The Highway 10 Battle has been settled and the result is something that put a smile on every Yorkton Terriers face Saturday night as they avenged last year's first round loss with a 5-1 win in Melville to advance to the Canalta Cup. After last year's heartbreaking loss in the Sherwood Semifinals a Yorkton Terriers team that had a large number of returning players from that heartbreaking loss got a lift from a hometown rookie born on the Highway 10 Battle to lift them to the finals. It was a result that most Terriers fans were hoping for, but not expecting as heading into their Good Friday clash the Terriers just came off losing Games Three and Four to the Millionaires to tie up the series. A 3-1 win at the FAA and a shutout from Alex Wakaluk at the HCUC in a 3-0 win gave the Mils all the momentum heading into a Game Five that was a must win for the Terriers.
With the Millionaires putting the Terriers on the ropes , things only got worse in the opening stages of Game Five as Russell Trudeau scored just 55 seconds into the game to put Melville up 1-0. Lucas Froese repeated the same for Melville to pen the second period just 44 seconds in to put the Terriers down 2-0 with just under 40 minutes left in Game Five, but with all of the pressure on them the Terriers players decided not to panic. Brady Norrish snuck around behind the net to sneak in a backhand goal past Wakaluk to put the deficit to just one goal just four minutes after Froese's marker and the Terriers finally woke up from their slumber.
Kailum Gervais scored a similar goal from behind the net to close out the period and sent both teams into the dressing room with a tied 2-2 score and 20 minutes left in Game Five. A win was a must for the Terriers if they wanted to avoid their first elimination game of the playoffs on the road in Melville Saturday night, meaning they would have to beat the SJHL MVP at least one more time in order to get the win. With Wakaluk playing amazing, that would be no short task for the Terriers.
With the team needing a hero on Good Friday, Tayler Thompson stepped up for his second goal of the series on a rebound from a Dakota Odgers shot to give the Terriers a 3-2 lead. Dawson MacAuley shut the door the rest of the way after being pulled in Game Four, making 18 saves in the win to put the Terriers up 3-2 in the series.
Thompson after the game preached that remaining calm was the key for the Terriers coming back from their 2-0 hole in the second. "After we went down 1-0 we all told each other not to panic and did the same after the second goal and after Brady came up with a clutch goal momentum just started to get rolling and then Kailum scored to tie it up and things began to go our way and we picked up our game to get the win" said Thompson.
Head coach Trent Cassan echoed Thompson's comments after the game as well saying, "Guys didn't get down on each other once we were down two goals and we kept our composure and did some of the stuff we talked about after getting shutout in Game Four and started to get some goals." Cassan mentioned that their gameplan after Wakaluk's shutout was rather basic old school hockey strategy, get the puck in front of the net with traffic in front. "You aren't going to beat a goalie like Alex Wakaluk from the top of the faceoff circle or with a clean shot from the blueline, so we wanted to get behind the net and get our guys the puck on their stick right in front of the net or get shots with traffic in front to deal with how good he is at making saves" said Cassan.
Going into Game Six the Terriers were looking to replicate their success in Game Two and shake off the cobwebs of their bad luck in their last road game of the series where Wakaluk notched his shutout. With tickets for the elimination game leading to lineups down the block at Melville's Horizon Credit Union Centre Game Six had a definite playoff atmosphere with many Yorkton fans making the trip up to support their Terriers on Saturday night.
Dakota Odgers would not disappoint the Terriers fans who made the trip up, scoring his first of the playoffs to add to his assist in Game Five to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead to end the first period. Odgers goal capped off March that saw the talented forward play in the playoffs for the Midget AAA Yorkton Harvest, the WHL's Swift Current Broncos and the Terriers in a one month span.
In the second period the Terriers pulled away thanks to the unlikeliest of heroes as Dylan Johnson took advantage of an injury to round one hero Patrick Martens in just his second appearance of the series with two huge second period goals. Johnson first tipped a shot at Wakaluk before banging home the rebound to get goal number one before muscling in a goal on a wrap around behind the net for two powerplay goals in a three minute span to put the Terriers up 3-1. Brady Norrish would add a shorthanded goal and an empty netter to give himself five for the playoffs as a defensemen to seal a 5-1 win for the Terriers, silencing the Melville crowd and a Millionaires season that saw them have the league's two leading scorers and the league MVP in net under Wakaluk.
Dawson MacAuley was brilliant in Game Six, making 35 saves for the Terriers in a bounce back game after being pulled in Game Four in Melville. MacAuley, who began the season as Kale Thomson's backup continued a strong second half of the season for the Terriers in the series. Despite getting the yank in one game, MacAuley has led the Terriers to a 8-3 playoff record and outdueled the league MVP to lift his team to the Sherwood title, something MacAuley is extremely proud of. "It was awesome to get to battle against such a talented goaltender all series and after hearing the coaches talk about how you can't beat Wakaluk all series it helped me motivate my game to try to help the guys out and I have a ton of respect for Alex so it was definitely special to get that win and help us get to the final" said MacAuley.
As for his journey from being a backup to being the starter MacAuley said while he always felt he had the talent to be a number one goaltender the extra work he had to put in to become one is something that drives him to keep working. "I will never forget the work that it took just to get me to this point and that I need to work even harder to stay here and to get better individually as well as help my team win" said MacAuley.
Dakota Odgers addition to the lineup after finishing his season with Swift Current was a gamble that paid huge dividends for the Terriers in the last two games of the series as Odgers potted a goal and an assist in his return to the Terriers after playing a handful of regular season games for the squad during the break. Having a brother on the team was the deciding factor in Trent Cassan's decision to put the very talented playmaker and power forward on the roster once he was back in Yorkton. "Odgers is a very talented player and any time you can add WHL caliber talent, especially a player who played in a five game series against the Calgary Hitmen it can be a huge addition to your team, but being a billet with guys on the team as well as having a brother in John to help out in the room it is almost a seamless transition whenever Dakota comes in so it was a no brainer for me" said Cassan.
Now the Terriers will look to Game One on Friday where they will face the Humboldt Broncos, who staved off the Flin Flon Bombers and Devin Buffalo's Goaltender of the Week performance to advance to the Canalta Cup Final out of the North Division. Playing multiple overtime games could be a factor in this series for the Broncos as they might have less rested legs than a Terriers squad that somehow avoided overtime in a very tight series with the Millionaires. The Broncos were the SJHL's best defensive team this season and are the defending champions while adding 2010 #1 WHL Bantam Draft selection Alex Forsberg at the deadline after he was sent home by Prince George during a trade holdout. Dealing with Forsberg will be a key to this series as his playmaking abilities will help a Humboldt team that is every bit as deep and talent laden as the Terriers.
Matt Hrynkiw will be in goal for the Broncos and was rock solid in net for Humboldt all year, once again given the Terriers a challenge in beaten one of the SJHL's best netminders in this series. Playing behind the league's best blueline statistics wise, Hrynkiw has shut down the Terriers at the FAA this season in a shootout win that was the Terriers only regular season loss. His ability to steal games will be a factor in this series.
On the Terriers side the story is the same as it has always been, depth and hard work has put the Terriers were they are right now. Getting Patrick Martens back will be huge for them as his absence in the Millionaires series showed as the forward who scored seven goals in round one against Estevan was missed. Jeremy Johnson has also struggled to find the lamp in the playoffs thus far, in his last year of Junior eligibility expect Johnson to have a turnaround and up his game in the final.
On the blueline the Terriers are healthy and strong. Devon McMullen has had an extremely solid playoffs and has been leading by an example at captain while Dylan Baer has stepped up in his first real crack at playoff hockey after an injury during the 2011-12 playoffs. With Brady Norrish's five goals so far the Terriers might have the offensive advantage at the blueline over the Broncos, expect low scoring games and an offensive punch from a well balanced Terriers defensive unit that has an equal match of big physical players and puck movers like the Norrish twins and McMullen.
As for the schedule the Broncos hold home ice advantage after narrowly taking the SJHL points title this year and will host Games 1/3/5/7 and the one and one SJHL playoff format while the Terriers will take games 2/4/6. Friday night will mark Game One of the series and the Terriers will hope to steal a huge game from Humboldt before heading back to the FAA Sunday for Game Two. The Terriers will need to win at least one road game this series to advance, but have been solid so far on the road in the playoffs getting road wins in both the Melville and Estevan series. With only two losses all season at home to Humboldt in a shootout and in Game Three to Melville the Terriers should be able to look at this series and point out getting one win on the road as the key and be fairly confident they can get all three victories at the FAA in this series.
If the Terriers can replicate what they did against a Melville team that on paper was the best offensive team and had the league's best goaltender than they can be considered as favorites in this series over a Humboldt team that had a slightly better regular season. Their home record as well as their convincing Game Six win over Melville on Saturday night should put the Broncos on notice that this Terriers team is hungry to get to the RBC Cup. They are four games away, mathematically it sounds easy, but Cassan and the Terriers now that four wins are a lot harder to come by than you would think.
