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Terriers drop first two of playoffs

The quarterfinals are underway for the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Terriers finished the regular season in sixth place, which matched them up with the third place Estevan Bruins in quarterfinals.
Terriers
The Terriers’ Kaleb Bell pressure the Bruins’ goalie, Nathan Alalouf, at the FAA on Saturday night in game two of the SKHL quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals are underway for the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The Terriers finished the regular season in sixth place, which matched them up with the third place Estevan Bruins in quarterfinals.

At the time of print, the Bruins led the series 2-0.

The best-of-seven series kicked off last Friday, Mar. 17 at Affinity Place in Estevan.

The game was pushed into overtime after the scoreboard read 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

 Estevan’s goal was scored early in the first period by Matt McNeil, while Yorkton’s goal was scored with only one minute left of play in the third period. Jared Legien scored that goal to force overtime.

But, Yorkton’s comeback would be short lived, and the Bruins would score just 42 seconds into the overtime period.

Zach Goberis scored for Estevan to take the win. The final score was 2-1.

The next night, the Bruins visited the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton for game two.

This game saw the two teams exchanging goals from start to finish.

Estevan would strike first, less than one minute into the first period, when Jake Fletcher put the puck past Yorkton goalie Nathan Hargrave.

Less than two minutes later, Yorkton d-man LJ Naccarato would score to tie things up.

Yorkton’s Cody Dubas would score just three minutes later, pushing Yorkton into a 2-1 lead.

But, with 30 seconds left in the first period of play, Estevan’s Matt McNeil would strike again to tie the game going into intermission.

The second period had one lone goal from Yorkton. Jared Legien would connect with the back of Estevan’s net pushing the score to 3-2.

The third period was when the Terriers seemed to lose steam. The Bruins scored six minutes into the third, and the game would remain at a tie until the last two minutes of play.

Then, the Bruins scored their game winner. With one minute to go, the Terriers’ coaches pulled goalie Nathan Hargrave to add the sixth attacking man. But the Bruins capitalized on the empty net and pushed the final score to 5-3.

After the game, Terriers’ assistant coach Mat Hehr said the mistakes the Terriers made on the ice are fixable.

“We didn’t bare down on our chances early in the game, and [Estevan] took advantage of their chances late in the game,” Hehr said. “We just missed assignments in the third period.”

Hehr said their focus now is on game three, and their aim is simple – score more goals, and do whatever it takes to win.

“I think the difference is that Estevan is getting to the net, and we’re not,” added Hehr.

Game three of the series took place on Tuesday night in Estevan, but the final outcome was not available at time of print.

Game four will take place on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the FAA in Yorkton.