The Yorkton Bantam AA UCT Terriers may not have been able to register back to back two game sweeps in the 2014 Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League playoffs, but the Terriers will take a spot in the SBAAHL Division Finals after knocking off Moose Jaw and the Melville Millionaires already this month.
In the first round of the playoffs the Terriers cast aside the seventh placed Moose Jaw Warriors in a 2-0 sweep in the Best of 3 SBAAHL playoff format, setting up a series with Highway 10 rivals Melville in the second round.
The Millionaires finished fifth in the league and having more hands on experience with the Terriers would have a higher chance of pulling off a potential upset than the Millionaires, something that the young bantams would have to keep in the back of their mind heading into a quick one week series where just two losses would end their season.
With many players participating in Parkland Valley's 2014 Saskatchewan Winter Games gold medal win the familiar teams would not only be playing for a spot in the semifinals to continue their season, but also for local bragging rights amongst the neighbouring cities who have a long standing friendly hockey rivalry.
Finishing 16 points above Melville in the standings it would be the Terriers who would be outgunned during Game One getting outshot by the Mils 26-17, but goaltending from Alex Geddes and timely scoring would help the Terriers from falling to the Mils volume of shots on goal.
Kaleb Bulych would give the Terriers first blood with a late first period goal, but the Mils would score even later as Colby Holloway's goal with thirty seconds left in the period would keep the score equal after 20 minutes despite a late flurry of offense in a final three minutes that produced a goal apiece.
Melville would take their late goal to tie things up in the first and use that momentum to shock the Terriers with a go-ahead goal at the Farrell Agencies Arena as Rin Beny would make it 2-1 to the Millionaires. Getting outshot and down a goal it appeared as if the young Terriers were about to drop a crucial first game with 6:45 left in the second period and trailing Melville.
The Terriers had other ideas as they scored three unanswered goals to grab the win. Keanan Sperling tied the game before the end of the second period while Derrick Budz got the game winning goal before Carson Miller's empty netter would ace an important home win to start the series off on schedule for Yorkton who did not want to have to travel to Melville in an elimination game after a Game One loss.
In Game Two the Millionaires would switch their goaltender to Dylan Sies and the move would turn out to pay off major dividends as a hot Sies would make 54 saves in what turned out to be a classic playoff meeting between the two Bantam clubs as the Millionaires playing for their playoff lives pushed the Terriers to their limits on home ice.
After a scoreless first period the powerplay would open up the scoring as the Millionaires earned the first goal of the night by the way of Jordan Mish following a Bulych high stick. Yorkton would then respond with two straight powerplay goals of their own from Carson Welke and Budz to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead.
Carson Miller would score late on in the second period to extend the Terriers lead to 3-1, with less than 25 minutes left for the Millionaires to come back it appeared as if Yorkton would be on its way to two sweeps in a row to start the 2014 playoffs. However the underdog Melville team had other ideas.
Colby Holloway would score on the powerplay with just over 90 seconds left in the second period before Connor Baber scored the game tying goal in the third period to send the game into overtime for the first time in the series.
The two teams would play for over 40 minutes with the Terriers outshooting the Mils 24-8, but in the end the hosts would get their moment of glory as Melville would take Game Two off of a Carson Sass game winning goal after an instant classic where the Millionaires came back and staved off elimination after going down 3-1 to one of the title contenders in Yorkton.
In Game Three back in Yorkton on Saturday night the Terriers would show no interest in continuing to let the underdog Millionaires to hang around. After both teams tired themselves out during their triple overtime thriller, it would be Yorkton whose speed and athleticism made the difference in the final game of the series as the Terriers blew the Mils out of the water in an 8-2 rout to advance to the Division Finals.
Seven different goalscorers contributed in the Yorkton win, Carson Welke would finish as the only multi-goalscorer for the Terriers in the win with two tallys to his name.
The UCT Terriers will now turn their focus on their South Division Final against the Prairie Storm, a battle that will pit the first place Prairie Storm up against the Terriers in a battle of the two best teams in the league during the regular season by terms of total points.
Balgonie's Prairie Storm finished with 58 points and just two losses on the season while the Terriers did equally well with just five losses and one tie during their 51 point season. Where the Terriers lack an edge in the regular season points department they make up for by holding an edge in goal differential as the Terriers +129 differential overshadows the equally as talented Prairie Storm's +103 differential.
In the final the Terriers will need to rely on their high end scorers in Carson Welke, Carson Miller and Kaedan Traphorn as the Prairie Storm allowed just 50 goals all season, 1.6 goals per game. Yorkton scored 6.8 goals per game during the regular season so this battle could become one that pits high end offense against high end defense.
Yorkton will be coming into the series as rare underdogs as the season series was swept by the Storm. All the way back in December they won games over the Terriers 2-0 and 3-2 to earn the season sweep, but both teams will likely know that a lot has changed since before Christmas and this should be a hard fought series between two teams that may think that a win in the South Final could mean a likely SBAAHL championship.
The series action will start Thursday as the Terriers travel as visitors for Game One before hosting Game Two on Sunday. If there a deciding third game is needed the two teams will play the following Friday back in Balgonie.
