The Yorkton UCT Terriers are one win away from winning their second SBAAHL playoff title in a row after taking Game One of their Best-of-Three SBAAHL final series against the Sask Valley Vipers 3-0 at the Gallagher Centre Sunday, March 22.
Keenan Taphorn put the UCT Terriers ahead less than two minutes into the game when his third of the postseason beat Viper goaltender Jake Davidson and it looked as if it might be a long night for the visitors, however Davidson quickly gathered himself back up and prevented the UCT Terriers from increasing their lead, turning aside the final 10 shots of the period to keep his team in the game.
Meanwhile Davidson’s counterpart Nolan Maier faced just three shots in the opening 20 minutes in a very one-sided period.
The second period was much the same as the first, with Yorkton coming out firing.
Davidson managed to stand his ground for the first few minutes, however the talented net minder simply could not keep them all out as first year bantam forward Zach McIntyre notched his fourth of the playoffs 3:58 into the middle frame for a 2-0 Yorkton lead.
Once again Davidson regrouped after the goal, preventing the buzzing Terrier forwards from putting another puck past him and giving his team a chance by keeping the game at 2-0 after two periods of play.
The third period saw the UCT Terriers put the nail in the Game One coffin as defenceman Kaleb Bulych burst down the wing and fired a shot five-hole that beat Davidson to round out the scoring in a 3-0 UCT Terrier shutout victory.
Maier picked up the 13 save shutout, his first of the playoffs, while Davidson shouldered the loss despite doing all he could to singlehandedly try to win the game for his team, turning aside 32 shots in the loss.
“I thought we played a great team game today,” offered UCT Terrier head coach Graham Garrett following the game. “We got to roll our lines and everyone did a great job tonight. I thought our defence closed the gap on them and their only offence was where they were trying to send a guy out of the zone and we didn’t give them that.
“We made that adjustment after the first period and I don’t think we gave them very much at all to create any type of positive momentum.”
Not only was Yorkton dominant five-on-five, the UCT Terrier penalty kill was also in top form all game long, easily killing off all four Viper man advantages throughout the game.
In fact the UCT Terriers have given up just one power play goal in 32 chances this postseason, that coming back in the first period of Game One of the South Division semi-finals against Estevan. “Our penalty kill has been very good here in the playoffs,” mentioned Garrett, continuing, “We’ve got guys that are committed to playing hard. Our fore-check, even on the penalty kill, is very good.
“Those guys that play that take a lot of pride in what they’re doing there so it’s nice to have guys that have the skill to be able to do that. It’s kind of a double-edged sword for us where we can create opportunities on the penalty kill but also give them nothing.”
But while victory in Game One certainly seemed to come easy for the UCT Terriers, Coach Garrett is very aware that on Wednesday night they’ll see the very best that Sask Valley has to offer. “They’re on the ropes now so they’re going to try and bring more of a game and put more pressure on us,” suggested the UCT Terrier head coach. “But if we play the way we did today and shut them down and give them nothing offensively then we should do well.”
Storm watch over
The Yorkton UCT Terriers eliminated the Prairie Storm on Tuesday, March 17 in Game Three of the SBAAHL South Division Finals 5-4.
Reid Perepeluk opened the scoring for Yorkton in the first period before Kaeden Taphorn made it 2-0 for the hosts.
Prairie Storm leading scorer Colum McGauley cut the Terrier lead in half with under four minutes left in the first period, however a pair of late Yorkton goals, one each by Keenan Taphorn and Carson Miller, made it 4-1 for the UCT Terriers after 20 minutes of play.
Aidan McNabb made it a 4-2 score less than five minutes into the second period when he beat Maier, however Kaleb Bulych responded not long after by firing the fifth goal of the game past Riley Christison to make it 5-2 for Yorkton,
A late period goal by Prairie Storm’s Blake Hubick made it a two goal game heading into the third period where Austen Flaman made thing interesting, beating Maier for the Prairie Storm’s fourth goal of the game to cut the Terrier lead to just one
But that proved to be as close as the Prairie Storm would get as Yorkton won 5-4 and took the series two-games-to-one.
Next action
The next action for the UCT Terriers will be tonight (Wednesday) when they travel to the Warman Legends Centre for Game Two of the Best-of-Three SBAAHL Finals. Game time is set for 7:15p.m.
Game Three, if needed, will be at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton on Saturday, March 28. That game is scheduled for a 5:30p.m. start time.
