With the Humboldt Broncos shockingly winning the Alex Forsberg sweepstakes at the junior trade deadline and becoming the talk of the SJHL, the Terriers have showed that they aren't going anywhere yet as of late. Dawson MacAuley has ran with an increased role in between the pipes and Jeremy Johnson has went on a scoring tear and all of a sudden the Terriers have won seven straight games and sit back atop the SJHL standings with five games to play.
A weekend slate that saw the Terriers host the Notre Dame Hounds and the Weyburn Red Wings on back to back nights gave a feeling that Dawson MacAuley's consecutive starts and shutout streak would come to an end, but MacAuley got the start against Notre Dame and was phenomenal once again as he made 12 saves in the opening period to extend his shutout streak for another twenty minutes. Tyler Giebel scored his seventeenth of the year on the powerplay to make it 1-0 Terriers after the first period.
Another Terriers powerplay goal, this time by Curtis Oliver made it 2-0 before Notre Dame ended MacAuley's shutout streak at three games with two quick unanswered goals to tie the game at 2-2. Defensemen Blaine Thomson provided the unlikely end to MacAuley's streak with his fifth goal of the season, but Brenden Poncelet got quick revenge with a goal just before the end of period in a flurry of action that saw three goals in the second period's final two minutes.
Giebel added another powerplay goal just twenty nine seconds into the third and the Terriers staved off the Notre Dame pressure for the rest of the period to take a 4-2 win in a game where Notre Dame outshot the Terriers in a rare occurrence at the FAA this season. MacAuley was brilliant once again despite the end of his shutout streak, making 31 saves and improving his record to 12-5 after a streak that will serve as one of the individual highlights of the 2012/13 Terriers season.
With back to back games it was expected that Kale Thomson was to get his start on Saturday when the Red Wings came to the FAA, but MacAuley's 31 save performance was enough for coach Trent Cassan to give him his fifth straight start in goal.
A second run at a shutout streak was not to be as Weyburn struck first to make it a 1-0 game midway through the first period before Jeremy Johnson scored his twenty third of the season to tie things up at 1-1 to end the opening session at the FAA. Nathan Murray put home a shorthanded tally to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead that proved to be the turning point as Johnson added another highlight reel goal shortly after, embarrassing a Red Wings defender before sniping in his 24th of the season to make it 3-1 Terriers after two.
In the third the Terriers poured it on, scoring four goals in the final frame. Tyler Giebel started things off with a powerplay goal early before Johnson got his third of the night to make it 5-1. The hat trick gave Johnson his 25th goal of the season, becoming just the fourth player to reach the plateau in the SJHL this season. Kailum Gervais and Patrick Martens got in on the fun late with goals of their own and the Terriers rolled to a 7-2 victory.
Johnson, who now has had two hat tricks at the FAA this season, admits that being from Yorkton gives him an added boost at times when the Terriers play at home saying, "I have lots of friends and family who come to see me play and they give me a little bit extra when I know people are out supporting me."
Saturday's game marked the end of a busy week for the Terriers, as they had only one game on the schedule between then and a February 13 clash with the Notre Dame Hounds, giving the Terriers some time to recover aches and pains in a stretch that sees the Terriers play just six games in nineteen days. That one game was a Tuesday night clash with the Estevan Bruins at Spectra Place as the playoff hungry Bruins were looking to end the Terriers win streak and improve their playoff odds.
MacAuley took his sixth straight start as he looked to continue the Terriers win streak on the road. Nathan Murray struck first for the Terriers, continuing his scoring form as of late with a goal assisted by Tayler Thompson and Brady Norrish to give the Terriers first blood on the road. Scoreless hockey filled the majority of the game as MacAuley and Estevan's Curtis Martinu turned down every scoring chance in sight for much of the first and second periods as the game crawled into the third with the Terriers still up 1-0. Estevan tied things up midway through the final period, sending the game into overtime where Johnson played the hero yet again, putting one past Martinu just 1:02 into the overtime frame to continue the win streak.
MacAuley was huge yet again in his sixth straight win, stopping 24 shots and bolstering the huge amount of confidence Terriers coach Trent Cassan has had in him as of late. MacAuley credits his recent run to both his coaches and his players and explained he is taking everything as it comes saying, "I had a talk with coach before my first start of the shutout streak and I felt I needed to step my game up, and I have never had a run of play like this before in my career at any level and it has really been special, but I am not taking anything for granted right now and want to just keep working."
Cassan has credited MacAuley's play to confidence and being relaxed saying, "There was times this year where Dawson would come out one night with an amazing performance and the next game let in two early goals and get down on himself and as of late he has seemed looser and has been putting us in a position to win every night, especially against Notre Dame where we were outshot at home for the first time in a long time."
With five games left Cassan made it clear that the Terriers job in goal is still not going to be a guarantee saying, "When you have two good goalies you can ride who is hot and Kale Thomson will get a chance at some starts like we have been doing all season."
With three of the Terriers final five games on the road Cassan mentioned that they will be experiencing a challenge that will prepare them for the playoffs saying, "We will be going into a lot of tough buildings with teams that will be looking to get into playoff positioning and that is going to help us in knowing that we need to win those important battles on the road that are different than what you see when we play at home."
Five games in nineteen days close out the Terriers season with three points separating them from Humboldt atop the league, with a hot goalie and a team that seems to be back running at all cylinders the Terriers will be looking at clinching the Sherwood and regular season SJHL titles. We are little under a month away from playoff hockey and it seems that for now the Terriers are more than ready for it.
