Pioneers beat the Ice Dogs but fall to the Blues this weekend

The Portage Lake Pioneers won their home opener Friday night against the Fox Cities Ice Dogs, 6-3. The team traveled to Monroe on Saturday to play the Blues where they fell 8-5.

The Pioneers jumped to an early lead Friday night against the Ice Dogs, netting three goals to the opposing team's one. Before the end of the 1st period the Ice Dogs managed to score two more goals, tying the game 3-3. The second period was a battle the entire period with no goals scored until Matt Mantta gave the Pioneers the edge with a blistering wrist shot from the point that found the back of the net with 21 seconds left in the period. That goal gave the team the momentum going into the 3rd period with scores from Riley McKay and Cody Sivonen, giving the Pioneers their first win on the season, 6-3. Phil Mattila had 34 saves and the Pioneers had 38 shots on net.

The Pioneers Saturday game against the Monroe Blues got off to a rocky start, where they found themselves down 2-1 after the 1st period. The trend continued in the second where they went down even further, 7-2 before heading to the locker room. Coach McCarthy got the team motivated going into the 3rd and managed to put 3 unanswered goals on the board, two from Aaron Sturos and the other by Nick Aird, but it wasn't enough. With the goalie pulled the Blues put in an empty netter, resulting in a 5-8 final score.

The Pioneers will head down to Mosinee on December 16, where they will face off against the Papermakers.