The Yorkton Terriers completed a four game week claiming six of a possible eight points with three wins. The Terriers started with a 4-2 win over the visiting Battlefords North Stars Tuesday night at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The North Stars took a one goal lead after 20 minutes from a goal by Kyle Hall early in the first period.
Terrier defenseman Brady Norrish tied the game midway through the second assisted by Keven Cann and Tayler Thompson.
Ryon Sookro scored Yorkton's go-ahead goal, a powerplay marker assisted by Tyler Geibel.
Travis Sparrow tied the game at two for the North Stars.
Zak Majkowski broke the deadlock with a powerplay goal late in the period assisted by Thompson and Cann.
Jeremy Johnson added the insurance marker, an empty net goal with a little over a minute left in the contest assisted by Kelly Lessmeister.
The Terriers outshot the home team 43-10 as they shutout the Estevan Bruins at Spectra Place in Estevan Wednesday night.
Following a scoreless first period, Majkowski opened the scoring late in the second with a powerplay goal assisted by Cann and Sookro.
Brady Norrish added Yorkton's second goal in the third period assisted by Thompson and John-son.
Thompson capped the scoring with an empty net goal with less than a minute left in the game to clinch the 3-0 win assisted by Brandon Poncelet.
Terrier netminder Warren Shymko added another shutout to his impressive season record.
Despite outshooting the Notre Dame Hounds 36-23 at the Duncan McNeill Arena Saturday night, the Yorkton terriers fell 1-2 to the Hounds.
Curtis Oliver scored early in the first period to give the Terriers a one goal edge which carried into the second frame assisted by Riley Paterson and Kyle McLeod.
Greg Ferguson lit up the scoreboard for Notre Dame early in the second period to tie the game.
Brandon Kuse scored the game winner for Notre Dame a little past the midpoint of the second period to clinch the 2-1 win for the Hounds.
Returning to home ice the Yorkton Terriers outshot the visiting LaRonge Ice Wolves 43-23 on the way to a 4-3 overtime win at the Farrell Agencies Arena Sunday evening.
Trailing 2-0 after the first period and 32 after the second, the Terriers managed to tie the game with less than a minute remaining in regulation time.
Graham Smerek and Brennan Wright each scored once in the first period to give the visitors a two goal edge after 20 minutes.
Riley Paterson lit up the board for the Terriers midway through the second assisted by Brent Struble and Johnson.
Johnson scored the first of two late in the period to tie the game for the first time assisted by Brady Norrish and Paterson.
Brodie Eisbrenner scored the third goal for LaRonge to send the teams to the dressing rooms with the Ice Wolves leading by one goal.
Just when it looked like the Wolves were going to eke out a narrow 3-2 win, Johnson notched a single handed tying goal, his second of the game, with just 37 seconds remaining in regulation time to send it into overtime.
Struble came up with the big game winner just 33 seconds into the overtime period assisted by Geibel and Paterson.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan says the game against Notre Dame Saturday just got away from the Terriers, perhaps because the team failed to play with a playoff intensity. He suggests that despite the hiccup, the Terriers have had a pretty good stretch of games recently.
Cassan suggests the Ice Wolves are a good team battling for playoff positioning. He compares them to the Terriers, a team which has no bigtime point producers but who has a lot of dangerous guys who've had a lot of playoff experience.
Not happy with the effort in the first period, Cassan let the team know they have to step up and play with some intensity heading into the playoffs. "I thought some of our older guys did respond tonight," he suggests.
Cassan was happy with Jeremy Johnson's performance. "He wants to score goals and he likes to score. He shoots the puck to score those goals," Cassan says. Johnson is also working on other parts of his game to learn and develop. As a 19 year-old, Johnson is pushed by coaches and is expected to do well and he has responded in his first year as a Junior A player, Cassan adds.
Struble showed some good composure in front of the opposing net and was able to put the overtime game winner just under the top bar, Cassan notes.
With the win, the Terriers have a three point edge on second place in the standings over third place Melville with two games left in the regular season. "We can still control where we finish if we take care of our own effort," says Cassan. That's a good position to be in rather than relying on others, he adds.
After the recent weekend, the Terriers had two regular season game remaining, hosting LaRonge Wednesday and travelling to Notre Dame Saturday. "We have to have that playoff mentality all the way through now," Cassan declares.
Playoffs will probably begin Friday or Satur-day, March 2 or 3, Cassan reports. At this point, it appears York-ton will play Melville in the first round.
