For the first time since 2014, the Dauphin Kings will play a home game in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's championship series.
The Steinbach Pistons arrived in town late Monday night ahead of game two which goes Tuesday night at 7:30 at Credit Union Place. Both teams have flexed their offensive muscles so far in the series with the Pistons opening the series with a 5-1 win, Dauphin countered with a 5-1 win of their own on Saturday night.
Now the series is tied at one game apiece and Dauphin does have home-ice advantage for the next two games.
Carson Cherepak is the league's goaltender of the year in the regular season and he says the bounce back from the team in game two was huge.
"I think game two says more about us than what game one does," said Cherepak. "Bouncing back shows we're resilient. Some people may have thought game one would dictate how the series would go but that's not how we think."
If Steinbach wants to have extended success in the series, their first line will have to get back on track. After combining for five points in the first game, Quinton Pepper, Braden Birnie and Zach Power only combined for two points in game two.
"We knew going into this series that those three guys are talented and they make big plays," said Cherepak. "With that said, we have great players as well. There is a lot of talent on each team, without a doubt."
Neither team has really been able to get it going while on the man advantage as Dauphin is 2-for-12 while Steinbach enters game three 1-for-7. Dauphin did; however, score twice on the powerplay in game two.
You can hear Tuesday's game with Darnell Duff at 7:00 starting with the Parkland Source for Sports pregame show.
