The Yorkton Terriers picked up one win in two road games this past weekend, dropping the Battlefords Stars 3-2 in overtime on Friday before falling 6-3 to the Kindersley Klippers on Saturday.
Melville sits atop the Viterra Division with 34 points, followed by Weyburn with 32 , Estevan with 26, and Yorkton with 25, based on a record of 11-16-1-2.
Friday the Terriers were in Battlefords where Kailum Gervais game Yorkton a 1-0 lead with a powerplay goal 6:06 into the first period, only to have Nick Fountain knot the score at 11:49.
Riley Hunt gave the Terriers a second lead with a short-handed effort at 9:34 of the second, the only marker of the middle frame.
Matthew Havens would tie the score for the Stars at 19:31 of the third, pushing the game into a five-minute, four-on-four extra frame.
Dallas Rossiter was the Terrier hero with the game-winner 52-seconds into the extra frame.
Matt Kustra was in the Yorkton net for the win, facing 42-shots, while Spencer Tremblay was tagged with the loss for the Stars facing 35.
Terrier coach Casey O’Brien said the Stars are always a good team to measure up against.
“We always want to measure ourselves against Battlefords on work ethic and compete level,” he said.
And Friday the Terriers matched up well, said O’Brien.
“Friday night in Battlefords we played a great, great, road game,” he said, adding the Terriers were strong on the penalty kill, and got a huge goal in overtime, albeit from an unlikely source.
O’Brien said any offence from the blueline is a bonus, but getting a goal from Rossiter on a one timer was huge.
“Dallas hasn’t scored a whole lot in his Junior career,” said O’Brien, but added he has always been a player willing to contribute in any way he can. “… He’s been a great leader. He’s always been a guy that never complains no matter what his role is.”
A night later the Terriers rolled into Kindersley to face the Klippers.
Carter Sawicki gave the host Klippers a lead with the only goal of the first period, 14:47 into the first period.
In the second Brandon Sookro scored the tying goal 2:11 into the second period, and Tyson Enzie would add a second Terrier marker.
But it would not be enough as Darcy DeRoose scored a natural hat trick in the second period, with goals at 6:28, 16:45 and 19:59.
Then 2:04 into the third DeRoose scored yet again to make it 5-2 Kindersley.
Sookro would score his second of the night on the powerplay 13:45, before Devin Case added a sixth for the home team.
Kustra was again in net for the Terriers facing 23-shots and allowing five-goals before being pulled in favour of Carson Bogdan who turned away 13-of-14-shots he faced the rest of the way in the loss, while Nathan Hargrave had the win for Kindersley facing 27.
“We got off to a really slow start. It seemed the puck was bouncing all over the place,” said O’Brien, but the Terriers kept themselves in and were tied in the second for a time.
Then the Klippers got a pair late in the second.
“We were behind the eight ball in the third,” said O’Brien.
“We were hanging around though,” he said, pointing the Terriers’ third goal early in a four-minute powerplay. He said had they been able to score a second with the man advantage they would have been right back in it.
While it was a loss, O’Brien said it was good to get Bogdan into a game after being called up to fill in after Dawson MacAuley suffered an injury in practice last Thursday.
“Carson’s been a very loyal guy the last couple of seasons,” said the Terrier coach, so with the game going the Stars way, he felt it was owed to give him some minutes, adding “he did very well.”
Up next
The Terriers have two games remaining before the SJHL Christmas break.
Tonight (Wednesday), Yorkton is scheduled to play in Melfort, and then head back to the Farrell Agencies Arena to host Notre Dame Friday.
O’Brien said the road contest will be a tough one with the Mustangs leading the entire SJHL with 51-points, while the Terriers are cellar dwellers point wise.
The Hounds are second in the Kramer Division and Friday’s match-up will be the first between the two teams this season.
