Going into Tuesday night the Yorkton Terriers had to be feeling pretty good about their recent success in the SJHL Playoffs. Four straight wins including Games One and Two in the Highway 10 Battle against the Melville Millionaires had the Terriers up 2-0 in the Sherwood Conference Final heading into Game Three at the FAA where the Terriers would have a chance to bury their rivals and take a commanding 3-0 in the series. With just one loss at home all year the odds were stacked up against the Millionaires going into the FAA and with the Terriers just allowing one goal in each of the opening two games of the series everyone involved was prepared for a tightly contested clash.
Christian Magnus opened the scoring for Melville on the powerplay after a very questionable Austin Bourhis hooking penalty away from the play drew the ire of the Terriers supporters. However, the Millionaires would not be complaining as they capitalized on the scoring opportunity and jumped out to the early lead.
Captain Devon McMullen would add his second goal of the series for the Terriers to tie it up with an absolute beauty of a wrist shot coming in from the slot off the blueline , evening things up off a nice assist from Zak Majkowski.
Despite the clutch goal scoring from their captain, the Terriers could not stop Russell Trudeau from continuing his clutch playoff play for the Millionaires scoring his fifth of the playoffs to send the Mils up 2-1 heading into the second period.
After the three goal first both teams started to play a much more defensively sound hockey game with the Terriers digging in and trying to press on for the game tying goal.
The second period was all Terriers as they outshot the Mils 12-4, but Alex Wakaluk began to show signs that he was going to steal the show after being bested by Dawson MacAuley in Game One and Game Two. The SJHL MVP made all twelve saves in the period to keep the Mils 2-1 lead intact going into the third period.
An early third period powerplay off a Russell Trudeau hooking penalty would give the Terriers their first quality chance of the closing frame just 46 seconds into the third, but a Jeremy Johnson interference penalty would negate the man advantage, which would serve as a turning point in Game Three as the Terriers could not solve Wakaluk at even strength on Tuesday night. Wakaluk made 11 saves in the third period before a Christian Magnus empty net goal sealed a Mils 3-1 win in a game the Terriers dominated for much of the sixty minutes, breathing new life into the Millionaires season while giving the Terriers thoughts of what could have been had they gone up 3-0 in the series.
Despite the letdown of losing a game where they outshot their rivals 40-23, Terriers head coach Trent Cassan wasn't overly disappointed in the result. "You aren't going to win every game in the playoffs and we didn't expect to win this series in four games so now we will shift our focus to Game Four" says Cassan.
With the Terries defense holding the high powered Mils offense to just four goals in three games, the Terriers should feel pretty confident heading into the rest of the series knowing that their defensive effort has given them the chance to win every night so far in the series. Dylan Baer has been one of the key parts of the defensive effort in the series, playing a particularly solid game in Game Three, laying the body all game and attempting to get things going on offense by putting shots in traffic when the opportunity arose, earning praise from Cassan postgame.
"Baer was injured during last year's series with Melville as a 17 year old and is now getting his chance to play in the playoffs and has been playing very good for us in the start of this series, playing very physical and trying to get things going for us which adds a lot to our defensive depth," says Cassan.
Cassan also backed up that the strength of the defense as being a huge factor in their 2-1 lead saying, "When you can hold a team that has the two leading scorers in the league to just four goals in three games you have to be happy with your chances and that needs to continue going forward as you can't get your best defensive pairing on their best line at all times because they have three lines of very good offensive talent."
With the series now at 2-1 in a best of seven series, the table is now set for a Game Four that could see the Mils tie up the series, but Cassan says the team will key on what has worked for them as of late as the Terriers are 2-1 on the road in the playoffs thus far. "We have had some good success on the road in the playoffs so far so we will try to rely on what has worked for us so far and tinker a bit here and there where it is needed and we hope to come out on top in Game Four," says Cassan.
As for keys to the series going forward, Cassan mentioned that his Terriers still have veterans on the team that have yet to step up, something he thinks will come in handy as a difference maker once they do saying, "We have a couple of older players on the roster who have yet to take over a game in the playoffs who know they can do more and want to do more but just haven't converted on some chances they have had so far in March and once they step up it could be a huge momentum swing for our team and if they keep working hard it will happen."
With a 2-1 series in the Sherwood Conference Final the Highway 10 Battle has been everything once could expect from it. Scrappy, hard fought and low scoring games have been the norm in this series with both teams barns being near sellouts in the first three games.
With four potential games left in the series anything can happen, but as of now the Terriers are in the drivers seat.
