Winkler Flyers ride OT victory to first MJHL title in 26 years

The Winkler Flyers scratched a 26-year itch Friday night.

Spurred on by a boisterous sellout crowd of 1,300 at Centennial Arena, the Flyers captured their first Turnbull Cup title since 1998 with a 5-4 overtime triumph over the Steinbach Pistons.

Zach Nicolas’ sixth goal of the MJHL post-season, coming during a 5-on-3 power play 4:59 into extra time, allowed Winkler to sweep the best-of-seven MJHL final from the defending league champs.

“It’s huge — not just for the team, not just for the coaching staff but the community here,” said Nicolas. “They’ve been waiting a long time and we brought it in this year.”

Added Winkler GM and head coach Justin Falk: “To see them get rewarded like this I’m so incredibly proud of these players and the staff as well to experience this moment.”

Goals by James Fuchs at 9:42 and Parker Jasper, with the goaltender pulled, at 19:21 of the third period allowed Steinbach to rally from a two-goal deficit to force overtime.

“We were awfully nervous,” explained Falk, whose club won three OT games in the series. “We were a bit passive in our forecheck structure… We were a bit on our heels in a barn of 1,300 knowing what was at stake but we’ve known time after time our approach and how we can stay with our game when it leads to overtime and we were able to be resilient and push through again.”

Winkler’s Dalton Andrew opened scoring 13 seconds into the game but Steinbach drew even at 1-1 on a goal by Connor Paronuzzi at the 2:26 mark of the first period.

Jackson Kostiuk of the Pistons and Brody Beauchemin of the Flyers exchanged goals before Jayce Legaarden’s short-handed marker with 14 seconds left in the first period gave the hosts a 3-2 lead heading to the intermission.

Avery Anderson sniped to put Winkler two goals at 13:44 of the middle frame.

Playoff MVP Malachi Klassen made 31 saves in the Winkler net. The 20-year-old Winkler product finished the playoffs with a 12-3 record, 2.07 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

“We never lost any confidence on the bench,” added Nicholas. “We were ready to go and as soon as we went to overtime we knew it was our game.”

Steinbach goaltender Cole Plowman stopped 21 shots.

“We just felt like we weren’t the best version of us,” said Pistons GM and head coach Paul Dyck. “Not to take away anything from what Winkler did. I think they came in a very desperate team from last year’s playoff loss to us… I thought they were the hungrier team for the series. For our guys, it’s a great learning lesson and it’s a painful one right now.”

The victory qualified the Flyers for the nine-team Centennial Cup national junior A championship in Oakville, Ont., slated for May 9-19.

The Alberta Junior Hockey League champion Calgary Canucks, Sioux Lookout Bombers of Superior International Junior Hockey League, Greater Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and host Oakville Blades have already qualified for the national tournament.

Winkler took Game 3 of the series with a 4-3 overtime decision Tuesday.

BLUE-LINES: The MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders have signed GM and head coach Barry Wolff to a two-year contract extension. Wolff, who first joined the club in 2018-19, has guided the Stamps to the post-season in four of his six seasons with the club. Swan Valley finished the 2023-24 regular season sixth in the West Division and missed the playoffs with an 11-44-3-0 record.

— staff