The last place Weyburn Red Wings have had the Yorkton Terriers number in the first half of the 2013/14 SJHL season. Sitting in the basement of the Viterra Division, the Red Wings reprised their Opening Night upset over the Terriers with a shootout win at the Farrell Agencies Arena on Friday, stealing a point from the hosts who were looking to overtake first place from Melville.
In the loss the Terriers took the lead twice over the Red Wings and outshot their opponents from Weyburn 45-27, but couldn't shake off a scrappy Wings squad backed by the outstanding goaltending of Rylan Parenteau, who made 43 saves in the shootout win on Friday. Kale Thomson made 24 saves on 26 shots in a less busy night in between the posts.
Kailum Gervais would get on the board first for the Terriers, scoring his fourth goal of the season on an assist from rookie Jordan Ross before the Red Wings countered with a goal of their own at the end of the second period to send the game into the third tied 1-1. In the final period veteran forward Daylan Gatzke would finally break the ice and get his first goal of the season at around the nine minute mark of the final 20 minutes of play. That Terriers lead was also short lived as Brian Farkas scored just three minutes later for Weyburn in what was eventually the game tying goal as the two teams went into overtime tied up at 2-2.
In overtime the Terriers continued to dominate play, outshooting the Wings 5-1, but as in regulation, the story of the game was the hosts inability to beat the Weyburn rookie sensation. Parenteau would continue his frustratingly good night in the shootout, stopping all three Terriers attempts from Josh Ellis, Tayler Thompson Chase Norrish respectively to win the shootout 1-0 off of Ty McLean's shootout goal.
Postgame head coach Trent Cassan had nothing but praise for the Red Wings.
"This is not a typical last place team and I think you have seen it in our games with them all season that you have to earn everything you guy when you play Weyburn so their rebuild has been going quite well and they play us real tough," says Cassan.
Cassan also gave credit to the strong early season play of Parenteau, who with Alex Wakaluk, Matt Hrynkiw and Dawson MacAuley all moving on after the 2012/13 season, has emerged as one of the SJHL's best goaltenders so far. "When you look around at the goalies in this league, you have to give him the nod as one of the more solid starters in the league and he has given us troubles in the times we have faced him and that is a big part of why Weyburn is so tough to play," says Cassan who also pointed out Parenteau is relatively young for the Junior ranks.
On Sunday the Terriers finished off the weekend with a clash against the Flin Flon Bombers. While the crowd was sparse until the end of the Saskatchewan Roughriders West Final clash with the Calgary Stampeders, the Terriers gave the fans who did end up coming to the Farrell Agencies Arena to a full effort.
After a scoreless first period the Terriers opened the scoring with Gervais' second goal of the weekend on an assist from playmaking linemate Tayler Thompson before rookies Tyson Enzie and Zach Zadorozniak combined for a goal just over halfway in the second to put the Terriers up 2-0.
Defensman Danys Chartrand would score shortly after for Flin Flon to put the game back to within one, but Dalton Menke would step up with some late insurance to end the second period, scoring his third of the year to put the game out of reach for good for the Bombers. Daylan Gatzke would add his second goal of the weekend on the powerplay to make it a 4-1 final. Postgame Cassan was pleased with how the weekend went for the Terriers depite their shootout loss Friday.
"Overall this was a real successful weekend for us, we got some guys who haven't been on the board in awhile getting going for us and earned three out of four points which at the end of the day is something we can be happy with."
Cassan was returning behind the bench this weekend after a two week stint with the Canada West team at the World Junior A Hockey Challenge. With a busy schedule and a time zone switch being in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Cassan mentioned that he took a hands off approach and let assistants Casey O'Brien and Gord Pritchard as well as respected GM and former head coach Don Chesney take care of the operations in Yorkton while he was away.
"I have to thank the Yorkton Terriers organization for first allowing me to spend so much time away from the team for around two weeks and then the staff for doing such a good job while I was gone which was no surprise given the hard work that Casey, Gord, and Don do on a daily basis within the club."
Cassan also said that the experience helped him think about things differently and see styles of play he might not see in the SJHL. "With the best players in each Junior A league coming together for the Canadian teams and some really strong international groups the game was definitely faster and with the challenge of a lack of familiarity you had to think on the fly and develop an understanding of your players strengths and weaknesses very quickly to make the required adjustments which was an exciting challenge," says Cassan who admitted figuring out who was who was a challenge at first. "During the exhibition game it was definitely nice to have a roster because you would be trying to remember names while evaluate what was going on on the ice."
Looking ahead to this week the Terriers have stiff competition in hosting the La Ronge Ice Wolves before a home and away series with their Highway 10 rivals in the Melville Millionaires as the two teams continue to battle for first place in the Viterra Division before the Christmas Break. After posting an eye popping home record in 2012/13 when the team was the Canalta Cup champions, Cassan is hoping the team can return back to the FAA after a long road trip and pile up some wins, but is downplaying the possibility of the Terriers nearly going undefeated at the FAA again.
"What we did last year was something you might not even see in the SJHL for another ten years and when you look at how close some of the scores around the league and some of the wins we got last year at home we won some close games where we got one or two bounces we needed to win in the regular season, so it is hard to say we will be able to repeat that, but winning games at home is a key focus for us," says Cassan.
As of writing the Terriers and Millionaires are tied for first in the league with 49 points apiece putting them in a three way tie for Kindersley for top in the SJHL. With the Mils and Terriers reigniting their rivalry with two games this weekend, the intensity is sure to be high with a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the Viterra Division with a sweep of their hated rivals. The league will be watching.
