SCORING PROWESS HELPS VOYAGEURS SECURE IMPORTANT SPLIT WITH CONCORDIA

EDMONTON & LAC LA BICHE – During the holidays, good things come in bunches: flowers, mandarin oranges, Christmas carols…and Portage College Voyageur goals. The men's hockey team lived up to its billing last weekend, nearly staging a miraculous comeback against the Concordia Thunder on Friday night in Edmonton and then gifting the home fans with a third-period flurry to win the rematch in Lac La Biche 24 hours later.

On Friday night, down 5-1 with less than six minutes to play, the Voyageurs staged a furious rally, potting three goals in less than four minutes to turn a comfortable Thunder lead into a barnburner. Ezra Baer and Carson Devine each score twice for the never-say-die visitors. On Saturday night in front of an appreciative Bold Centre crowd, the Voyageurs turned a 2-1 deficit after 40 minutes into a 5-2 lead, scoring four markers by the five-minute mark of the third before hanging on for a crucial 5-4 win. Baer, Aidan Taylor, Tye Evans, and Stavros Koutsantonis with two scored for the home squad, who finished the first half of the season tied with Concordia for third in the ACAC with 16 points.   

"We're a team that doesn't quit…and we're a team that's shown that when the third period comes, we've still got another gear," said Head Coach Kevin McClelland. "This was huge. Last night, these guys pulled ahead of us and tonight, we pulled even with them and we're ahead of Briercrest and we've got a couple of teams underneath us so that's big going into the Christmas break here."

The weekend's comebacks are not a new phenomenon for the Voyageurs, who nearly came back against Red Deer a few weeks ago and turned a 5-0 laugher into a 5-4 nailbiter by sniping four goals in eight minutes against Briercrest November 22 before losing 6-4. The ability to score in bunches is something Portage hasn't possessed in recent years and is one of the reasons the team already has more wins and more points at the halfway mark than all of last season. McClelland noted it's also because he has a good bunch of players.

"It's the guys that are doing it," he said. "It's a good team, a good group of guys and they deserve all the credit."

Players of the Game

November 28

Portage: # 24 Ezra Baer

November 29

Concordia: #23 Zachary Cunningham

Portage: #12 Stavros Koutsantonis