Storm maintain top spot Winkler Times —

By Ashleigh Viveiros
Friday July 15, 2005

The Winkler Storm maintained their top spot in the MMSL First Division last week with a pair of wins. On July 6, the team went up against Scotia United in Winnipeg.Despite spending much of their time defending their own end of the field, the Storm managed to end the first half ahead 1-0 thanks to a goal by Vitali Bauer and strong goal-tending by Garth Thiessen.Thirty-five minutes into the second, Nico Nickel slammed one into the back of the net. That was followed by a goal by David Doerksen, bringing the final score to 3-0 for Winkler.Despite the win, coach Henry Enns said the game was a difficult one for the team.“We were dominated quite a bit,” he said. “They played a lot in our end.”Strong defence, goaltendingWith temperatures soaring on Sunday, the Storm went on to play a gruelling game against second-ranked Eritrean. The first half went like a replay of the previous week’s game, with Eritrean dominating the field and getting multiple shots on net.Once again strong goaltending and defence kept Eritrean from scoring, and when the whistle blew on the first half the score was tied at nil.In the second, Nico Nickel broke the deadlock with the only goal of the game, giving the win to the Storm 1-0.Strong defence is what has brought last year’s 10th ranked team to the top of the pack this year, said Enns.“We play more defence than we ever did,” he said. “My strategy is to play more defensively and win games.”As of last Sunday, the Storm were leading their division at 18 points, with a record of six wins, one tie, and only two goals scored against them.The Storm play at New Youth United on July 20 and host Grant Mill Sword on July 22 at 7 p.m.