The Yorkton UCT Terriers of the Saskatchewan Bantam ‘AA’ Hockey League (SBAAHL) picked up an 8-5 win last Thursday in Regina to improve their league best record to 25-1-0, good enough for 50 points, seven ahead of the South Division’s second place Prairie Storm (20-2-3, 43 points) and 11 clear of the third place Monarchs (18-5-3, 39 points).
The Regina Pat Blues sit in fourth place with a 14-13-1 record for 29 points, one up on both the Regina Aces (11-9-6) and Estevan (14-13-0) who both share fifth and sixth with 28 points each.
Weyburn (10-14-3) is in seventh with 23 points while Melville rounds out the top eight with a 7-14-4 record and 18 points.
Notre Dame (7-17-2), Moose Jaw (6-15-3) and Swift Current (3-23-0) sit in ninth, tenth and 11th with 16, 15 and nine points respectively.
The Sask. Valley Vipers continue to lead the SBAAHL North Division with a 20-5-2 record for 42 points. North East (16-8-2) sits second with 34 points while Prince Albert (15-10-2) and the Saskatoon Stallions (12-9-4) round out the northern top four with 32 and 28 points.
It took the Monarchs just 51 seconds to open the scoring in Thursday night’s game in Regina as Matthew Culling put the puck past UCT Terrier goaltender Tyson Byman to make it 1-0 for Regina.
A power play goal by Yorkton’s Ashton Shewchuk brought the UCT Terriers even with 15:11 to go in the opening period, however Harrison Blaisdell regained the Regina one goal advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the first.
Kaeden Taphorn’s 33rd goal of the season tied the game at two with just 1:35 left in the opening stanza to send the two teams into the second period tied deadlocked at two goals apiece.
Culling, Just as he did in the first period, got the Regina offence going very early on, this time beating Byman 55 seconds into the period to give the Monarchs a 3-2 lead.
Culling’s third goal of the game, this time on the power play, made it 4-2 for the Monarchs less than four minutes into the second period before Regina’s Solomon Dreger increased the home side’s advantage to three at 5-2 when he too beat Byman on the power play.
The Dreger goal chased Byman from the game in favour of Nolan Maier, who held the fort for the remainder of the period as the Monarchs, spurred on by their surprising three goal lead, dominated the UCT Terriers in the middle frame, outshooting Yorkton 14-7.
However turnabout is fair play, so while the Monarchs carried the play in the second period, it was the UCT Terriers’ turn to do so in the third.
And that’s exactly what they did as Carson Miller put the first dent in the Cole Johnston armour, beating the Regina netminder on the power play 5:20 into the final period to cut the Monarch lead to two at 5-3.
Brett Kemp made it a one goal game not long after with his 29th goal of the season before Jordan Repsch brought the UCT Terriers back to even ground with his third goal of the campaign with 9:58 remaining in the period.
Kemp’s second of the game and 30th of the year gave the UCT Terriers their first lead of the game; a lead they would not relinquish as Kemp’s second goal stood up to be the game winner while both Miller and Taphorn picked up their second goals of the game to round out an 8-5 victory.
Maier secured the win in relief of Byman while Regina’s Johnston took just his second loss of the season in the 8-5 game.
Yorkton’s power play operated at 50%, scoring on two of their four opportunities while their penalty kill went 4-for-6 on the night.
Next up
The next action for the Yorkton UCT Terriers (25-1-0) of the SBAAHL will be Saturday when they welcome the Humboldt Broncos (13-13-0, sixth in North) to the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The following day (Sunday) they’ll make the journey to Wilcox to take on the Notre Dame Hounds (7-17-2)..
