The Yorkton Terriers packed their brooms for their playoff game in Estevan Friday and they used them well winning 6-1 and sweeping the Bruins from the SJHL playoffs in four games.
Friday the Terriers scored early, with Justin Buzzeo popping the first of a hat trick at 1:22 of the first.
He scored his second late in the first, and the Terriers never looked back,. He completed his hat trick before the end of the second. Robbie Ciolfi and Nathan Murray added third period goals to round out the win. Ryan Anderson scored Estevan's lone goal.
Devin Peters was in the Terrier net, his first start since January and stopped 39 of 40 shots for the win. Shea Cooper was tagged with the loss facing 41-shots. Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said his team was ready going into Friday's game.
"I think our guys were pretty focused on the job of finishing it," he said, adding they wanted to get ahead early. "We figured if we were able to get up early on them maybe we could deflate them a little bit more."
The win was big not only because it wrapped up the series, but because it was Peters' first start in nearly two months.
"He played really good. Right from the start he was big and steady and composed," said Cassan. "He looked sharp. It was good to get him back into game action."
Last Wednesday, the Terriers spotted the Bruins a 2-0 lead on home ice, then fought back late to win 3-2.
Troy Hunter gave Estevan its first goal of the night midway through the first period, and Jonathan Ceci added the second at 15:50 of the third just as a Terrier penalty kill ended. From that point on the Terriers began the climb back. Ciolfi gave the Terriers life with a goal at 19:19 of the second to draw within one at 2-1.
Then in the third, goaltender Cooper got caught out of his net on an Estevan powerplay as he tried to head-man the puck, and Clarke Breitkreuz pushed the tying goal home, a short-handed effort at 13:16 of the third. It would be an unlikely hero, Brenden Poncelet, who had only two regular season goals this season, who popped the Terrier winner with a goal at 18:38. Cooper took the loss in the Terrier nets facing 46 shots, while Warren Shymko guarded the Terrier twine getting the win after facing 25. Poncelet said while the Terriers got down early, they felt they were always in the game. "We got a lot of shots on net," he said, adding when they didn't go in the team "didn't get down," because of it. Cassan said it was a case of perseverance paying off. He said the Terriers stuck with their plan in spite of being down, and in the end it paid off.
"Even though we ran into a pretty hot goaltender they didn't get down. They kept pushing," he said. Cassan said teams face adversity in playoffs, like being down on home ice, and it's important they respond in a positive fashion like the Terriers did. Poncelet, who had a season marred with injury, said for him to get a huge goal was big.
"I had a rough season It feels good to get a goal like that," he said.
Cassan said getting big goals from players like Poncelet can make a difference in a series.
"It's good to see a kid, a very hard worker, and first year guy scoring like that," said the Terrier coach.
League award
The Sherwood Defenceman of the Week was Terrier Braden Raiwet . The 18-year-old Raiwet was solid defensively, but also chipped in offensively with a pair of assists in the Terriers two wins over Estevan last week.
