One of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's elite franchises, the Yorkton Terriers, and their fan base are quite used to winning, but there has always been one prize that has eluded them: The Junior "A" National Championship.
Whether it was called the "Centennial Cup" or the "Royal Bank Cup" or today's more modern name under the same sponsor "RBC Cup" there wasn't much luck for Yorkton after clinching SJHL and Anavet Cup titles to qualify for the National Championships as representatives of Western Canada. As hosts in the late 90's the Terriers would be upset by the eventual champions in overtime before they would get another chance in the mid 00's, eventually running into a future NHL star named Kyle Turris and the Burnaby Express in the final to fall short again.
That would be as close as the Terriers would get to the National Championship in the modern era of the team until this recent run by the Yorkton team who started to rekindle the city's obsession with a first ever RBC Cup last season with a magical run to the 2012/13 SJHL title that put the team in the first ever Western Canada Cup where they would face Western Canada's best teams for two sports in the RBC.
Unfortunately things didn't pan out for the Terriers last season as sports' cruel fate didn't have Yorkton in mind when it penned the script of the Western Canada and RBC Cups last season, instead giving the Brooks Bandits the glory when the eventual National Champions from Alberta eliminated the Terriers 1-0 and ending Yorkton's season one game short of the RBC Cup.
Losing starting playoff goaltender Dawson MacAuley to the WHL's Regina Pats and clutch goalscorer Jeremy Johnson as one of six overage players moving on before defending the SJHL title, a returning Yorkton Terriers team with 15 players coming back found themselves as heavy favorites to repeat as SJHL champions. They also had an unspoken goal from Day One, earn a spot in the RBC Cup and make a run at becoming National Champions.
Things didn't start out like many may remember as the Terriers lost in Opening Night in a 3-0 shocker to the Weyburn Red Wings, but after some shrewd additions blended with a strong supporting cast the expected dominance of the defending champions began to emerge.
With in season additions of Brett Boehm and Riley Hunt giving Yorkton some more high end talent in their arsenal, the Terriers eventually outlasted a surprisingly strong season from the Melville Millionaires to atop both the Viterra Division and the SJHL regular season standings, finishing with the season pennant after a second place regular season finish the year before.
In the SJHL Playoffs as the number one seed, things appeared easy for a Terriers team that made quick work of the Notre Dame Hounds and Humboldt Broncos in five games apiece to earn their spot in the Canalta Cup Finals, but they would be taken out of their comfort zones in both series to give the team preparation for the road ahead. First physically by some mind games from the underdog Notre Dame Hounds who toed the line between tough and dirty in their first round matchup, then mentally thanks to three overtime wins in their semifinal series with Humboldt in what was a rematch of their 2013 Finals meeting.
A dream final was set up as for the first time in history the Yorkton Terriers and Melville Millionaires would play in a historic Canalta Cup final thanks to the SJHL's new three division format. Despite a strong regular season performance by the Millionaires and a hot goaltender in Isaiah Plett, the Terriers would quickly show Melville that they were just a cut above the league competition in a four game sweep.
The series was not without memorable moments as the Millionaires made Yorkton fight for every inch in Game One and Game Two, requiring a late game tying goal from Brett Boehm in Game One to sneak out an overtime win before Devon McMullen secured a goal in double overtime in Melville to take a 2-0 series lead and the wind out of Melville's Cinderella sails.
Less nervy wins followed in the final two games as the Terriers earned sweet bragging rights by sweeping their local rivals in their own new arena, continuing Melville's streak without their first ever league championship and a spot in the Western Canada Cup for a second straight season. Yorkton born goaltender Kale Thomson was the star of the series for the Terriers, making up for losing out on the number one job to MacAuley the year before by allowing just three Melville goals in the sweep to cement his SJHL Top Goaltender Award in style.
After losing just twice in the SJHL Playoffs and sweeping the Mils, Yorkton would finally face adversity at the worst possible time in the round robin of the Western Canada Cup in Dauphin as their star goaltender got hit with the flu bug before the tournament, missing the first game against the Winnipeg Blues. With backup Riley Medves playing his first game in well over a month, the Terriers were upset by the Blues in the first game before losing to Spruce Grove in overtime in their third game with a still fatigued Thomson still slightly off form in the second loss after giving up six goals in their win against the Dauphin Kings.
Needing a win against the Coquitlam Express to stay alive in the Western Canada Cup the Terriers dug deep and found the quality of play and effort they showed in must win games all season, holding the BCHL champions to just one goal in a 4-1 win to earn a spot in the WCC final.
Facing the host Dauphin Kings in the final with a spot in the RBC Cup on the line in addition to a second title of the season the Terriers would get a heavy boost from a strong travelling contingent of Yorkton fans who made the short two and a half hour drive to Manitoba to watch their team play for the Western Canada Cup. With very close to half of the crowd in Dauphin cheering on Yorkton, a masterful performance from their in-season acquisition in Boehm would give the Terriers the Western Canada Cup as a four goal game from the former Flin Flon Bomber earned them a thrilling regulation time win over the Kings and their first RBC Cup appearance since 2006.
Looking to finally get over the National Championship hump, the Terriers would yet again find a way to make things difficult for themselves in Vernon in the early stages of the round robin. Suffering an upset to the Toronto-Lakeshore Patriots in the opening game, the Terriers would then fall behind 5-1 to the Vernon Vipers in the second game of their round robin schedule. Having to pull Thomson from goal the Terriers would get the score to 5-4 in a furious comeback, but eventually would fall to 0-2 and into a must win situation for their final two games.
Playing the Carleton Place Canadians in their first of two must win contests, the Terriers would fall down 1-0 in the first period and give the fans watching on television at home and those who travelled to Vernon one more scare before making the type of comeback that has became their trademark over the past two seasons.
Three unanswered goals would give Yorkton a massive 3-1 regulation win and send the Terriers into a round robin finale with the Dauphin Kings between them and a berth in the RBC Cup semifinals.
Against the Kings the Terriers would need overtime after Tyler Giebel's lone goal allowed Yorkton to level with Dauphin in a 1-1 game through regulation time. There Derek Falloon would become the hero, scoring an overtime winner and continuing the Terriers season after many had written them off following their losses in the opening two games. Never saying die, the Terriers players fought back to get to where they wanted to be since the beginning of the season and were just two games away from the team's first ever RBC Cup.
Still, the odds would be stacked against them yet again when they drew the hosts in the Vernon Vipers in the semifinal. For the first time all RBC Cup the Terriers would get out on the front foot against the hosts, making all of the momentum theirs in what was their best performance since heading out to Vernon. Taking a 2-1 lead in the first period, Yorkton would hold on thanks to third period insurance markers from Daylan Gatzke and Tayler Thompson to beat the host Vipers 6-3 and book their first spot in the RBC Cup Final since 2006.
Getting to showcase their brand of hockey on national television on TSN as an added reward for qualifying for the National Championship Game, coming up against a team they beat in the round robin in the Carleton Place Canadians.
Things didn't exactly go to the script of the coaching staff early on in the Final as the Terriers not only gave up the game's first goal before Gatzke answered back to end the first period 1-1, but conceded two costly goals in the second period to Carleton Place that put the team down 3-1 going into the final 20 minutes of their season. Those 20 minutes dwindled down to less than 10 minutes to keep their National Championship hopes alive, hopes that appeared all but gone when Dylan Johnson was assessed a late penalty to put Yorkton on the penalty kill and needing two goals just to force an overtime.
Needing something special to happen, the Terriers never gave up and were rewarded. Kale Thomson made massive saves to kill the penalty before an unsung defenseman in Tanner Lischynsky scored the biggest goal of his life to bring Yorkton back within a goal with just under 3:00 left on the clock to find an equalizer.
They would just need eight seconds to force OT as a hometown hero in Dylan Johnson would help make history, finding a beautiful feed from captain Devon McMullen to tie the game suddenly and send the Yorkton fans in Vernon and watching back home into a frenzy. With the chips all on the table, the Terriers found one more turn of "luck" to keep their RBC Cup hopes going into a sudden death overtime for the entire country to witness on TSN. Johnson, a native of Yorkton, rallying the troops with a huge goal that felt like destiny as the sad story of the Terriers falling just short of the RBC Cup Final as they did in 2006 being rewritten into one of the greatest comebacks in Junior hockey history in a matter of seconds.
In overtime the Terriers naturally had all the momentum following the heroics of Johnson, but would need 15:01 of play to find history. Once again it would be Derek Falloon, a player who would be playing in his last Junior game after an injury plagued season, who would be the hero as the forward found a juicy rebound on his stick and slotted the puck past the Carelton Place goaltender for what will be forever remembered as the iconic moment that gave Yorkton its first RBC Cup. For a team that had a silent mission to reach the highest mountain in Junior A hockey from the beginning of the season, it was a long time coming.
The City of Yorkton has long had a love for their Yorkton Terriers as well as the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, unsurprisingly going hand in hand with mostly consistent success for the team during their history. Numerous banners up in the rafters of the Farrell Agencies Arena will point to a long and proud history that had included many SJHL and Anavet Cup championships to show just how close many teams before came to achieving history. Even the team that came before them, the 2012/13 Terriers, showed just how easy it is to fall short in losing 1-0 to the eventual RBC Cup champions one game away from a spot in the tournament. The many outliers of a championship season preventing all the teams before them from an accomplishment that one of only well over 150 Junior A teams gets to achieve this season.
That is what makes the 2013/14 Yorkton Terriers so special. Entering the season with the knowledge of just how hard it is to achieve glory, a team with a tight bond worked everyday to accomplish something statistically improbable. Overcoming injuries, slumps, elimination games, sudden death overtimes, bad bounces, bad officiating, and even better opponents on some nights to do what no other team before them could. Lifting a National Championship that has taken the Yorkton Terriers organization countless decades to accomplish.
Many memorable Terriers will leave the team and the city with a lasting memory that will ensure their place in history. Players in Devon McMullen, Kale Thomson, and Tayler Thompson nearly playing almost all of their Midget and Junior hockey games in the city to leave it with a banner that will likely hang in the rafters forever.
Small moments may be forgotten over time, the reality of sports is that there will always be a more recent memory to cloud an old one no matter how successful the memory may be, but the historic run of the 2013/14 Yorkton Terriers is something that will likely be remembered forever. It is deserved, after all it took over 40 years to accomplish a feat that many have dreamed about. A first ever Junior A National Championship.
