Last weekend acted as a big learning curve for the Yorkton Terriers. The hockey club faced the Estevan Bruins in a two-game series. The first game was in Estevan on Friday night, and the Bruins dominated the play, causing the Terriers to lose 8-1.
To avoid another fierce loss, the coaching staff held a long video session with the team on Saturday before their home game against the Bruins.
It proved to work. Although the game resulted in another loss for the Terriers, this game would see an overtime period after a large portion of play was controlled by Yorkton.
“We were working on little things today,” said head coach/GM Casey O’Brien after Saturday’s game. “It wasn’t even the same hockey team.”
O’Brien admitted that the team has been having a tough time getting momentum so far this season. Their current record is 1-5-2, giving them only four points. Meanwhile Estevan is sitting pretty with 12 points, putting them in first place in the Viterra Divison and second place in the league overall.
Saturday’s game started out fast for the Terriers, but they couldn’t get the puck into the net during the first period. They doubled Estevan’s shots on goal, but would have to fight harder to connect with the net. The first period ended 0-0.
Whatever the coaches said to the Terrier players during first intermission seemed to work. Five minutes into the second, Terriers forward Cody Illerbrun scored the first goal of the night. Shortly after, Chantz Petruic would score the second on a power play. Petruic is the newest addition to the Terriers after returning from the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL.
Close to the end of the second, Estevan would capitalize on a power play to make the score 2-1 to end the period.
The third period started off well for the Terriers, as they added another goal from Kaleb Bell to bring the score up 3-1.
But Estevan would quickly respond with two more goals around the halfway point.
The score was tied 3-3.
With only two and a half minutes remaining in the game, Estevan scored again to give them a late lead. It looked like the game was over.
But, with six seconds remaining on the clock, Yorkton’s veteran forward Shane Sherban would score to tie the game at 4-4 and send it into overtime.
The overtime period lasted only a couple of minutes. The teams shared control of the puck quite evenly, but in the end it was Estevan who got the goal. They took the win 5-4.
“The emotion of winning tonight, or the chance to win, got the best of some guys,” said O’Brien.
Yorkton native Nolan Maier played between the pipes for the Terriers on Saturday night. He blocked 45 of 50 shots on net. O’Brien said there was no question about Maier’s impressive performance.
“The kid can flat out play,” said the coach.
O’Brien said with a high-scoring team like Estevan, if the skaters can’t clear the puck out of their zone quick enough, then the opposing team will make them pay.
With the Bruins series complete and a lot of lessons learned, the Terriers now prepare for their upcoming home-and-home series against their Highway 10 rivals – the Melville Millionaires.
O’Brien said they’re hoping to build off of Saturday’s game and improve from there for their upcoming games.
He said physical strength is one thing they’ll be working on over the next few days, as well as some little things.
“[We’re] working on our back checking, working on our fore checking, and winning some more one-on-one battles,” he said.
The coach also added that the addition of Petruic to the roster should benefit the team when it comes to scoring goals. This week, they’ll focus on familiarizing Petruic with their systems before the Melville series begins.
“We’re hoping to make it an exciting series for both hockey clubs. Both clubs are struggling right now, so if we can capitalize and go in and get three or four points, that’d be huge,” said O’Brien.
The series kicks off on Friday night in Melville at the Horizon Credit Union Centre at 7:30 p.m., and then returns to the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton on Saturday night at 7:30. The Yorkton-Melville games are always action packed and provide a great atmosphere. It’s safe to say that both teams are hoping for nothing less this time around.
