The Yorkton Terriers spent last weekend on the road to La Ronge after a roller coaster of a week for the club.
The road trip saw the Terriers face off twice against the La Ronge Ice Wolves. Both games ended in favour of the Ice Wolves.
Going into the weekend, the Terriers sat in eleventh place in the league while the Ice Wolves were in twelfth. Those rankings are now swapped after the Ice Wolves picked up the four points over the weekend.
Last week, the Terriers hockey club announced that they had released head coach/GM Casey O’Brien from his duties. Assistant coach Mat Hehr stepped in as interim head coach while the Terriers board searches for a new bench boss.
Last weekend marked Hehr’s debut as interim head coach, but with a number of players sitting out due to injury and sickness, the games didn’t go quite as he’d hoped.
“I thought we had a good start on Friday, and then we simply ran out of gas on Saturday,” said Hehr, explaining that a long eight hour bus ride certainly didn’t help his players. “I think it was a good experience to get the young guys there. I don’t think many players realize how hard it is to play in that building.”
Friday night’s game was the first of the two-game series. It was a close battle, but in the end the Terriers fell 5-4.
Their four goals came from Dexter Robinson (2), Slater Strong (PP) and Cody Bruchkowski (PP).
The following day, the Ice Wolves took the win 5-2. Yorkton’s goals came from Cole Keenleyside and Bruchkowski.
Hehr praised the Ice Wolves for the game they brought to the ice in both games.
“They grind for 60 minutes. I don’t think we played a full 60 minutes either game,” he said. “They’re a very disciplined team and stick to their game plan.”
A noteable player in the two match-ups was Matthew Perkins. Perkins was traded from the Terriers to the Ice Wolves just before O’Brien was let go. The forward racked up three goals and three assists for six points in the two games against his former team. He was also awarded the SJHL Player of the Week.
Hehr had nothing but positive things to say about his former player.
“Obviously Perkins had a great weekend for La Ronge. It’s well deserved. I’m happy he’s having success there. He’s a hard working kid and I hope the success continues,” he offered.
Up next, the Terriers will face the Humboldt Broncos at a home-and-home series this weekend. They’ll play in Humboldt on Friday, and will finally return to the Farrell Agencies Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
