It was a night of celebration that looked like it was headed for disaster before it barely even started as the Weyburn Red Wings spoiled the Yorkton Terriers home opener celebrations by scoring :14 seconds into the first period on a deflected pass by a skate that surprised goaltender Kale Thomson.
With the Terriers 2012/13 SJHL Championship banner barely at the top of the Farrell Agencies Arena, the crowd was silenced and Thomson said that he was stunned the puck went in. "It kind of surprised me," says Thomson. "It was a pass to a rushing forward charging to the net in the slot and it deflected off either my defender's or the forward's skate and just went under my pad."
Losing to the Red Wings 3-0 the night before in Weyburn's home opener, the goal was the fourth straight unanswered goal to start Yorkton's season.
Luckily for the Terriers they had tons of time left to give the 1,988 fans who came to the Terriers home opener something to cheer about. The youngest brother of a Yorkton hockey family with a tradition for scoring clutch goals for the Terriers as of late would fittingly be the first player to get the FAA rocking. Dylan Johnson would launch a one timed rocket to the top corner to tie things up at 1-1 with a goal that would make his brother Jeremy, now graduated to the Minot State Beavers program after leading Yorkton in goals for two straight seasons, proud.
Hot Red Wings goalie Ryan Parenteau would keep the Terriers from getting the lead for all of the second period, making some amazing saves that have him tabbed as the breakout goalie of 2013/14 already after his 22 save shutout the night before. Tyler Giebel would be the one to solve Parenteau to find the go ahead goal, earning his first of a season in which he is expected to fill the void Jeremy Johnson and Patrick Martens left in his 20 year old season.
Newcomer Jordan Ross would find the insurance on the powerplay, beating Parenteau on a one timer from the faceoff circle to finish off a good sequence of powerplay offense from the Terriers. Weyburn would get a goal right back, but it was too little too late as a Tyler Giebel empty netter would give the Terriers their first win of their season 4-2.
For Terriers head coach Trent Cassan the win was a relief after a 3-0 loss on the road to Weyburn the night before, but it was also a reminder of how important home ice is in the SJHL. "I think often people don't understand just how it is to win on the road in the SJHL and how different the game is from playing at home to playing on the road due to the fact that our games aren't on television and the typical fan might not see a road game until the playoffs, but it is a huge challenge to go into another team's barn and grab a win especially in a home opener atmosphere," says Cassan.
Cassan also praised the Red Wings after their home/home series, pointing out that the team might be a little bit stronger than anticipated under a new coach in Bryce Thoma replacing the legendary Dwight McMillan. "Anyone who watched the two games we played with Weyburn this weekend saw a team that was hungry to win and has a good young goaltender" says Cassan. "If you have that combination of hard work and good goaltending and get a full effort out of your team you will be tough to play."
Kale Thomson was solid in net on Saturday night for the Terriers, making 22 saves on 24 shots to earn the win. For Thomson who hasn't seen a ton of ice time after being Dawson MacAuley's backup in goal for the second half of the 2012/13 season before a nagging injury kept him out of training camp, the opportunity to play on back to back nights to start the season helped him get back to being comfortable in the crease. "You can only practice so much and with a nagging injury I could only even practice so much during training camp and preseason so the opportunity to play on back to back nights really helped me get back to being familiar with my surroundings out there which is huge," says Thomson.
Thomson was the Terriers Opening Night starter last season and won SJHL Goaltender of the Week on multiple occasions during the first half of last season before the emergence of MacAuley as one of the best goaltenders in the league saw Thomson in less of a tandem role and more as a backup once playoffs rolled around. Still the Terriers should be confident in the fact that Thomson is a 20 year old veteran who has been around the Terriers organization for a long time now, something that makes the Yorkton native confident in his ability to lead the Terriers.
"Last year I might not have got the chance to finish things off, but I feel that with our defense and my experience that we will be strong again."
Thomson knows that there will be pressure, in fact he embraces it. "Being one game short of the RBC Cup and losing to the eventual champions 1-0 has the guys who came back motivated to get back there and we know the city expects us to be good again so I am thrilled to get the chance to help us get back there again this year."
