It was the last weekend of the regular season, and the Yorkton Terriers met their Highway 10 rivals the Melville Millionaires in a home-and-home stretch on Mar. 1 and 2.
The first game saw the Terriers host the Millionaires at home at the Farrell Agencies arena. Melville, however, made themselves at home.
The scoring began in the first with Melville’s Luke Nkwama finding his way to the Terriers’ net. Aidan Steinke got credit for the assist. James Philpott followed that with a second goal, assisted by Josh Borynec and Luke Spadafora.
The second period saw more goals from the Melville crew. Max McPeak found his way to the net first, assisted by Nash Wood and Ryan Butler. Josh Borynec followed up that goal with one of his own, with Spadafora and Damian Bentz getting credit on the assist.
The Terriers, now down by four, then made their first mark on the board, a power play goal by Kishaun Gervais, assisted by Aiden Bulych, and Cody Bruchkowski. Melville, got the last word of the second period, ending it with the second goal from Borynec, again assisted by Spadafora and Bentz.
The third period began with a short-handed goal from Mason Mullaney, assisted by Cody Dubas and Brendan Mark, the second goal for the Terriers. This was followed by the sixth goal for Melville, coming from Mike Wong and assisted by James Philpott, Jaden Shewchuk.
The final score of the night was 6-2 for the Melville crew. Colby Entz got the win, while Andrew Henderson was tagged with the loss.
While disappointed in the loss, coach Mat Hehr was glad to see how the team responded. The team had an off game, he admitted.
The next evening, in Melville, it would be time for the Terriers to get their revenge.
Melville did get the first word in, with the pairing of Aidan Steinke and Luke Nkwama again finding the net - though this time it was Steinke getting the goal.
Yorkton responded with a goal from Quinten Hobbs, assisted by Cole Keenleyside and Dino Antoniadis.
It was the second period where the Terriers really opened up the scoring. It began with Brendan Mark, assisted by Branden Klatt and Mason Mullaney, getting a power play goal. The second power play goal, courtesy of Branden Klatt, assisted by Colby Brandt and Chantz Petruic, brought the Terriers up to 3-1. Then the Terriers pulled out their third goal of the period from Cody Bruchkowski, with help from Colby Brandt and Tyson Janzen.
The third period saw a first, with the Terriers’ Evan Sare getting his first goal with the Terriers to kick off scoring in the period. He was assisted by Kishaun Gervais and Tyson Janzen. Colby Brandt, who had assists all night, got a goal of his own, with help from Chantz Petruic and Branden Klatt. Scoring for the Terriers was finished off by Quinten Hobbs. Dino Antoniadis and Vaughn Wilgosh got credit for the assist.
Melville did get the last word, when Jaden Shewchuk got a goal with 15 seconds left, assisted by Luke Nkwama, but at this point the story was done, and the Terriers left the rink with a win, the final score being 7-2.
Ryan Oulette was tagged with the win for the Terriers, while Colby Entz had the loss for Melville.
While it would have been nice for both coaches if their wins were at home, said Hehr, it’s still fun to spoil the day as the visitor.
On Tuesday the Terriers went to Weyburn to take on the Red Wings for the final game of the season. Hehr admitted that the game mattered more to Weyburn – who was still battling for a playoff spot – but they would take the chance to rest their veterans and try out some younger players and get more experience across the roster.
That didn’t mean the Terriers were going to give the game to the Red Wings.
The Terriers started the scoring in the first, with an unassisted goal from Mason Mullaney.
The second period began with a response from Weyburn, Jacob Piller finding his way past goaltender Andrew Henderson, assisted by Drew Anderson. Yorkton responded with a second goal from Mullaney, assisted by Casey McDonald.
Cody Bruchkowski kept the scoring going for Yorkton, helped by Jaxon Blight.
Finally, in the final period of the final game of the 2018-19 season, there was still room for a first. Casey McDonald scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Carter Lake.
Hehr is now excited for the ‘real’ season to start, and he’s happy with how the Terriers developed over the regular season. Now, the team is preparing to meet Notre Dame for the first round in the best-of-three survivor series.
The playoffs begin Friday, Mar. 8 in Yorkton, followed by a second game in Notre Dame Sunday, Mar. 10. The third game, if needed, will take place in Yorkton on Tues. Mar. 12.
