Hopes for the Terriers going into their annual seven game November road trip were high. After all they were second in the Sherwood Division going in and despite the loss to Estevan were one of the SJHL's hottest teams in October and went 5-2 on last year's road trip giving fans hope that the Terriers could keep pace with the grueling schedule.
Sadly that has not been the case as losses to Humboldt and Flin Flon have found the Terriers in a three game skid with two games left on the road slate before they host league best Flin Flon on Sunday.
The Terriers struggles continued between the pipes against second place Humboldt in their 6-2 loss, four goals allowed by Kale Thomson in his first start in three games saw him get pulled for Dawson MacAuley who fared slightly better, but three straight goals in the second period put the game out of reach for the Terriers who were burned by four Broncos powerplay goals in the loss. Austin Bourhis first goal of the season and Jeremy Johnson's 12th were part of a successful first period that ended with the game tied at two before the Broncos came out of the gates to start the second.
Penalty killing once again cost the Terriers in Flin Flon as the Bombers went a perfect three for three on the powerplay en route to a 4-0 win backed by a Devin Buffalo 35 save shutout. Conor Barrie got the start in goal after the goaltending issues in Humboldt and made 29 saves, but the penalty killing problems proved too much for the Terriers to overcome against the league's best.
Two straight losses to top two teams in the Bauer Division is not cause for alarm, but the Terriers will need to step it up on the penalty kill if they want to stop their losing skid. Seven powerplay goals allowed in two games is not a good trend and with road games in La Ronge and Weyburn on the horizon before Sunday's big return to home action the Terriers will be looking to cushion the blow of dropping three in a row with four points in the next two.
Once the Terriers come back home things don't get much easier as Flin Flon is the league's best team and despite Melville's matching three game losing streak the Highway 10 rivalry that is looming on the November 23/24 weekend guarantees for another week of tough games for the Terriers.
With just two points separating the Terriers from first place in the Sherwood Division behind the suddenly hot Notre Dame Hounds and Melville the Terriers have been given the good fortune of staying at the top of their division despite one of their worst stretches of play of the year. With yet another difficult three game stretch coming up with Flin Flon and the Melville home/away series the Terriers will need to make the most of their next two games with Weyburn and La Ronge and step up in key problem areas with the goaltending and penalty kill if they are going to stay afloat at the top of the SJHL.
If this losing streak continues with Notre Dame on a six game winning streak the Terriers can find themselves in the middle of the pack real fast, a quick turnaround is going to be vital in what is the most difficult stretch of games in the Terriers 2012/13 regular season schedule.
