Rookie goaltender Aaron Brunn stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced to help the Winkler Flyers double up the Dauphin Kings 2-1 on Saturday night. The Flyers jumped out to an early lead in the middle game of their weekend road trip, and were able to hang on at the end, earning their ninth win of the season.

Unlike Friday’s game in Neepawa, where the Flyers gave up the first two goals of the game before rallying for a 5-3 victory, Winkler jumped out to a two goal lead themselves before the game was seven minutes old.

Just 2:33 into the opening period, forward Micah Anderson sent the pass up the left wing wall to Brett Opperman. After racing down the ice, Opperman turned the corner on the Dauphin defender and scored his second goal of the season to give Winkler a 1-0 lead.

Winkler doubled their lead just four minutes later when Jacob Lacasse scored his third of the season on a wrap around with Micah Anderson and Garrett Kuklica picking up the assists.

With the help of goaltender Aaron Brunn, the Flyers carried their 2-0 lead in the 55th minute of the game. After Kings leading scorer Riese Gaber cut Winkler’s lead to 2-1 with 4:38 left in regulation, the Flyers buckled down defensively and hung on for their second win in a row, and ninth win in their last 10 games.

Aaron Brunn played extremely well for Winkler, increasing his record to 3-0. The Flyers were outshot 37-31 in the game. Winkler went 0-for-1 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill.

The Flyers (9-3) will conclude their three game weekend road trip in Virden (8-3) on Sunday night. Puck drop at Tundra Oil & Gas Place is 7pm with Matt Friesen’s pregame show getting underway live on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com at 6:55pm.

GREAT CANADIAN OIL CHANGE THREE STARS
1ST STAR – G AARON BRUNN (WINKLER)
2ND STAR – F MICAH ANDERSON (WINKLER)
3RD STAR – F RIESE GABER (DAUPHIN)

GAME STATS