The Yorkton UCT Terriers entered Sunday afternoon’s game against the Estevan TS&M Bruins with a near perfect record of 19-1-0; the only blemish coming back on Saturday, November 29, 2014, when Sunday’s opponents, the Estevan Bruins, shocked the UCT Terriers by a 5-4 score on the strength of a four goal performance by Cole Fonstad.
On Sunday it looked as if Estevan picked up right where they left off, relying on netminder Callum Spearing to keep them in the game early before opening the scoring with their first shot of the game at the 17:40 mark of the first period when defenceman Kersey Reich let a shot go from the redline that eluded UCT Terrier netminder Dakota Berezowski to give the visitors a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play.
Kaeden Taphorn’s 28th goal of the season just 12 seconds into the second period drew the UCT Terriers even, however a Mason Strutt marker just over three minutes later gave the Bruins their second lead of the game. “They were leading after the first and scoring in the second to make it 2-1, they played well,” said Yorkton UCT Terrier head coach Graham Garrett on the effort of their opponents. “They beat us before and had the belief that they could win.”
But before long that Bruin belief was shattered and replaced by reality; the reality that once the UCT Terriers returned to pre-Christmas form, the Yorkton goals would start to come fast and furious.
And that’s exactly what happened as league leading scorer Carson Miller put the puck past Shearing for his 34th goal of the season to draw Yorkton even with 11:09 left in the period.
A pair of Zach McIntyre goals back-to-back made it 4-2 for the UCT Terriers before second year forward Brett Kemp netted his 24th goal of the campaign to send Yorkton into the second intermission leading 5-2.
Six more Yorkton goals in the third frame, one each by Kaeden Taphorn, Kaeden Korczak, Keanan Sperling and Miller, as well as a pair by Aiden Bulych, made the final score 11-2 to give the Yorkton UCT Terriers their ninth win in a row.
However it wasn’t until the middle of the second period, when the UCT Terriers started to physically match the Bruins, that they finally took over the game completely. “I thought that when we matched them physically we started to take over in the offensive zone,” offered Garrett, continuing, “And our defence got the puck to the net very well, our traffic got better and better and it was great today.
“It created those goals that got us going with a more positive momentum.”
One of those blueliners that Garrett credits with putting the puck on net continuously is first year bantam defenceman Kaeden Korczak, who had missed the first couple of months of the season with a broken wrist sustained in practice. “He wasn’t probably 100% until almost the end of November, so he’s a great hockey player that has really only played maybe a full month of the season,” suggested the UCT Terrier head coach, continuing, “Since he’s been 100% he’s really started to understand the concepts of what we want to do. He and Sperling are moving the puck together so well and he’s a gifted offensive player and now that he’s 100% healthy his wrist his shot is there, his slap shot is there and his strength is there and he’s really proven to be a positive player for us.”
Having Korczak back to 100%, and having both Nolan Maier and Dakota Berezowski back from the injured list and between the pipes, will do nothing but make the UCT Terriers stronger as they continue SBAAHL play.
However they’ll also play key roles for the UCT Terriers next week when they travel to St. Albert, Alberta, to take part in the 37th annual John Reid Memorial Bantam ‘AAA’ Hockey Tournament from January 15-18, where head coach Garrett believes the UCT Terrier defence will need to play its best hockey should the team want to be competitive. “Well we know we’re going to get forced a lot quicker,” offered Garrett. “The speed is going to be higher and the other teams are going to have offensive players that can make us pay when we make mistakes so we’re going to have to shore up our defensive zone and neutral zone play defensively.
“Offensively, even when we went to Calgary (Rocky Mountain Classic) we were able to create a lot of goals and a lot of offence so that’s not one of our worries, but we’ll have to be better defensively.”
Next action
The UCT Terriers were in action Monday night against the Prairie Storm, however results were unavailable at press time.
The next action for the UCT Terriers will be tomorrow (Thursday) when they visit the Moose Jaw Warriors. They’ll then take on the Regina Pat Blues on Saturday in Regina, before returning home on Tuesday, January 13 to take on the Regina Monarchs. Game time for Tuesday’s game is scheduled for 8:00p.m. at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
