m.
Minnedosa victorious: A four point night by Grant Jacobsen (three goals - one assist), helped the Minnedosa Bombers defeat the Hartney Blues 7-4. Bryce Stephenson, Shane Cameron, Travis Erickson and Matt Saler also contributed goals in the win, which improved Minnedosa’s record to 7-2-0.
Carberry dominates Pilot Mound: Nearly every player on the Plainsmen roster registered at least one point in Carberry’s 15-3 shellacking of the Pilot Mound Pilots. The biggest contributers were Dylan Kelly (two goals - five assists) and Dustin Fisher (1G - 6A) who each had massive games, while Riley Day and Mitch Doell both notched hat tricks in this one-side contest. The win improved Carberry’s record to 8-4-0 on the year.
Gladstone loses on the road: The Boissevain Border Kings were simply too much to handle for Gladstone on Saturday, Dec. 17, as they topped the Lakers 8-2. Rich Little and Eric Beaudin scored the only goals of the night for Gladstone (5-5-1), to close out their first half of the regular season. Boissevain, meanwhile kept pace with the Killarney Shamrocks in the THHL western division standings.
