Yorkton Terrier fans were left in a daze as their team's season ended not with a bang but rather with a whimper as the Melville Millionaires rebounded from their series opening loss to sweeping the next four games to claim a four games to one win in the best of seven games south semi-final series Friday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena. Melville came in to game five with three consecutive one goal wins, one in overtime, one with a last minute goal and one with two goals scored in the final minute of play. Friday, the Mils capped the series with a decisive 7-3 triumph.
Wednesday night it looked like the Terriers, going into the final minute of play with a one goal edge, would tie the series at two games apiece. It wasn't to be as the Mils scored two goals in the final minute of play to claim the one goal win and take a 3-1 lead in the series.
Brenden Poncelet gave the Terriers a one goal lead in the opening period with a goal just 14 minutes after the opening whistle assisted by Riley Paterson.
Sean Aschim tied the game at one early in the second period.
Curtis Oliver scored the go-ahead goal for Yorkton on a powerplay assisted by Ryon Sookro and Chase Norrish.
Lucas Froese pulled the Millionaires even again late in the second period.
Brent Struble scored Yorkton's third goal at 7:50 of the third period assisted by Devon McMullen and Norrish.
The game settled into a grinding battle. It looked like a Yorkton win until with fewer than 45 seconds left in regulation time, Ian McNulty tied the game for Melville.
While overtime didn't guarantee a win, at least it provided some hope for Terrier fans. That is, until McNulty notched his second in less than one minute to clinch the 4-3 win for the Millionaires to hand the a 3-1 series margin going into Yorkton for Game 5.
Given the close results in the last three games, fans expected the same outcome for either team Friday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena. Again, it wasn't to be as the Millionaires jumped out to a two goal lead early in the game and added a third late in the first period. Jess Mireau opened the scoring for Melville while Russell Trudeau added a couple of powerplay markers.
Zak Majkowski scored Yorkton's opening goal, a powerplay goal, late in the first period assisted by Brady Norrish and Keven Cann.
Struble tied the game at two briefly with York-ton's second powerplay marker assisted by Tyler Giebel and Norrish.
McNulty and Trudeau, scored for Melville in the second period. Trudeau's goal was his third to complete his hat trick.
Michael Sagan and Colin Mospanchuk rounded out Millionaire scoring with a goal apiece in the final frame.
Struble notched his second goal of the game late in the period unassisted.
Unfortunately Melville's lead had become insurmountable in the time remaining in the game.
Yorkton Terrier head coach Trent Cassan says the Terriers always battled all year long and never showed any desire to quit. In this case losing three games either in overtime or in the last minute was just too much to overcome in the end, he suggests.
Powerplays played a big part in the game, Cassan says. The powerplay was what got the Terriers back into the game and penalties were what allowed Melville to take over the game, he explains. "Sometimes you live and die by specialty teams and it obviously hurt us a bit tonight," he adds.
Cassan doesn't blame his goal tender Dawson McAulay for the previous loss in Melville. He says McAulay was composed and played well. The two last minute goals were the result of a breakdown in front of him rather that a reflection of his performance.
Despite the final score Friday, Cassan feels both netminders battled hard in the game.
Cassan says he noticed something in the second period he hasn't seen all year. Some players appeared to start to panic, causing him to call a time out to settle things down. He believes the panic set in, "Because they cared so much that the guys were almost trying to do too much and putting too much on themselves."
He credits the Millionaires top line of stepping up and playing a great game.
Possibly the biggest factor to hurt the Terriers the most in the series was simply mistakes at key times, Cassan states.
He says Struble, a big force all season long, has been an awesome Terrier for the past three years. "He's one of the better players and good kid that I've had to coach here in my time," Cassan claims.
He also praises Riley Patterson and Kelly Lessmeister as being very big parts of the Terriers success as well as playing big roles in the community over their years with the team. They provide very good leadership. "Riley's a very solid captain, always reliable," Cassan declares.
He admits he's sad to see the graduating players go, but at the same time he says he's very proud of them.
