Coming into the 2013-14 Saskatchewan Junior Jockey League season as defending champions and boasting a stacked roster of returning players the Yorkton Terriers had the pressure to repeat as Canalta Cup champions from Day One. The Terriers lived up to that pressure, completing their season long mission to repeat as league champions with a convincing 4-0 win over the Melville Millionaires to complete a four game sweep on their way to the title.
After winning the opening two games of the SJHL Finals in overtime before beating the Mils in regulation time at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Game Three the Terriers would travel to Melville knowing that they could make history by sweeping their historic rivals in the first ever league championship series between the two franchises. For Melville it would be one last chance to get back into the series and prove to the rest of the province that they belonged in the final with the Terriers despite shocking the SJHL all season long as the Cinderella story under head coach Jaime Fiesel.
As they had all season, the Mils would be relying on goaltender Isaiah Plett to keep them afloat even in Game Four as the Millionaires required heroics from their goaltender in an opening period where the Terriers controlled play despite the do or die situation for Melville on their home ice. Still Plett would keep them alive, making all 12 saves in a period where Melville held on despite being outshot 12-7.
Plett's solid play would continue into a second period where Melville would begin to make their push in a game that continued to drag on as scoreless before disaster struck for both Plett and the Mils. On a breakaway stretch pass from Brady Norrish, Kailum Gervais found himself wide open on goal as Plett would blow out his leg skating out to cut down the angle on Gervais' breakaway attempt. Plett would make the initial save, but Gervais would tap in the rebound as the goaltender laid down in pain and agony with an injury that forced him out of his final Junior hockey game.
In his place was backup Richard Palmer, who coming in cold was thrown to the wolves with the Terriers now having all of the momentum thanks to a late second period goal that lifted the spirits of the well travelled Terriers fans who made the trip for the potential of seeing a lifted championship at the end of the night.
With the Yorkton crowd making noise, Dylan Baer scored on the first shot attempt on Palmer to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead and all but seal the sweep heading into the final period with Melville's slimmest hopes of getting back in the series all but crushed with Plett's unfortunate injury.
Tyler Giebel would make it 3-0 in the third to continue the countdown celebration to the Terriers back to back league titles, but it would be a new face that would provide a fitting final exclamation point as acquired top goalscorer Brett Boehm would find a late goal for his 10th of the playoffs to make it a 4-0 final.
For Yorkton it was an end that head coach Trent Cassan was extremely proud of after his Terrier team completed a mission they had set out for themselves ever since a crushing 1-0 loss to the Brooks Bandits at the 2013 Western Canada Cup left them one game short of a Royal Bank Cup appearance.
"I am extremely proud of the way this team has played this season," says Cassan. "We had a group of a lot of returning players who had the desire to win, young guys who wanted to be apart of the group and a locker room full of leaders that I couldn't be more proud of."
Despite the pressure of being defending champions in Yorkton, a city that is known for high expectations when it comes to its Junior A hockey team especially when it is winning, Cassan says there was no feelings of that pressure inside of the locker room and that he wanted his team to celebrate the honor of winning the Saskatchewan title.
"There seemed to be a lot of pressure coming from outside of the team after winning last year and having so many players come back, but that was never something we discussed or paid attention to," mentions Cassan who was the head coach of both title winning teams. "What we did have was a group of leaders and players who enjoy playing with each other wanting to win for ourselves and to be Saskatchewan champions for a second time is a huge accomplishment for these young men that I want them to celebrate."
Captain Devon McMullen, who scored the winning overtime goal in Game Two on the road to deliver the turning point of the series, summed up Cassan's feelings after winning his second SJHL title in three finals appearances over his career in Yorkton.
"It is an amazing experience," says McMullen. "Every year you want to be champions and to be able to experience this with teammates that are so close is hard to put into words right now."
McMullen's second title as a captain caps one of the best careers in Yorkton Terriers history as the undersized defenseman from Moosomin who spent both his Midget AAA and Junior career in the city finished his SJHL career with three finals appearances, two titles, and an amazing 51 playoff games played. Playing in Yorkton for so long with so many familiar faces, McMullen noted the special moment of being able to finish his career in the SJHL with the title.
"I have been lucky to be able to play in Yorkton for a long time with great teammates, coaches, and fans, you name it," says McMullen. "To be able to win another SJHL title and in a historic final against Melville is definitely something I will never forget."
Goaltender Kale Thomson was monumental in the Terriers championship run as the Yorkton born goaltender who along with McMullen has spent his time with the Harvest and the Terriers for much of his hockey career as a teenager had a dominant Finals performance behind the Terriers blueline. With his Game Four shutout Thomson allowed just three goals over four games against the Millionaires, in the end outdueling Plett despite facing less traffic. After sitting on the bench last season after Dawson MacAuley took the starting job down the stretch, Thomson cherished every moment of winning the SJHL title as a starter in a deserved end to his career in the league with his hometown team.
"I would be lying if I didn't say it is a different experience winning the title being on the ice for every moment as opposed to watching from the bench," says Thomson. "After winning last year and coming up short from the RBC Cup we were all motivated to get back here and especially for myself because I wanted to win the league title again especially knowing that I would likely be the starter the whole season."
Being from Yorkton, Thomson also relished in the moment of getting to beat Melville in the Finals for the first time in history while giving credit to his opponent in the other side of the crease. "There was a lot of hype going into the series surrounding pretty much everything because of the Yorkton and Melville rivalry," explains Thomson. "Especially with me and Isaiah being the two best goaltenders in the league a lot of people were really talking about it coming into the series and he is an excellent goalie so he deserves credit and it was a great feeling to be able to beat a strong opposing goalie and our rivals in the final."
Despite the celebrations in Melville on the ice, many Terriers players also weren't afraid to finally address a topic that was silently surrounding the team all season: redemption.
"We knew all season that we wanted to go to win the league again and try to get to the Royal Bank Cup," MVP Chase Norrish says. "To fall one goal short to the eventual champions hurt and we had a lot of returning guys who all had one goal which was to win the league and keep pushing forward to getting one step further this year by making the RBC Cup."
Terriers head coach Trent Cassan, one of the coolest customers in the SJHL when it comes to downplaying the situation used the long layoff thanks to winning before the Easter long weekend to deflect any type of comments on the Western Canada cup in the wake of celebrations like the savvy coach he is.
"We just won the SJHL championship so I am focused on that right now and we will get focused on the Western Canada Cup after Easter," Cassan exclaimed while smiling following watching his players win their second straight SJHL title.
Yorkton will head to Dauphin this weekend as one of the favorites to advance to the Royal Bank Cup out of the five hopefuls that will be vying for a top two finish to advance. As the only returning team to the Western Canada Cup the Terriers will be hoping to use that experience to their advantage as they enter the round robin, one game format that is vastly different from playoff hockey.
"We know what to expect now which I think will be huge for us," says Norrish. "It is very different from playoff hockey knowing that every game is so important and playing teams that you have never seen before that you might not get a second chance against so having that experience in going through this tournament before as a team and being able to let the rest of our team that hasn't been there know what to expect is something that we feel could be huge for us."
After two league titles and two seasons of dominating the SJHL as a team the mini-dynasty of the Yorkton Terriers will now be trying to stretch their magical ride together just a little longer. This time they will be hoping to play the role of experienced favorites, shedding their young underdog status in their quest to prove to the country that they belong in the RBC Cup.
