The Yorkton Xerox Terriers of the Saskatchewan Bantam ‘AA’ Hockey League (SBAAHL) returned home from one of their most grueling road trips Sunday evening with four of a possible six points thanks to an opening road trip win 3-2 over the Saskatoon Generals on Friday evening, followed by a pair of draws, 4-4 against the Sask Valley Vipers on Saturday and 3-3 versus the Saskatoon Frostbite on Sunday.
The results improve the Xerox Terrier record to 11-1-3 for 25 points and first place in the SBAAHL South Division, three ahead of second place Estevan (9-3-4). Weyburn (60603) is in third with 15 points, the Regina Aces (5-3-2) are fourth with 12 points, while the Prairie Storm (5-4-1) and Regina Monarchs (5-7-1) have 11 points and share fifth and sixth place respectively.
The Regina Pat Blues (4-8-2), Moose Jaw (3-8-4) and Notre Dame (4-12-2) all have 10 points, followed by Swift Current (1-9-4) with six and Melville (0-10-0) with zero.
Humboldt (9-1-3) and Prince Albert (10-4-1) sit tied atop the North Division with 21 points, three ahead of Sask Valley (8-5-2) and four up on both the Saskatoon Generals (8-4-1) and Stallions (7-3-3). The Saskatoon Outlaws (6-5-4) are five points off the pace with 16, Northeast (6-5-2) is seven off the lead with 14 points while the Saskatoon Frostbite (4-6-4) are nine back and in eighth spot with 12 points.
The West Central Rage (3-5-5) are in ninth with 11 points while Battlefords holds down last spot with a record of 3-8-3 and nine points.
The Bantam ‘AA’ Terriers got their road trip going on a positive note Friday evening, using a pair of third period goals to pick up a 3-2 win over the Saskatoon Generals.
Jackson Berezowski, Massen Ziola and Kishaun Gervais scored for the Xerox Terriers while second year net minder Nolan Maier turned aside 32-of-34 shots for the win. “It was a solid way to open the road trip,” Xerox Terrier head coach Dan Cross told Yorkton This Week. “We were down 2-1 then we came back and won 3-2 in the third period there with two goals.”
Saturday
The following day the Xerox Terriers were back in action, this time taking on last year’s North Division champions the Sask Valley Vipers in Martensville.
The Vipers got on the board first with a Nolan Doell goal 5:06 into the first period, but a late power play goal off the stick of first year bantam Ryder Korczak made it a 1-1 game after 20 minutes of play.
Jake Huska’s second of the season midway through the second period gave Yorkton a 2-1 lead after two periods, but the hometown Vipers stormed back in the third to take a one goal lead on markers by Jerzy Orchard (17:56) and Mark Walchuk (5:35).
A Zach McIntyre goal with just over two minutes to go evened the score at three and then with less than a minute remaining in the game Yorkton took the lead when Gervais scored his 16th goal of the season, slipping the puck past Carter Woodside for a late 4-3 lead.
Unfortunately that lead did not hold up for Yorkton, as Orchard managed to score his second of the game and 15th of the season with just 14 seconds remaining in the game resulting in a 4-4 draw.
Maier was in net for the second straight night and stopped 24-of-28 shots for the tie while Woodside turned aside 27-of-31 in the Viper net.
Sunday
The Xerox Terriers wrapped up their season high three games in three days road trip on Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon, skating to a 3-3 tie with the Frostbite.
Colby Vranai and Ethan Evanovich would score in the first period for the Terriers while the Frostbite would tally just one in the opening 20 minutes, their goal coming from Josh Groenwold, to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
A pair of Saskatoon goals in the second period – one each by Adam Beckman and Thierry Kouame – made it 3-2 Frostbite through 40 minutes, but a late Evanovich goal, his second of the game, brought the Xerox Terriers back even for their second draw in as many games.
First year goaltender Spencer Welke was in net for Yorkton stopping 20-of-23 shots for the draw while his counterpart Carter Serhyenko turned aside 32-of-35 Xerox Terrier attempts for the tie.
Following the road trip Coach Cross said that they accomplished their goal of four of a possible six points on their grueling road trip, but did so in a better way than he had expected. “I thought we were going to get four points, but I thought we’d win two and lose one,” said Cross, adding he’s happy to see his team managed to avoid a loss in all three games. “. The fact that, if you look at it, we were down in the third period in all three games and to win one of them and come out with two ties, that’s impressive.
“Obviously we don’t want to put ourselves in that situation all the time, but it is a positive to see that when it comes down to it we can produce if we have to and hopefully that confidence will be ingrained in us when we get into the stretch run here in the future.”
Up next
The Yorkton Xerox Terriers (11-1-3) will host the Melville Millionaires (0-10-0) tonight (Wednesday) at the Farrell Agencies Arena at 7:00p.m. before taking to the road this weekend for a pair of games, visiting the Northeast Wolfpack (6-5-2) on Saturday in Melfort and the North Division leading Humboldt Broncos (9-1-3) on Sunday in a matchup of the top two teams in the province.
