Terrier head coach Mat Hehr thinks his team deserved a better fate than losing two in Battlefords on the weekend.
“I wish we could have got the split,” Hehr told Yorkton This Week Monday after dropping game one of their series with the Stars Friday 6-2 and losing 1-0 in overtime Saturday.
Hehr said Friday the Terriers got off to the start they wanted.
“I really thought we had a great first period,” he said, noting the Terriers led 1-0 through 20-minutes. “… We just couldn’t get that second goal.”
But, in the second period the Terriers got into penalty trouble.
“They got their chances and buried them,” said Hehr.
Hehr said as the Stars scored in the second period the Terriers “didn’t stay focused,” worrying more about the officiating than getting back on the scoresheet and the Stars rolled up the win.
In game two both teams stuck to hockey with only one powerplay apiece.
“I thought the reffing was much better in game two. It was more playoff-style reffing,” he said, adding “both teams were there to play hockey (Saturday).”
The scoreless game through 60-minutes was certainly a nail biter, said Hehr.
“It was a great game,” he said, adding the Terriers came close to winning it on multiple occasions.
“We hit three crossbars. We just couldn’t get an inch lower for the win.”
Overall, Hehr said he thought the Terriers outplayed the Stars through regulation in game two, but admitted Battlefords came hard in overtime to get the 1-0 win.
The losses leave Yorkton in a must-win situation as the series reverts to the Farrell Agencies Arena in the city for games three and four Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hehr said he knows the Terriers will come out hard, fuelled by the home crowd that has grown as the playoffs have rolled along. He added the Stars had Flin Flon down three games to known and the Bombers came back to force a game seven in their quarter final battle, so the Terriers know it can be done.
“The pressure is always on the first seed,” he added, which is the Stars at this point. “… I expect us to come out hard, we’re playing for a lot.”
