The Waywayseecappo Wolverines will shoot for their fourth straight win on Friday night when the club opens up a two-game road trip in Portage against the Terriers.
With wins coming against Steinbach, Selkirk, and OCN, the Wolverines are playing the right way at the right time of the season with just 12 games remaining.
Friday nights game between the Wolverines and Terriers will be their sixth and final meeting of the regular season.
Head to Head
The season series between these two clubs has been nothing short of exciting. The Wolverines will try to break even against the Terriers as Wayway has gone 2-3-0-0 through five games this season against Portage.
After splitting their first four meetings, it was the Terriers who most recently got the best of the Wolverines back on January 14 when Portage scored four goals in the second period including a pair on the man-advantage. The Terriers would go on to take a 6-4 and the season series lead.
Special teams have been a key to the Wolverines success against the Terriers this season having gone 12 for 21 on the man-advantage for a 57% conversion rate on the powerplay.
On the other end of the rink, Portage has gone 5 for 18 with their powerplay unit against the Wolverines for a 28% conversion rate.
The biggest difference in the Wolverines losses to Porage has been when the Terriers score their powerplay goals, they take momentum and open up the game with their ability to strike quickly.
The Wolverines come into Friday night as the most penalized team in the MJHL and will need to show some discipline when the puck drops at Stride Place. Not only disciplined in not taking penalties but disciplined in sticking to their game plan for sixty minutes no matter what Portage throws at them.
Terriers Outlook
Most recently, the Terriers are fresh off of a 3-0 shutout win over the Virden Oil Capitals which actually helped the Wolverines in the standings.
Over their last ten games in January, the Terriers have gone 5-4-1-0 and 5-2-1 since the January 10 deadline.
As previously mentioned, the Terriers do plenty of their damage on the powerplay scoring nearly 1/3 of their goals with the man-advantage.
The biggest addition at the deadline for the Terriers was the acquisition of Goaltender, Noah Giesbrecht. Since joining the Terriers, Giesbrecht has gone 4-3-0-0 with two shutouts including a 1.73 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
News and Notes
The Wolverines (56 Points) currently sit alone in fifth place with a two-point lead on the Virden Oil Capitals (54) while Virden does hold one game in hand on the schedule.
Moving into fourth place is not out of the question either with the Wolverines sitting 6 points back of Swan Valley, both having played 48 games.
Conrad Phillips has been hot for the Wolverines scoring 6 goals in his last 7 games and currently leads the team in goals scored with 21.
Defenceman Cody Thompson is also heating up with 3 goals and 3 assists in his last four games and has nearly been a point-per-game player since joining the Wolverines with 17 points in 18 games.
The Wolverines will have a quick turnaround after Friday night as the club will take on the Winnipeg Blues on Saturday night at the RINK Training Centre at 5:00.
After the weekend, the Wolverines will have just 10 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
Where to Watch
Watch tonight’s game between the Wolverines and Terriers live on HockeyTV.com or follow the Wolverines on Twitter @mjhlWolverines for live game updates.