The Eastman Selects took to the ice Wednesday night in Ste. Anne, facing the Winnipeg Warriors for a preview of Eastman's first round playoff.  A clearly weakened Selects team took to the ice missing 2 players to injury and 2 players to suspension.  The Eastman Selects welcomed newcomers to the fold, Braden Cruise, Matt Hadley, Daniel Taillfer and Austin Lotz of the Eastman Bantam AA league.

Eastman got off to rocky start, finding themselves fighting off a penalty just minutes into the game.  Unfortunately the penalty kill wasn't up to the challenge, surrendering the first goal of the game three minutes in.  The Selects were more successful for the rest of the period, killing off 4 more penalties, leaving the Warriors ahead 1-0 after 20 minutes.

Just 2 minutes into the second, Winnipeg added to their lead.  Just 30 seconds later though, Tyler McGurry cut the lead in half with the assist going to Joel Schreyer. With 8:28 left in the period, Winnipeg regained their 2 goal lead, but with 2:08 remaining, Eastman got back to within 1 with Tyler Lanteigne scoring on the power play with assists going to Kevin Smith and Ryan Lussier.  Luck was not with the Selects on this night as the Warriors again answered back just 6 seconds later.  Eastman, at this point, were now down another 2 players, one due to a game misconduct and the other due to yet another injury.

The third period featured the Selects putting on most of the pressure, but to no avail.  The Warrior defence kept Eastman tied up and unable to capitalize on various scoring chances.  The Warriors also managed to win their 3rd period in a row, outscoring Eastman 2-1. On the bright side, our AP's didn't disappoint, not looking out of place at all.  With 2:15 remaining, Matt Hadley, one of the Eastman call-up's, scored on a scramble, claiming the first goal by a replacement player all year!  Assisting on the goal were Tyler McGurry and Caden Kulcsycki.  The Warriors held on to beat the Selects for the first time this year in a 6-3 win.  Shots on goal favoured Winnipeg 28-23.

The Selects now wait until Saturday afternoon as the Central Plains Capitals come to Ste. Anne to take on the Selects. Come out and cheer our boys as they head down the home stretch and into the playoffs.