Things are always good when you’re winning and as far as the season goes I’m extremely happy with the progress.
— Dan Cross
Xerox Terriers coach
A pair of home ice wins this past weekend for the Yorkton Xerox Terriers improved their already impressive record in the Saskatchewan Bantam ‘AA’ Hockey League (SBAAHL) to a sparkling 10-1-1, good enough for a share of first place in the South Division with Estevan (9-3-3) and six points clear of third place Weyburn (6-6-3).
The Regina Aces (5-2-2) sit in fourth, the Pat Blues (4-7-2) in fifth while the Prairie Storm (4-3-1), Monarchs (4-7-1) and Moose Jaw (3-8-3) round out the top eight with nine points each.
Notre Dame (3-11-2) is in ninth, Swift Current (1-8-4) is in tenth while Melville (0-10-0) remains pointless in last.
Humboldt (8-1-2) continues to lead the North Division with 18 points, closely followed by the Saskatoon Generals (8-3-1), Sask Valley (8-4-1) and Prince Albert (8-4-1), all of whom have 17 points.
The Stallions (6-3-3) are in fifth, the Outlaws (5-5-3) are in sixth while North East (5-5-1) and the Saskatoon Frostbite (4-4-3) are tied for seventh and eighth with 11 points each. The West Central Rage (3-5-4) are in ninth with the Battlefords (3-7-3) sitting in last place in the North with nine points.
The Xerox Terriers scored one in the first, two in the second and three in the third to hand the visiting Saskatoon Outlaws a 6-3 setback Saturday evening at the Kinsmen Arena.
But while the end result was positive, things didn’t start off well for Yorkton as Saskatoon’s Connor Zary gave the visitors a 1-0 lead, putting the puck past Spencer Welke just 24 seconds into the game.
A Kishaun Gervais goal just over three minutes later tied the game at one; a score that remained until late in the second period when a flurry of goals, two by Yorkton (Jackson Berezowski and Colby Vranai) and one by Saskatoon (Jagger Prosofsky) made the score 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Ryder Korczak’s fifth goal of the season made it 4-2 Yorkton just before the midway point of the third period and while Prosofsky’s second of the night cut the Terrier lead in half it simply was not enough as both Vranai and Gervais would tally for the second time on the night – Gervais via a penalty shot – for a 6-3 Xerox Terrier win.
Welke was in net for the entire 60 minutes to pick up his fourth win of the season while Saskatoon net minder J.D. Storozynsky shouldered the loss.
A day later and the Xerox Terriers were back in action, this time hosting the Regina Pat Blues for a South Division matchup.
Ethan Evanovich scored a goal in each period to lead the way and goaltender Nolan Maier stopped all but one shot on the day in an eventual 5-1 Xerox Terrier win.
Zach McIntyre and Gervais also found the back of the net in the Xerox Terriers’ 10th win of the season; a win that head coach Dan Cross felt was one of their more solid efforts of the season. “We played an excellent game; we controlled most of the play throughout the whole game.
“We had played Regina before so we knew what they had and our team made some adjustments and we handled it very well. The game was never in doubt for us at any given time.”
Cross then said that while some teams tend to stumble during the November, that’s not the case for his team; instead, he feels the Xerox Terriers are only getting better. “Things are always good when you’re winning and as far as the season goes I’m extremely happy with the progress,” offered Cross, continuing, “We just keep getting better and better, especially our 02’s. They seem to be catching right up and as a unit I think we’re even becoming a stronger team as we go on here.”
Up next
The Xerox Terriers (10-1-1) now take to the road for three games this weekend, taking on the Saskatoon Generals (8-3-1) Friday night in Saskatoon, the Sask Valley Vipers (8-4-1) Saturday night in Martensville and the Saskatoon Frostbite (4-4-3) Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon.
