Julien Lopez scored twice and Ethan Carnegie had three assists to lead the Dauphin Clippers to a 4-2 win over the Neepawa Tigers in the annual Christmas Classic, Friday afternoon in Dauphin.

Boston Karlson and Jordan Braun also scored for the Clippers, while Ian Foster had both goals for Neepawa.

Chase Glover made 22 saves to earn the win in goal, while Austin Michaluk stopped 41 shots in the loss.

Dauphin heads into the Christmas break with a 10-3-0-1 record, good for sixth place in the Westman High School Hockey League.

Clippers coach Josh Yaschyshyn said the team worked hard right from the opening faceoff.

“I really thought we dictated the pace of the play today. Overall, we thought we really outworked them down low. We talked about, after last weekend, we’ve got to get our work boots on,” he said.

“We had a good hard practice on Tuesday and the boys really answered the bell. I’m so proud of them.”

Yaschyshyn feels the team’s speed was a factor in the game.

“We were positive on the bench. Whenever we got scored on or something bad happened, we didn’t let that affect us. We just made sure everybody did their jobs and I’m happy that they can see this is the outcome when that happens,” he said.

The message going into the Christmas break, Yaschyshyn said, is to enjoy their time off.

“It’s a busy schedule. I hope everybody can rest up, spend some time with family and friends and just come back ready to work when we get back to practice after a week off,” he said.

The Clippers will practice, Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 before resuming their schedule with a game, Jan. 5 when they host the Major Pratt Trojans at 12:30 p.m.