The Yorkton Terriers completed a two game road trip and a game at home to pick up five of a possible six points for the week with a pair of wins and a narrow overtime loss.
The weekly campaign started with a 5-3 romp over the Kindersley Klippers at the West Central Events Centre in Kindersley Wednesday night.
Riley Paterson started the scoring for Yorkton early in the first period assisted by Brent Struble and Tyler Giebel.
Colby Daniels tied the game for the Klippers.
Giebel scored the go-ahead goal assisted by Zak Majkowski midway through the period to give the Terriers a one goal lead after one period.
Nathan Murray and Chase Norrish each scored once in the second period to extend Yorkton's lead to three goals. Murray scored a single handed marker while Norris was assisted by Terrier net minder Warren Shymko.
Kyle Davies and Travis Geislinger each scored once in the third period to pull Kindersley within one goal of the Terriers.
Tayler Thompson potted the short handed insurance marker with less than a minute left in regulation time assisted by Nathan Murray and Sam Rockwell to clinch the 5-3 win for the Terriers.
Thursday, two third period goals tied the game for the Battlefords North Stars and lifted them to a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Yorkton Terriers at the North Battleford Civic Centre.
Yorkton took a 2-1 lead after a pair of first period goals. Giebel scored the opening goal assisted by Struble and Majkowski. Struble scored the second assisted by Rockwell and Brady Norrish.
Blake Tatchell kept things close with the lone marker for the North Stars.
Thompson's second period power play marker assisted by Kelly Lessmeister extended Yorkton's lead to two goals after two periods.
A pair of third period goals, one each by Roger Tagoona and Boyd Wakelin tied the game for the Stars to send the game into overtime.
Tatchell scored the game winner midway through the overtime period to clinch the 4-3 overtime win for the Battlefords North Stars.
Returning to home ice Saturday evening, the Yorkton Terriers exploded out of the box from the opening whistle to score four times in the first period to take a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Curtis Oliver lit up the scoreboard for Yorkton early in the first frame assisted by Dylan Baer.
Kyle McLeod added Yorkton's second goal, a power play marker assisted by Jeremy Johnson and Lessmeister.
Majkowski notched Yorkton's third goal assisted by Struble and Keven Cann.
Sookro added the Terrier's fourth goal late in the period assisted by Paterson.
Terrier netminder Kale Thomson held Notre Dame to one goal in the first period.
Sookro opened second period scoring with his second goal of the game assisted by Thompson and Jamie Vlanich.
Paterson added a second period power play goal assisted by Lessmeister and McLeod.
Notre Dame came alive to threaten in the second frame with three goals, two by Troy Murray and one by Todd Christian.
Catlin Foley pulled the Hounds within one goal early in the third period.
Giebel notched Yorkton's seventh goal two minutes later assisted by Struble and Majkowski.
Majkowski wrapped things up with a little over a minute in regulation time assisted by Struble and Johnson to clinch the 8-5 win for Yorkton.
Yorkton Terrier head coach Trent Cassan says playing three games in four days and claiming five out of six points is a good week. Going into overtime in North Battleford is always a crap shoot as Battleford has a heck of a hockey team this year, Cassan concedes. The Terriers have managed to go there and win three out of four points which is a tough thing to do, he points out.
He also points out that the Kindersley/Battleford road trips are tough but the Terriers have managed to get seven of eight points which has been good for the team.
There are no easy points in the league, Cassan insists. Even though the Terriers took a 4-1 lead and perhaps became a little too comfortable, Kindersley kept coming, forcing the Terriers to score an empty net goal to put the game away and lock up the two points, he reports.
Cassan admits there were mistakes made in the game. Shifts got lengthened a bit. There were some turnovers at the blue line and the Terriers didn't stop on pucks in their own end, he lists. "A lot of the time our wingers skated by loose pucks and got a little complacent on them and quickly they ended up in the back of our net and Notre Dame kept coming at us too," Cassan states.
Cassan talked to the team about having all Terrier lines chip in to have an impact on the third game in four nights. "I thought we had that tonight," he asserts. He and his staff are building toward a consistent effort from all lines to avoid the playoff scenario where a dominant line which a team may depend on gets shut down. He puts different units out on the power play, for example. "The only way guys can gain experience is to be put into those situations," Cassan says.
In the game of hockey there are mistakes made all the time, he notes. The team that can limit their mistakes will be successful.
While everyone's excited about the Christmas holidays, the next three games are important to stay within striking distance for second, third and fourth place. Right now there are two or three teams in the mix. "If you have a couple of off nights you can slip in your positioning pretty quick or if you have a good stretch of games you can move yourself up a little bit too," Cassan closes.
