The Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League played two games on home ice over the last week.
On Tuesday, Oct. 11 they faced the Estevan Bruins at the Farrell Agencies Arena. In a game that showed back and forth action in the first two periods, the Terriers weren’t able to finish it in the final period. The final score of the game was 4-2 for Estevan. Terriers’ goals were scored by Corwin Stevely and Reid Anderson.
Casey O’Brien, head coach and GM of the Terriers, said he thought his team played very well.
“Estevan had a very good road game tonight,” he said after the game. “Overall I thought it was a strong effort from our guys. We didn’t get a bounce when we needed it in the second.”
The Terriers were able to redeem themselves with a win on Friday night against the Notre Dame Hounds. The two teams faced off just two weeks prior, when the final score was 4-1 for the Hounds.
However on Friday night, the Terriers knew what to expect and came out strong.
The first period saw a goal from each team. Corwin Stevely started things off scoring for the Terriers. But the Hounds were able to match that with a goal quickly after. The first period finished with a score of 1-1.
In the second, the Terriers came out strong with Brandon Sookro scoring early. But the Hounds matched yet again, forcing the score to 2-2.
Late in the second, the Terriers scored two more goals, bumping the score to 4-2. Goals scored by Shane Sherban and Jordan McCausland. The score would remain there for the rest of the second.
The third period got fans on the edge of their seats. The Hounds scored roughly halfway through, minimizing the gap to 4-3. With 1:38 remaining in the game, they scored again to make it a tied game.
It looked like the Terriers would see yet another overtime period this season. But with only 31 seconds left in the game, Jordan Ross scored. The Terriers won 5-4. Final shots on net were 36-32 in favour of the Hounds.
After the game Jordan McCausland, who scored his first goal of the season, said that losing to Notre Dame a few weeks ago pushed them to work that much harder, in hopes of bringing the win home this time.
“We know they have a strong top line, so we tried to focus on them. They’re fresh in our minds after we lost to them last time so we wanted to win.”
O’Brien echoed McCausland’s comment about Notre Dame’s strong top line, and said they had to do some line match-ups to compete in the last half of the game.
“They still ended up capitalizing to tie the game up,” O’Brien said. “But I thought tonight, we were in the game. We skated better and defended better tonight. So there’s improvement, obviously, from two weeks ago.”
Andrew Suriano was O’Brien’s choice of goalie for the game against Notre Dame. This was Suriano’s first start of the season, and he didn’t disappoint.
“He was a little nervous, obviously, but he made some big saves that gave us the chance to win,” said O’Brien. “He hadn’t played in a long time. Andrew’s paid his dues and has worked hard in practice. He earned the start tonight and he got us the win.”
O’Brien said Suriano will get another chance to prove himself coming up soon.
The Terriers will hit the ice at the Farrell Agencies Arena again on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 when they face the Melfort Mustangs for the first time this season.
