YORKTON - The Yorkton Terriers were looking to win their opening round series against Melfort when they hosted Melfort Sunday leading the best-of-seven set three-games-to-two.
But, the visiting Mustangs had different ideas early in the SJHL encounter.
Ben Tkachuk gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead 5:05 into the game.
Then at 7:32 Seth McCulloch made it 2-0 for the visitors.
Dawson Leroux added a third goal for Melfort at 14:20.
The 3-0 lead held until midway through the second period when Marco Lopez made it a 4-0 contest with a goal at 10:44.
The Terriers finally solved Melfort netminder Joel Favreau at 13:11 of the second when JD Hall scored to make it 4-1.
Yorkton’s Kishaun Gervais then scored at 16:50 narrowing the Mustang lead to two at 4-2, as the game headed to the third period.
Into the third Nolan Doell made it 5-2 at 9:22.
Kishaun Gervais added a powerplay goal for Yorkton at 11:17, but that was as close as the Terriers would get as Melfort won 5-3 to force a deciding game seven in the Mustangs rink Tuesday.
Kael DePape was in net for Yorkton for the loss facing 31 shots, while Favreau faced the same 31-shots but for the win.
Terrier head coach Mat Hehr said the game did not go as they had hoped.
“Obviously it wasn’t the start we wanted,” he said, but then he added “There were some good things we can carry forward from the last 40-minutes.”
As for how to prepare for a game seven after giving up 10 goals in the last two games, Hehr said this is what the playoffs are about.
“It’s a seven game series for a reason,” he said, adding a deciding game for both teams is what players dreams about. “Everybody dreams about being the hero in a game seven.”
So Tuesday it will be back to basics, starting with greater emphasis on defence.
Hehr said in the last couple of games the Terriers have looked to make the big hits, but without a lot of structure, so they need be better defensively.
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