The Yorkton UCT Terriers are off to the Western Canada Bantam Championship for the second consecutive season after dismantling the North Division champion Sask Valley Vipers 6-1 in Game Two of the Best-of-Three SBAAHL Finals Wednesday, March 25 at Warman’s Legends Centre.
The championship victory marks the first time in SBAAHL history that a team has repeated as league champions, and although many people had pegged the UCT Terriers to win it all from the preseason, head coach Graham Garrett knew that winning it all wouldn’t be easy. “You can say it’s expected but nobody gave us this championship,” said Garrett immediately following his team’s second straight playoff championship. “We had to work as hard as everybody else and we probably worked a little bit harder and that’s what got us the win.”
That hard work certainly paid off as the UCT Terriers jumped out to an early lead when Keenan Taphorn put his fourth goal of the postseason past Viper net minder Jake Davidson just 5:40 into the game.
The Vipers, not to be outworked on their home ice, drew even just under six minutes later when, with the power play but against the flow of play defenceman Jaxon White wired a shot past Yorkton goaltender Nolan Maier and into the back of the net.
Carson Miller’s seventh goal of the playoffs put the UCT Terriers back in the lead before the period was over, snapping the puck past Davidson and giving the UCT Terriers a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.
A power play goal by Kaeden Taphorn, his seventh of the second season, in the middle frame proved to be the only offence of the second period giving Yorkton a two goal advantage through two periods of action.
An advantage that they would increase in the third three times, first on a Zach McIntyre marker just 37 seconds into the period for a 4-1 Yorkton lead.
Davidson then did all he could to keep his team from trailing by more, however fatigue seemed to get the better of the Sask Valley goaltender later in the period resulting in two more Yorkton goals, one each by Brett Kemp and Kaeden Taphorn, the latter notching his second goal of the game to round out the scoring for a 6-1 championship crowning drubbing.
Miller led all UCT Terriers in scoring with a goal and three assists for a four point night, giving him a playoff leading 21 points through nine games. Linemate Kaeden Taphorn also had a multi-point game with a pair of goals and an assist to put him just one point back of Miller in playoff scoring with eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points.
Maier picked up the victory between the Yorkton pipes, turning aside 14 Viper shots for his seventh win of the postseason. Davidson shouldered the loss for Sask Valley despite stopping 50-of-56 UCT Terrier attempts.
But while Miller and Kaeden Taphorn were the two players that led the Yorkton offence, it was their suffocating defence – led by the likes of Kaleb Bulych and Reid Perepeluk, as well as pesky forward Brett Kemp – that really put away the North Division champs. “I thought we played extremely well defensively here tonight,” offered Garrett, continuing, “I thought we had a total team effort here tonight. Everybody played probably one of their best games of the year.
“I thought we played a strong puck possession game. Our fore-check was really strong and forced them to turn a lot of pucks over. We didn’t allow them to get out of their zone and create anything with any speed. I thought all of our guys were moving their feet and they did everything asked of them and played a great game.”
Redemption
With the SBAAHL title all wrapped up the UCT Terriers now turn their attention to their second straight Western Canada Bantam Championship; a tournament that most definitely did not go according to plan last season. “We got embarrassed there the first game last year. I think we went there with an attitude and maybe thought we were better than we were and we weren’t the group that we needed to be to start off the championship,” suggested the UCT Terrier head coach, adding that after the initial slap in the face last season the team did play better despite having little to no experience against teams of that calibre.
However Garrett believes things might be different this time around. In addition to having seven returning players – more than any other team at the 2015 Western’s – the 2015 UCT Terriers, unlike the 2014 version, have also not only competed against, but defeated, some of the higher calibre teams in the Western provinces this season while competing at a pair of ‘AAA’ tournaments in Calgary and St. Albert, Alberta; something that Garrett feels will go a long way towards playing a competitive brand of hockey in Winnipeg. “It’s why we did it. It’s why these guys have went to Calgary for two years and why we were able to get to St. Albert this year,” said the coach. “We needed that experience and we need the understanding of what kind of challenges are out there when it comes to the ‘AAA’ teams from other provinces.
“We think that if we play the kind of game that we can play then we can compete this time around.”
But Garrett isn’t the only person that believes that having the experience against the top flight teams will pay dividends. UCT Terrier captain Carson Miller – one of the seven returning UCT Terriers – also feels their experiences throughout last year’s Westerns and this year’s tournaments will pay off. “This year we’ve got a lot more experience,” offered Miller, adding, “Last year maybe the nerves got us at the start with a big crowd in Kelowna after a long trip but we should be good this year.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
Up next
Joining the Yorkton UCT Terriers at the 2015 Western’s will be the host Winnipeg Warriors (26-5-1, Winnipeg ‘AAA’ Bantam East), the Manitoba representative Brandon Wheat Kings (21-8-3, Winnipeg ‘AAA’ Bantam West), Alberta’s Rocky Mountain Raiders (25-6-2, AMBHL Bantam ‘AAA’) and British Columbia’s North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks (61-5-5 overall).
The UCT Terriers will kick off their 2015 Western Canada Bantam Championships off with a 4:00p.m. game against the Alberta champion Rocky Mountain Raiders on Thursday, April 2.
Yorkton will then take on the Brandon Wheat Kings (Manitoba) in a Friday morning game at 9:00a.m. before battling the host Winnipeg Warriors (Host) Friday afternoon at 3:00p.m.
The UCT Terriers will wrap up their round-robin portion with a Saturday noon game against B.C.’s North Shore Winter Club.
