The Yorkton Terriers’ season came to an end on Friday, Mar. 24.
In game five of their best-of-seven series against the Estevan Bruins, the Terriers fell short and lost their fourth game.
The Terriers were down three games to none last week, but on Wednesday, Mar. 22 they hosted the Bruins at the Farrell Agencies Arena and finally got the win they were looking for.
The final score of that game was 3-2 for the Terriers. Goals came from Jared Legien, Carson Welke and Jordan Ross.
The team and coaching staff had high hopes going into game five on Friday night. Head coach/GM Casey O’Brien said that he felt either team could have taken the win in any of the games they had played so far.
The Terriers fought hard in game five. The Bruins started off the scoring early, getting two back-to-back goals in the first period.
The Terriers kept pressure on throughout the first and second periods, and at times passed the Bruins in shots on net.
But the puck just wouldn’t cross the Bruins’ goal line for them. In the third period, the Bruins racked up three more goals, bumping the final score to 5-0.
The season was over for the Yorkton Terriers.
They finished in sixth place in the regular season standings with a record of 28-25-5-0, giving them 61 points. O’Brien said he considers it a successful season.
“When Trent [Cassan] and I came back this year, our goal was to avoid the survivor series and as an organization, we did that.”
They have been steadily climbing the ranks over the past three years, with this year being their most successful since the 2013-2014 season.
O’Brien said he’s already excited for next season, and although playoffs didn’t end the way they’d have liked, it added to the team’s overall experience.
It was the first year as head coach for Casey O’Brien, who had spent the past five years as assistant coach to Trent Cassan.
The Terriers are now graduating seven players from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
Captain Corwin Stevely is finishing his junior hockey career, after four years with the Terriers.
Forward Jordan Ross is moving on after a combined three years with the Terriers.
Daktota Odgers has had a busy junior hockey career, and has spent a lot of time in the WHL. But he finished his junior career with the Yorkton Terriers.
D-man Kevin Wolf spent almost three seasons with the Terriers.
Reid Anderson played with the Terriers for two seasons as a defenseman.
Regan Seiferling moves on from his junior career to go play hockey at the NCAA level, after three seasons with the Terriers.
Terriers’ goalie Nathan Hargrave is also graduating from his junior hockey career. Hargrave joined the Terriers in November.
“There’s so much transition year to year in junior hockey,” said O’Brien. “But we did have seven very good, exceptional players in this graduating class. They all brought different things to the hockey club. All seven guys will be missed.”
