The Yorkton Terriers were on the road for a pair of losses last week, leaving the team on a five-game skid.
Even with the two losses Terriers remain atop the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Sherwood Conference with a 24-10-2-3 record and 53 points. Weyburn sits second with 47 points, followed by Kindersley with 46, Estevan with 41, Melville 36, and Notre Dame 27.
Last Tuesday (Jan. 4), the Terriers were in Nipawin where they suffered their third straight loss since the SJHL's Christmas break dropping a 3-2 decision.
Craig Eisenhut gave Yorkton a 1-0 lead which they carried to the dressing room after 20-minutes.Eisenhut would score again in the second as Tanner Dusyk and Jonathon Ceci replied for the Hawks to leave the game knotted 2-2 after two frames.
In the third Dusyk would net the winner for Nipawin.
Warren Shymko took the loss in the Yorkton net facing 37 shots.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said the performance in Nipawin was not as disappointing as some might think.
"It would have been nice to get the two points," he said, but added the Terriers had five affiliated players in the line up because of injuries.
For the young call-ups Cassan said, "It was a good experience for some of our younger kids to come and play for us.
"They got a taste of what it takes to play Junior A."
Cassan said it was not the young players which were the problem in the loss.
"I was more disappointed in some of the older individual players," he said.
Wednesday the Terriers again lost on the road, dropping a 7-3 decision in Melfort.The Mustangs led 4-0 after 20-minutes, were up 5-3 after two periods, and added two unanswered goals in the third to round out the victory.
Devin Peters started in the Terrier net, but was relieved after 20-minutes, with Shymko taking it the rest of the way, on a night the Mustangs had 50-shots.
Riley Paterson had a pair of goals for Yorkton, with Zak Majkowski adding the third marker.Jesse Mireau and Brendon Wall both had two-goal efforts for Melfort.
Cassan said the team got off to a slow start in Melfort.
"We didn't have a very good first period getting down 4-0," said Cassan, adding against the Mustangs who are an older and bigger team, that makes a game tough to win.
"In the second we were "able to cut that lead in half," but playing only three lines took its toll in the third.
"By the third period we had dug too big a hole to get out of."
TradesThe Terriers made a move Friday to add some firepower, picking up 20-year-old forwards Justin Buzzeo and Jeremy Boyer from the Humboldt Broncos. Both forwards are in the top-five in league scoring this year with 56 points each.
The Terriers sent future considerations to Humboldt, who host the Royal Bank Cup in 2012.Cassan said the trade was one the Terriers had been looking at for a while, and not something done in response to five-straight losses.
"It was something we had been considering for a while. It wasn't just a spur of the moment decision.Cassan said the team wanted to add some scoring depth.
"We already had some guys injured," he said, noting they might be longer term injuries than the team would hope for. The injuries include Keon Vick, Brenden Poncelet, Robbie Ciolfi and Craig Eisenhut.
"So we needed to address that," he said, adding Buzzeo and Boyer do that.
In Buzzeo the Terriers get a player already committed to Ferris State, who has "a lot of speed and goes to the net hard to get his goals."
Boyer has Western Hockey League experience and has shown he can score in both the WHL and SJHL.
"He's a guy you can really count on in key situations," said the Terrier coach. That is a key in acquiring 20-year-olds, they have the experience where a coach has added confidence "putting them into situations when the pressure's on."
The scoring depth, while needed immediately to address injuries, is also important for the upcoming playoffs.
"When you get into the playoffs, lots of nights the top guys get checked pretty tightly," said Cassan. " You need depth to counter that tougher checking."
Monday the Terriers then made a deal to add a veteran on the blueline.
The Terriers sent the rights to defenceman Travis Baber, 17, and futures, to the Nipawin Hawks for 20-year-old defenceman Brant Remenda. Remenda had been the Hawks' Captain this season.Cassan said the trades should help the Terriers make a real run in the playoffs, something most people were not expecting before the season began.
"At the start of the year no one really gave us much of a chance," he said, adding the team had lost a lot of players from the previous season. " But we were able to go out and recruit some pretty good players."
With the team in first place in the Conference it was decided to bolster the roster for a run."Actually with the moves we've made this is a team that has a very good opportunity to go deep in the playoffs," he said, adding that "about seven, or eight other teams feel that way too, which speaks to the parity of the league."
Up nextThe Terriers have a busy week ahead with five games over eight days.
The action was scheduled to start last night (Tuesday) with Kindersley visiting the Farrell Agencies Arena. Results were not available at press time.
Tonight (Wednesday) Yorkton heads south to play in Estevan.
The Flin Flon Bombers provide competition on Terrier ice Friday and Saturday, and next Tuesday it's the Melfort Mustangs who roll into the city.
