Needing just one win to secure the Sherwood Division title over Melville after a 6-1 win over Notre Dame at home Wednesday night, the Terriers embarked on their three game road trip to start their final four game stretch of the 2012/13 SJHL regular season, with two games against North Division opponents over the weekend. A trip to Flin Flon would be followed by a game in Nipawin as two teams that hope to upset the Humboldt Broncos in the playoffs would provide tough road opposition for the Terriers.
With the magic number for the division title set at one win or one Millionaires loss the Terriers could also close in on the regular season SJHL honors with wins and Humboldt losses, making Friday's game against Flin Flon an important game standings wise across the league with just two weekends left in the season. Tyler Giebel started off the road trip for the Terriers with a bang, scoring the only goal of the first period and goal number twenty one for the forward, who spent some time in Saskatoon with the Blades this winter.
Great goaltending from Dawson MacAuley and Devin Buffalo kept the game rather uneventful for much of the opening forty minutes before a Dylan Baer high sticking penalty led to Flin Flon's first goal of the night on the powerplay with just one minute left in the second. The Baer penalty was almost killed off and Flin Flon gained some serious momentum heading into the third with the game tied, grabbing the lead with five minutes left in the game off Dillan McCombie's seventeenth.
Jeremy Johnson continued his solid play in February, closing in on the thirty goal plateau in his final season with goal number twenty seven just twelve seconds after Flin Flon took the lead to force overtime. Overtime solved nothing and after the Terriers went 0 for 3 in the shootout, Riley Storzuk potted one past MacAuley to give the Bombers the extra point with the Terriers settling for the single in a shootout loss. MacAuley made 32 saves in the loss with Buffalo making just one more at 33 in a game that had solid goaltending on both ends.
Kale Thomson got his turn in goal on Saturday as he got his first start in February on the tail end of a back to back. Once Trent Cassan's go to in goal, Thomson now needs a strong pre playoff performance if he is to take over the starting job for the playoffs in March, making the game in Nipawin an audition for the role. Tyler Giebel once again scored the first goal of the game for the Terriers to make it 1-0 before Tad Kozun and Ben Johnstone put in first period goals for the Hawks.
Johnstone, a former Yorkton Harvest forward added the game's final goal in the third period to secure a 3-1 win for the Hawks and hand the Terriers a loss in the tail end of a road/road back to back. Thomson made 28 saves and if he was given some more goalscoring support likely could have got the W for the Terriers, just allowing three goals in his first start in a month.
With two games left in the season the Terriers will look to secure the Sherwood Division title this weekend with their final road game against Melfort on Friday and a special 6:30 p.m. start on Sunday at the FAA as the Terriers take on the Battlefords Stars to wrap up their regular season. Tied atop the SJHL with the Broncos who have a game at hand and just four points up on the Millionaires (who also have a game advantage on the Terriers) wins will be needed this weekend. Playoff hockey is at the fingertips of the SJHL's teams and fans, but work is still needed to be done this weekend as the almost completed playoff picture will be fully developed come Sunday night.
