The Steinbach Pistons continued to roll collecting back to back wins over the Selkirk Steelers on Saturday and Sunday night. The Pistons now have a win streak of 5.

Friday Night Delight 

The start of a home and home weekend set between the Steelers and Pistons started on Friday night with an 8-2 dominating performance for the Pistons

After a bit of a sluggish and scattered start, the Steelers were able to cash in on a Piston's miscue and score the opening goal of the contest.

That seemed to awaken the Pistons who cranked up the offence and began to take over.

Brady Tatro tied up the game shortly after the Selkirk goal to make it a 1-1 hockey game. Tatro has 14 goals on the year and Luke Bellerose and Curtis Ireland had the assists.

Will Koop put Steinbach ahead with his 19th goal of the season off a nice pass from Jack Johnson, giving the Pistons a 2-1 lead.

Before the period was through, Tyson McConnell collected his 17th goal as he converted on the power play. The 3-1 goal was assisted by Bradley Schoonbaert and Drew Worrad.

In the second, the scoring continued as Riese Gaber continued his recent hot streak converting again on the power play giving Steinbach a 4-1 lead. Gaber's 19th of the season was assisted by Daniel McKitrick and former Steeler Mark Wilson.

A hard-working shift by the Pistons saw them keep puck control in the Selkirk zone for over a minute, pinning the Steelers and eventually finding the back of the net to Austin Heidemann (18) with Worrad picking up his second assist of the night. 5-1 was the score after 40 minutes

The final period of regulation saw more Pistons scoring when Mark Wilson got a point shot through for his 4th goal from Gaber and McKitrick. The goal to make it 6-1 was the Pistons 3rd power-play goal of the game.

Brendan Martin, coming off his first career hat-trick in the previous game, scored again on Friday, his fourth goal in two games. Martin's 12th of the season was assisted by Declan Graham and Gaber who notched his 3rd point of the night.

Selkirk scored to cut the lead to 7-2 but that was quickly snuffed out by Koop's second of the game and 20th of the year as the lead swelled to 8-2. Johnson and McKitrick had the assists on the final goal of the night.

Matthew Thiessen made 24 saves in the win. The Pistons finished 3 for 7 on the power play and 3 for 3 on the penalty kill. The shots were heavily in Steinbach's favour finishing 48-26.

Coaching Milestone

With the win on Friday night, Pistons head coach Paul Dyck notched career win 246. It moved Dyck into 10th place on the all-time MJHL coaching wins list. Dyck reached the marker of 246 wins quicker than any coach in MJHL history, doing so in just 372 games. A winning percentage of .661. 

Talking to Dyck after the game, he was quick to say "it's a team stat, that's for sure. We've been lucky to have some great players in our program and special people in our organization."

Miller-Day Beat Down

The same two teams met on Saturday night and again it was Steinbach coming away with the win in a 5-0 final.

It started early for the Pistons as they used hard work and puck control to pick up an early goal when Will Koop snapped home a wrist shot just 89 seconds into the game. Koop's 21st of the year was assisted by Jack Johnson.

Steinbach struck again when Drew Worrad notched his 18th of the year off a pretty little touch pass from Luke Bellerose to make it 2-0. Bradley Schoonbaert also had an assist. 

 Steinbach as a team only allowed a one shot on goal in the entire first period. The one and only shot came with just 1:04 remaining in the period and it was a fairly easy save for starter Matt Radomsky.

In the second, Radomsky was tested a little bit more as he made a couple of nice blocker saves fighting through traffic and got a little help from the post as Selkirk flew in on a two on one but hit the post.

Later in the frame, it was Brendan Martin scoring his 13th of the year from Daniel McKitrick and Will Koop, pushing the lead to 3-0. 

In the third, Martin scored his second of the game, 14th of the year and 6th goal in 3 games when he was gifted a turnover by Selkirk and wired it five-hole to make it 4-0 Pistons.

Daby Gula collected his 13th of the year as the smooth skating defender created a space with his legs before walking into the slot and wiring a wrister off the post and in making it 5-0 Steinbach. Brady Tatro had the lone assist on the goal.

The horn sounded and for the 5th game in a row, the Pistons celebrated a victory. The power play was 0 for 1 while the penalty kill was 5 for 5. Shots finished 28-15 for Steinbach.

No Goals For You 

Matt Radomsky picked up his MJHL leading 7th shutout of the year making 15 saves.

Radomsky now has shutout the OCN Blizzard twice this year (22 saves on October 1st, 2017 and then 13 saves on October 22nd, 2017), the Dauphin Kings (21 saves on December 13th, 2017), Waywayseecappo Wolverines (30 saves on December 17th, 2017), the Selkirk Steelers twice (26 saves on December 31st, 2017 and 15 saves on January 27th, 2018) and the Swan Valley Stampeders (29 saves on January 12th, 2018).

Playoff Bound

With the win on Saturday, the Pistons have punched their ticket to the playoffs.

Steinbach sits 1st place in the MJHL with a record of 37-8-1-1 for 76 points. 

The Pistons have 13 games remaining in the season. 7 home games (Virden Oil Capitals, Neepawa Natives, Dauphin Kings, Winkler Flyers, Swan Valley Stampeders, Dauphin Kings and Portage Terriers) and 6 road games (Portage Terriers, Winnipeg Blues, Swan Valley Stampeders, Dauphin Kings, Winnipeg Blues and Winkler Flyers)

Up Next

A big game on the road against the Portage Terriers. The top two teams in the MJHL meet on Wednesday. Steinbach has a 13 point lead on first place but Portage has two games in hand. The Pistons are searching for their first win over the Terriers this season.