Championship next for Terriers

The Yorkton Terriers are headed to the Canalta Cup final in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The Terriers will represent the Sherwood Conference in the league championship after dispatching the Melville Millionaires four-games-to-two with a win Saturday on Melville ice.

The Terriers will face Humboldt in the league final after they won the north in a five-game north final over Flin Flon.

In the deciding game of the Sherwood final Dakota Odgers scored 11:04 into the game to give the Terriers an early lead.

In the second, Dylan Johnson struck for his first two goals of the playoffs, notching both on the powerplay to extend the Yorkton lead to 3-0.

Brady Norrish would pop a pair of Terrier goals in the third, the first one short-handed, the second into an empty-net.

Ian McNulty broke Dawson MacAuley's shut-out bid netting the Mills' lone goal in the 5-1 contest. MacAuley faced 36-shots in the win.

Alex Wakaluk saw 29 shots in the Melville net in the loss.

"It was good to finish it off down the road," said Terrier head coach Trent Cassan. "It gets the guys a couple of days off."

In terms of the win Cassan noted "specialty teams were pretty big in the game." He pointed to the two goals by Dylan Johnson on what were back-to-back powerplays.

"He's (Johnson) a big guy in front of the net He's a pretty hard guy to handle down low."

The powerplay goals were also big because Melville "had been pretty disciplined the whole series." So when chances were given it was important to take advantage.

Cassan added that one of the powerplays came on a too many men call against the Mills.

"To score off a mistake like that can be pretty deflating too," he said.

Game 5

Friday in Yorkton the home team got down early as Russell Trudeau scored one for the Millionaires 55-seconds into the game, for the only goal of the first period.

Lucas Froese made it 2-0 with a goal 44-seconds into the second period.

Brady Norrish finally broke through with a goal 4:25 into the second for the Terriers.

Kailum Gervais knotted the score 2-2 with a Yorkton goal at 17:46 into the middle frame.

It was Tayler Thompson who completed the Terrier comeback with the eventual game-winner at 4:12 of the third period.

MacAuley faced 20 shots in the Terrier net for a win, while Wakaluk faced 35-shots in the Mills loss to be tagged with the loss.

Thompson said the win was obviously huge having given the Mills a 2-0 lead. He said in spite of being down the Terriers knew they couldn't get down on themselves.

"We didn't panic. We stuck to the game plan," he said. "We stayed calm on the bench."

Thompson said the Norrish goal was the big one "to get the guys rolling."

As for his game-winner Thompson said he knew where he wanted to put it as soon as he got the puck.

"I was putting it top-shelf," he said.

Cassan said getting down early was a tad nerve-racking.

"I probably lost a few more hairs," he said.

The two goals by the Mills were both on Terrier lapses, said their coach.

"It was a couple of bad changes and we got caught on them," he said, adding such early goals are "not a good way to start a period."

But like Thompson, Cassan said the team stayed focused.

"I thought we stayed composed," he said, adding the goals against came early so the Terriers "knew it was a long game" affording them time to be patient in regard to responding.

And as the game wore on Cassan said the Terriers did a better job of generating second and third opportunities "in the tough areas."

Game 4

Last Wednesday (March 27) in Melville the teams played through a scoreless first period.

In the second Christian Magnus of the Millionaires struck first at 12:11 of the middle frame.

Sean Aschim used the powerplay to make it 2-0 for the home team at 19:28 of the second.

Magnus was back for his second of the night scoring at 13:06 of the third to make it 3-0.

Dawson MacAuley, who was lifted after the third goal faced 36-shots, with Kale Thomson turning away six in short duty in the loss.

Alex Wakaluk faced only 22-shots in the Melville net in securing the series tying win.

Game 3

Last Monday (March 25) Magnus again started the scoring with a powerplay marker 4:48 into the first period.

Devon McMullen tied the game at 13:22 of the first period for Yorkton.

But the Mills would restore a one-goal lead before the end of the opening frame as Russell Trudeau scored at 18:31.

The game would remain 2-1 Melville until Magnus added his second of the night into an empty net at 19:12 of the third to complete a 3-1 win.

Wakaluk faced 40-shots in the Melville net for the win, while MacAuley faced 22 in the loss.

The finals

Looking ahead to the Canalta Cup this makes nine-straight seasons that either Yorkton or Humboldt has played in the SJHL Final, and the first time during that stretch that they've both been in it (2005 Yorkton over Battlefords, 2006 Yorkton over Battlefords, 2007 Humboldt over Melville, 2008 Humboldt over Kindersley, 2009 Humboldt over Melville, 2010 Yorkton lost to La Ronge, 2011 Yorkton lost to La Ronge, 2012 Humboldt over Weyburn, 2013 Humboldt vs Yorkton).

This season the Terriers and Broncos finished the regular season with matching 76-point totals to top their respective conferences.

The Terriers scored 196 regular season goals, the Broncos had 185.

Defensively Humboldt had the edge allowing 120 goals, while Yorkton had 148.

Cassan said it should be a hardworking series.

"Both teams work very hard all year," he said.

In the Broncos the Terriers will face a veteran group.

"They have a number of guys that played last year and won a championship and played in the Royal Bank Cup," said Cassan, adding Humboldt coach Dean Brockman "has a lot of experience winning the league and playing in the RBC."

As a result the Broncos stick to a game plan well.

"They don't deviate from what makes them successful," said Cassan.

So what does Cassan see as important for the Terriers to be successful in the final?

"Specialty teams need to be a key," he said.

That said Cassan wants his team to stay out of the penalty box unless absolutely necessary.

"Discipline needs to be very important," he said, adding the Terriers can't afford to take penalties unless they are directly taking away Bronco scoring chances. Calls in the offensive zone just can't be part of the game plan.

Cassan also suspects Yorkton's depth will be important over a long series. Against Melville in six games the team used 15 different forwards, often looking to additions like Dakota Odgers and Dylan Johnson who played in games five and six to provide a spark.

Both teams are also very solid on home ice. The Broncos could win the series without a win in Yorkton. The Terriers need to steal at least one to take the crown.

Cassan said he doesn't care which game they steal, but added "when we do play at home we want to win those games."

The Terrier coach added while the road was a tougher place to play in the regular season, road wins against Estevan and Melville in the playoffs are big.

"We've proven to ourselves we can go on the road and win some games.

Game 1 of the Canalta Cup will be played Friday in Humboldt, with Game 2 at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton Sunday.