The Terriers remain in second place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Sherwood Conference.
Weyburn sits atop the league with 74 points, followed by the Terriers with a record of 31-20-2-3 for 67 points. Melville has 64, and a game in-hand of Yorkton, followed by Estevan with 56, Notre Dame with 45 and Kindersley who will miss the playoffs with 28.
And, the Terrier's magic number sits at two.
Any combo of Terrier wins, or Melville losses equalling two will give Yorkton second spot, and home ice advantage in the Sherwood semi final.
In action this week, the LaRonge Icewolves visited the Farrell Agencies Arena and took an early lead with a pair of unanswered first period goals by Graham Smerek and Brennan Wright.
Riley Paterson and Jeremy Johnson responded in the second to tie the score for the Terriers, only to have Brodie Eisbrenner give the 'Wolves a 3-2 lead with a marker at 18:34 of the middle frame. It was Johnson's 20th of the season making him the first Terrier this season to hit the 20-goal plateau.
Thirty-seven seconds into the third, Johnson was back to score his second of the night to knot the score.
The game would remain tied through the rest of regulation time, sending the game to the four-on-four extra frame, where Brent Struble scored the winner for the Terriers 33-seconds in.
Warren Shymko faced 23-shots in the Terrier nets to secure the win.
After the game Johnson said he was glad to get his 20th goal of the season, but added he sees it as a reminder to work hard every night, adding his bigger goal is "to help us go far in the playoffs."
As for hitting the 20-goal milestone he said it "was a reasonable goal," but added it just makes him look to pop 25. He would need four goals in their final two games of the season.
As for the win, Johnson said it was a good thing, coming off a lacklustre effort in Notre Dame.
"We've been doing that all year," he said, of bouncing back after a bad game.
Johnson added getting the win sets the table for the next pair.
"We want to be on a high the next two games," he said.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said he liked the team's push-back Sunday, coming after a loss Saturday, and being down twice in the game.
Cassan said he had anticipated a good game from LaRonge, noting "they're a very good team, built pretty similar to ours." The Terriers did get down early, and Cassan said it was a case of the team sort of standing around in the first period.
So at the intermission, Cassan called out his veterans to kick it up a notch and attack the rest of the game like it was a playoff match-up.
Johnson, while in his first full season, responded as a 19-year-old.
"He likes to score goals," said Cassan, adding he has a good shot and works to get to the best places to take them from.
The Terrier coach said there are other parts to his game Johnson is still learning, but the coaching staff has expectations of offence from the forward "and he's responded."
Struble was another veteran coming up big with the game-winner.
Cassan said Struble "is an older guy that's been in these situations (before). He showed some composure in front of the net," using his strength to hold his position and put the puck up under the crossbar.
The Terriers were in Wilcox Saturday to face the Hounds and Curtis Oliver gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with the only goal of the first period.
Greg Ferguson and Brandon Kuse scored unanswered markers in the second to give the Hounds a 2-1 lead, and the win as the score would hold through a scoreless third period.
Terrier netminder Warren Shymko faced 23-shots in the loss, while Yorkton peppered Notre Dame goalie Matthew Schmidt with 36.
Cassan said he isn't exactly sure why the team faltered in Wilcox.
"We went in there playing pretty good," he said, adding he thought the team " had a good first period."
But after the first Cassan said the Terriers "weren't moving our feet." He said it was a case of "not playing with that playoff intensity."
Earlier in the week
Warren Shymko had what might have been the easiest shut-out in his career last Wednesday in Estevan as he faced only 10-shots.
Meanwhile, after a scoreless first period Zak Majkowski gave the Terriers a 1-0 through two periods.
In the third, Brady Norrish scored and Tayler Thompson added an empty-netter to round out a 3-0 win on a night the Terriers generated 42-shots, with Bruin goaltender Steven Glass making 40-saves.
Last Tuesday (Feb. 7) the Terriers hosted Battlefords who sat second in the Itech Conference.
The Stars led 1-0 after 20-minutes on a goal by Kyle Hall.
Second period goals by Norrish, Ryon Sookro and Majkowski gave the host Terriers a 3-2 lead as Travis Sparrow replied for the Stars.
Jeremy Johnson added a late third period insurance marker into an empty net to give the Terriers a 4-2 win.
Shymko had the win in the Terrier net facing 27-shots.
Up next
The Terriers have two games left on the regular season schedule.
Wednesday the Terriers host LaRonge, and then head to Wilcox for the final game of the season against the Notre Dame Hounds.
