It's been quite the season so far for Dauphin's Connor Shaw and the rest of the MMJHL's Transcona Railer Express.
Heading into their final game before Christmas tomorrow night, Shaw and the rest of the Express are sitting in third place in the league, and are just nine points behind top spot.
"It's going really well," said Shaw. "If you were going to tell me we would be in this position at this point, I'd take it every time. It's been a great month with the five-game winning streak, and I'm hoping we can keep it going tomorrow, and into the second half of the season."
The team has scored the most goals in the league (107), but also have found ways to play stingy defence as they have the second-best plus-minus ratio sitting at plus 33.
"The first 10-12 games of the season, we had to rely on some heavy defensive play," said Shaw. "Now each team has figured out some way to score goals, and lock down other teams. We haven't really made many moves, so it's given us a chance to get better as the year has gone on, and obviously, we've done that with the winning streak."
Above the Express in the standings are the Raiders and the Charleswood Hawks, and just behind is Stonewall by just three points, and eight and nine points back are St. James and Fort Garry/Fort Rouge.
"A lot can change in just one weekend because we play two games pretty much every weekend," said Shaw. "I feel pretty confident, and I think the team does too, that if we have one bad weekend, we can make it up with two good weekends in a row. I think we have the right players, and the right mindset that even if things aren't going the way we want them too, we can flip the switch and get back on track."
In his final season playing junior hockey, Connor has found lots of success as well between the pipes. Shaw has a 13-5-1 record, to go along with a 2.50 G.A.A, and a .921 save percentage, which ranks him among the league leaders in both categories and his 13 wins are ranked second.
"I feel like the team has confidence in me, and that helps me," said Shaw. "I also have 100% trust in my teammates, so sometimes I can play a little looser, and overall, I'm just playing with a lot more confidence. We also probably have the best d-core in the league, which has given me a really good chance to succeed so far."
Shaw and the Railer Express play one of their biggest games to date to wrap up the pre-Christmas action tomorrow night when they take on the first place Raiders Jr. Hockey Club.