BAD BOUNCE SINKS VOYAGEURS IN HEARTBREAKING LOSS

LAC LA BICHE – Elvis wasn't in the building but the Portage College Voyageurs still checked into the Heartbreak Hotel Saturday night. Fresh off an impressive 8-5 victory over NAIT the night before in Edmonton, the Voyageurs were looking to best the Ooks once again at the Bold Center and creep even closer to a coveted playoff spot.

For long stretches, it looked like they might just pull it off. Down 3-1 less than four minutes into the second thanks to a pair of quick markers from Bryce Osepchuk, the Voyageurs battled back with two powerplay markers from Brayden Dale and Nick Gidney. Then, early in the third period, they killed off a lengthy five-on-three, due in part to yeoman's work from Portage's Player of the Game Xavier Haltermann. Things were looking up.

And then, the hockey gods decided to spoil the party. Less than a minute after Conner Grunsten hit the post behind NAIT tender Ryley Osland, the Ooks cleared the zone and Voyageur goalie Alex Brousseau, who played a strong game, went behind the net to play the puck. Suddenly, it took a weird bounce, right onto the stick of NAIT sniper Bjorn Robinson, who potted his second of the game into a yawning cage. Cue the King and his hit song.

"We made some mistakes tonight," said Voyageurs Head Coach Kevin McClelland after the game. "At the beginning of the second period, we didn't even have a full line out there [for a few seconds] and they went down and scored their second goal. The one that they ended up getting the game winner on, our goalie goes behind and it just bounces out in the wrong spot and boom, it's in there. Especially after we kill all those penalties…That bounce that our goalie went out to play, that hurts."

The Voyageurs had several golden opportunities to tie the game after the unfortunate bounce but couldn't beat Osland, who played a stellar game for the Ooks, stopping 43 of the 46 shots he faced. Not surprisingly, he was named Player of the Game for his squad.

To come so close to getting at least a point and to come away with nothing certainly hurt. Nonetheless, McClelland noted that his team played well and still have a chance to make the post-season dance. The Voyageurs have four regular-season games remaining, all against teams just a few points ahead of them in the standings.  Portage faces off against Concordia for a double dip next weekend and concludes with two versus Briercrest at the end of February.

"Tonight was a huge game for us," said McClelland. "We should've at least got a point, maybe two but we didn't so now we've just got to go take care of things one game at a time."