Back and forth.
The Humboldt Broncos-Yorkton Terriers best-of-seven playoff series swung back and forth between the two teams early in the series.
The see-saw in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League final continued in Games 3 and 4, played in Humboldt on April 9 and Yorkton on April 11.
The 3-2 trend of Games 1 and 2 also continued in Game 3 of the series, once more in favour of the Broncos.
The Terriers started off scoring with a power-play goal early in the first, but the Broncos tied things up at lucky 13:13, with a goal by Justin Lund, assisted by Logan Sproule.
The Broncos' power-play squad got rolling in the second period, adding two more goals to Humboldt's total. Adam Antkowiak got past the Terriers' Dawson MacAuley at 7:05, assisted by Cody Pettapiece and Kameren Ballas. Then Alex Forsberg got the insurance goal at 15:06, assisted by Cody Pongracz and Sproule.
The Terriers were able to get one more on goalie Matt Hrynkiw early in the third, but couldn't come up with anything else. The game ended with the score 3-2 in the Broncos' favour, giving them a 2-1 series lead.
That lead was blown just two nights later, however, when the Broncos travelled to Yorkton to face the Terriers in front of a crowd of 1,814.
The Terriers dominated the game scoring-wise. Their first point came on the power play early in the second, and that was followed up with a second at 7:19 of the third.
The Broncos got on the board with a goal by David Miazga, assisted by Brandon Tidy and Dylan Fluter at 7:36 of the third, to make it a 2-1 game, but the Terriers got an insurance goal at 10:31, and then an empty-netter at 18:47 to seal the deal.
Final score: 4-1 Yorkton.
Penalties were huge in Game 3 of the series in Humboldt - the Terriers got 10 and the Broncos, 11. Things were especially rough in the second period, and things came to a head halfway through. At 10:05, a check from behind led to a fight and ended, despite objections from coaches and subsequent discussions, with two players leaving the ice.
John Odgers of the Terriers got a five-minute major for checking from behind, another major for fighting and a game misconduct.
Rhett Blackmur of the Broncos got two minutes for instigating, another five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
In Yorkton two nights later, the penalty boxes were empty, for the most part, in the second and third periods. There were five penalties in the first - three to the Terriers, all for tripping, and two for the Broncos for roughing after the whistle and slashing.
Just Humboldt players were boxed in the second and third - John Lawrence for hooking and Brandon Tidy for tripping.
This series really came down to power plays in the first two games, and in the second two as well. The Terriers were one for five in Game 3, and one for four in Game 4, while the Broncos were two for five in Game 3 and zero for three in Game 4.
The Terriers outshot the Broncos by a little - 39-36 in Game 3 and 33-23 in Game 4 - but Humboldt's goaltending by Matt Hrynkiw held up and kept them in the series.
