The Yorkton Terriers took it on the chin on the weekend losing both ends of a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League home-and-home set with Melville.
On Friday night of the long weekend at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton, the Millionaires enjoyed period leads of 1-0, 4-1 and their way to a 5-1 lead.
Only Ryon Sookro of the Terriers managed to spoil Melville goaltender Alex Wakaluk's shut-out bid.
Jesse Mireau led the Millionaires offence with a pair of goals, as Ian McNulty, Brett Kipling and Mark Owen added singles. DawsonMacAuleyfaced 33 shots in taking the loss in his first game as a Terrier.
A night later the end was result was identical in Melville.
This time, it was Terrier Austin Lewis who scored in the third to end Wakaluk's shut-out hopes.
MacAuley faced 52-shots in the loss, as McNulty scored twice, with Bob Pond, Tyson Newell and Kipling adding the singles.
Asked why MacAuley got the start Friday after just joining the team Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said they had limited options.
"(Warren) Shymko is hurt," he said, adding it will likely be a situation where the veteran is on the mend for at least a week.
KamilPrzepiorka who started the season as the Terriers' number two goaltender was released.
The situation left the Terriers making a trade with Battlefords to get the rights to MacAuley, 17.
"He's from Prince Albert," said Cassan, adding the netminder played AAA Midget with the P.A. Mintos last season.
He also saw time with the Western Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers, sticking through the early season before being back down to Prince Albert.
Cassan said in spite of allowing five goals Friday he didn't think MacAuley played that badly, adding at times the team in front of him weren't clearing rebounds giving the Millionaires some good second chances.
"I thought they were able to get first, second and third chances right from in the slot It's a tough situation. Remember the kid is 17-years-old," said the Terrier coach.
The Terrier offence has also begun to struggle in recent games, even with the man advantage, which had not been the situation as the season started.
"Our powerplay has been clicking pretty good," he said, adding the whole offence is "struggling a little bit" and that is making players "a little bit tense They're fighting the puck a little bit."
With only one win among four starts the Terrier's Sherwood Conference record slipped to 4-6 for eight points, leaving them in a four-team tie with Notre Dame, Weyburn and Melville.
Estevan tops the Conference with 12-points, while Kindersley sits last with four points.
Mustangs win
The Terriers travelled to Melfort last Wednesday, and in spite of leading 1-0 after 20-minutes and making it 2-0 3:02 into the second period, lost 4-2.
Ryon Sookro had both Terrier markers.
Godric Tham scored twice for the Mustangs who also had goals from Connor Bradshaw and Brendan Tash, as Melfort tossed 26-shots at Yorkton netminderKamil Przepiorka.
Last Tuesday
Yorkton earned a 4-2 home ice win Oct. 5 over visiting Weyburn.
The Terriers held period leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on their way to the win, with Shymko facing 26-shots.
Brenden Poncelet led the Terrier offence with two goals, with linemate Kailum Gervais and Nathan Murray contributing singles.
Dylan Coupal and Blake Kirkham scored in the loss for Weyburn.
Up next
The Terriers were scheduled to playin Estevan last night (Tuesday) but results were not available at press time.
Tonight, the Bruins return the visit playing at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
On Friday, the Terriers head to North Battleford and then head back to Estevan for action Sunday.
