In Major Hockey League action over the weekend, the Yorkton DR Auto Bantam Terriers played the Swan Valley Stampeders to a 6-6 tie at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Hunter Arnold led the Terriers with a hat trick, while Justin Guy tallied a pair and Jake Holinaty rounded out the scoring.
Things looked very promising early as the Terriers took a lead of 4-0 at the end of the first period and led the game until late in the third.
"Swan's a pretty good team," offered Corvyn Neufeld the day after the Terriers blew a four-goal lead, and added that mishaps such as the one Yorkton had on Sunday could have happened to anyone or against anyone.
However, the Stampeders were down but never out, storming back with four goals to tie the game by the 15:34 mark of the final frame.
"We had a really good first period," he continued, a period in which Yorkton scored four pretty ones to take a hefty lead into the dressing room.
"We had a weaker second period," he went on to explain. "We didn't have the same level of drive (in us)."
Yorkton held onto a 6-4 lead through two periods against the Stampeders.
"I don't know if they thought that they had it won," he said of his players.
He added that Yorkton had a handful of "really good scoring chances in that third period.
Yorkton and Swan River had tangled once before and that game produced nine goals, ending in a 6-3 Stampeders victory.
"They're a good team," he reiterated. "We're just behind them," he confessed.
"There's probably two things (we learned from Sunday's loss)," he told the paper... "we can compete with any team and two, we can't let off (the gas pedal)."
The DR Auto Bantam Terriers currently sit in third place in the league with 8-4-4 record. Swan Valley is in second with a 13-2-1 record.
BANTAM TOURNAMENTAs a reminder the Yorkton Bantam Tier 2 tournament is happening this coming weekend (Jan 14-16). Yorkton DR Auto Bantam Terriers play their first game on Friday at 1p.m., vs the Regina Rockies. Yorkton Quiznos Bantam Terriers play at 3:15 p.m. on Friday vs the Radville Nats. It is an eight-team tournament with all games being played at the Kinsmen Arena.
The tournament's schedule will also feature a skills competition involving competitors from all participating cities.
They include the Saskatoon Renegades, Saskatoon Wild Outlaws, Melfort Mustangs and Gravelbourg. The tournament chair is Larry Kitchen.
