Terriers set to face Canada’s best

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This article was published 10/05/2023 (1088 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nine teams competing for Canada’s national Junior A hockey title arrived in Portage la Prairie this week for the Centennial Cup, which begins today at Stride Place.

The Portage Terriers have been waiting to welcome the top squads in the country to their rink for over three years after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League club finally plays as tournament hosts on Friday as they face the Steinbach Pistons at 7:30 p.m.

“We’ve been wanting to skip ahead and get to the game right now,” said Jordan Murray, Terriers’ rookie defenceman and Decker product. “We’re sitting on the edge of our seats and ready to go play our hearts out.”

While the rest of the field qualified for the event by winning their respective leagues, the Terriers missed out on playing for the Turnbull Cup.

They entered the playoffs as the top team in the MJHL with a 43-11-1-3 record but fell 3-2 on home ice to the Virden Oil Capitals in Game 7 of their semifinal series in double overtime on April 19.

Second-year forward Slade Stanick of Rapid City says while it wasn’t the result that the team wanted, the Terriers are ready to prove that they belong with the nation’s best.

“All you have to do is look at what Saint John did in the Memorial Cup as hosts last year,” Stanick said. “They lost in the first round of the (QMJHL) playoffs and ended up winning the whole thing.

“When we play fast and move the puck as a team, that’s when we have our success. We struggled with that at times in the Virden series and we’ve been working on getting back to our team game. Once we get started in this tournament, I think we’ll show just how good we are at using our speed.”

A three-week break may have been what the doctor ordered for the Terriers, who were besieged with illnesses during the series with the Oil Capitals.

Murray was among those who couldn’t play, though that was due to a shoulder injury he suffered against the Winnipeg Freeze in early February.

“I remember telling my parents (Dale and Alison) how badly I wanted to get playing again when everyone started getting sick,” Murray said. “It was really hard to watch that series knowing I could have been an extra skater that the team could have used … but it was my injury that was holding me back.”

The team is now back at full strength and Murray is ready to return to game action for the first time in over three months.

Murray is the lone 2006-born player on Portage’s roster. He made the team after being picked sixth overall in the MJHL draft last June.

The younger brother of former Terrier and current UMass Minutemen defenceman Owen had a goal and 11 assists in 39 games this season after making the jump from the Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg under-16 squad.

Murray says it was a pretty big step to go from playing his own age group to facing 20-year-olds on a regular basis.

“I had to make some pretty quick adjustments with how I did things, especially since I’m not the biggest guy out there,” said Murray, who stands five-foot-10 and weighs 154 pounds.

“I watched a lot of video to see what I could do differently or change with my game and I also got a lot of feedback from the older guys on the team. Our coaches are always there after a shift to tell us what we can change and I definitely feel like I’ve gotten a lot better as the year has gone on.”

The 19-year-old Stanick has also made strides in his game.

Following an 18-point rookie campaign in a combined 42 games with the Dauphin Kings and Terriers in 2021-22, Stanick had 35 points in 45 games during his sophomore season and had five points in 10 playoff games.

The twin brother of Prince Albert Raiders forward Sloan says that his skating has improved and he’s a lot more confident than when he first entered the league.

He also says that this year’s Terriers squad reminds him a lot of the Kings team that ended up reaching last year’s Centennial Cup semifinal in Estevan, Sask.

“In Dauphin, we knew from the start of the season that we had a strong group that could push for a title,” said Stanick, who was dealt with Dauphinite Hayden Lacquette at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for veteran forward Logan Calder.

“There were a lot of great leaders and 20-year-olds in that dressing room and they showed what you can do when everyone comes together as a team. They were a very mature group and we have the same thing here in Portage.”

Lacquette has also developed into a key piece for the Terriers.

The 19-year-old was the top-scoring defenceman in the MJHL this season with 54 points and had six points during the playoffs.

“You can tell when you watch Hayden how good he is on offence, but he’s good in his own zone as well,” Stanick said.

“He’s got the hands to make great plays out there and his passes are definitely the strong part of his game.”

In addition to the MJHL champion Pistons — which feature Souris product and former Brandon Wheat Kings forward Landon Roberts — the Terriers also face the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Collingwood Blues, the Saskatchewan’s Battlefords North Stars and the Superior International’s Kam River Fighting Walleye in Group A play.

Group B consists of the Central Canada Hockey League’s Ottawa Jr. Senators, the Maritime’s Yarmouth Mariners, Northern Ontario’s Timmins Rock, Quebec’s Terrebonne Cobras and Alberta’s Brooks Bandits, who feature Oak Lake’s Hunter Wallace and have won the last two tournaments.

The top three teams from each group advance to the playoffs. The group winners earn a bye to the semifinals on May 20, with the other four teams squaring off in the quarterfinals on May 19.

The championship game takes place at 3 p.m. on May 21 and is airing nationally on TSN.

ICINGS: The next two editions of the Centennial Cup will be hosted by the OJHL’s Oakville Blades and the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. Both tournaments will feature the 10-team format that was implemented last season … Alexandre Marchand of the Terrebonne Cobras was named the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s goaltender of the year on Wednesday. Swan Valley Stampeders netminder Kobe Grant was a finalist for the award.

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