It seems that the Farrell Agencies Arena has been a goaltending oasis this month as some of the SJHL season's best goaltending performances have came in the Terriers building in January. Normally the work of the visiting team's goaltenders, this weekend the Terriers joined in on the goaltending party as Dawson MacAuley took over between the pipes for the hometown Terriers.
A road loss on Thursday night to Humboldt saw the Terriers lose their perch atop the SJHL as Alex Forsberg's three point night gave the Broncos their second win over the Terriers since Christmas and has the once favorites to finish first in the league playing catch up to try to take back first place at the end of the season. With the 7-2 defeat the Terriers needed points at home against two teams in playoff battles in the Melfort Mustangs and Kindersley Klippers and coach Trent Cassan turned to MacAuley for the start and was not let down.
A scoreless affair gave nothing much besides goaltending excellence as the Mustangs' Jesse Wilkins reprised the role of Weyburn's J.P. Boucher just nights prior in giving the Terriers fits by stopping everything they could throw at him. Wilkins saved 42 shots in regulation time to keep a shutout through sixty minutes while MacAuley made 29 stops in regulation time to match Wilkins.
In overtime the Terriers continued their offensive barrage at Wilkins, and for 4:55 seconds of overtime Wilkins was unsolvable yet again, before Tyler Giebel put one away with just four seconds left to avoid the shootout and give the Terriers a 1-0 win with MacAuley grabbing first star for his 30 save shutout night.
Saturday night saw a similar storyline as the Kindersley Klippers came into town. MacAuley was given the start on back to back nights, a well deserved gesture from Cassan rewarding him for his shutout.
In goal for the Klippers on Saturday was Tyrell King who started over Warren Shymko who let in five goals against the Mils on Friday night. Shymko, the former Terriers starting goaltender and Yorkton Minor Hockey product would sit out his potential last game at the Farrell Agencies Arena. With the Klippers sitting in fourth place, this game also served as a potential first round playoff preview in the Sherwood Division.
After taking sixty-four minutes and fifty six seconds to score on Friday the Terriers wasted no time in getting on the board on Saturday as Curtis Oliver scored his sixth goal of the season early in the first period to give the Terriers the 1-0 lead. It would be the only scoring the FAA faithful would see on the night as King dug deep to make 42 saves, giving Kindersley more than enough of a chance to go out and win the game, but MacAuley was once again solid in a slightly less busy night between the pipes, making saves on all 21 Klippers shots to seal the win.
MacAuley took SJHL Goaltender of the Week honors for his efforts and after a tough early January stretch saw his record go from 7-2 to 8-5, MacAuley heads into the final month of the season with a 10-5 record and a nice 2.28 GAA and .916 save percentage, great numbers for a backup goaltender at any level.
Nine games now remain in the Terriers regular season, with Humboldt sitting one point ahead for the all important home ice advantage come the Canalta Cup Final, wins will be equally as important to the Terriers as they are to the handful of teams battling to sneak into the playoffs this February.
With first place in the Sherwood all but guaranteed, the Terriers will attempt to play spoiler when the Hounds come to town on Friday night. Once a meeting circled on the calendar as one that would have division title implications, the Hounds have cooled off significantly since the Christmas break and find themselves in third place with a tough date with the Mils in the first round in their future. With the Millionaires new building giving them a serious home ice advantage, the Hounds will be looking to get back into the race for second place and a win over the Terriers on Friday night would go a long way in getting some of that momentum back that they sorely need after a dismal January where they have went 4-5-1 in their last ten games.
Saturday sees the Weyburn Red Wings return to town for what will be their third meeting in two weeks. The Terriers play in Weyburn during the midweek and scored a 4-3 win in their January 22 meeting at the FAA where J.P. Boucher's goaltending clinic was spoiled by John Odgers and Dylan Johnson late in the third period. This weekend will serve as two of the last four home games for the Terriers, who spend much of their final month away from the road. With a nearly perfect home record this year the Terriers will need to find a way to go on a road win streak in the final month if they are going to catch the Broncos and grab the regular season title.
