For as good as the Yorkton Terriers have been on home ice in the 2013/14 SJHL regular season, continuing their tradition of strong play at the Farrell Agencies Arena, the Terriers have been a different animal on the road.
At home, the Terriers have lost just four games this season. On the road the Terriers have suffered 11 defeats, and while some of those have been in overtime, those losses have allowed the Melville Millionaires to climb ahead of them in the Viterra Division standings.
This weekend those difficulties continued when the Terriers went north to play Kramer Division opponents in the Battlefords North Stars and the division leading Kindersley Klippers on road ice. Playing against Canalta Cup hopefuls looking to make a statement with just over a month until playoffs, the Terriers could only grab one point over the two games which as mentioned dropped the team into second place in the Viterra Division.
Missing goaltender Kale Thomson, the Terriers were forced to put in little used backup Riley Medves. Without their workhorse starter and playing top competition, the Terriers didn't help their backup's cause in their meeting with the North Stars. The team got outshot by the hosts 35-33 in a game that ended with the Terriers losing 3-1 to the third placed North Starts.
Things started off well for the Terriers as they controlled the opening period, outshooting the North Stars 13-10 and finishing the period with the lead off of forward Brett Boehm's 18th goal of the season.
The Stars turned things into their favour in the second period, outshooting the Terriers 18-9, doubling them in shots. Goals from Kyle Schmidt and Blake Young would give the North Stars a 2-1 lead to end the period and they would add one more in the third on the powerplay from Jake McMillen to end with the 3-1 victory.
Special teams would be the difference in the game as the North Stars went 2/4 on the powerplay to edge the Terriers.
Things would improve on Saturday as the Terriers responded to the loss with a much more productive outing against the division leading Klippers. For the second straight game the Terriers would take the lead as promising rookie Tyson Enzie scored the game's opening goal off assists from Tayler Thompson and Brett Boehm. Enzie's marker would be the lone goal of the period as for the second straight night the Terriers would outshoot their opponents and finish with a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The repeating theme would continue as for the second straight night the Terriers would also be outshot by their opponents by a wide margin as the Klippers fought their way back after the Terriers went up 3-0 off a Boehm goal and a shorthanded goal from newcomer Riley Hunt, responding with two unanswered goals of their own.
Powerplay goals from Connor Garden and Jared Pilet put the Klippers within one goal after two periods. Cushioning the blow of a furious start from the Terriers that had them up three goals.
In the final period the powerplay would once again catch up to the Terriers as their achilles heel on the weekend as Brandon Lauder scored a late goal on the man advantage to send the game into overtime.
In the shootout Medves would stop the first two Klippers shooters, but got no support from his shooters, eventually allowing the Klippers to steal the extra point in a shootout win.
Penalty kill woes cost Terriers
Penalties in the end cost the Terriers as they gave up five of six goals in their two games on the shorthand, a trend that surely won't please head coach Trent Cassan.
Perhaps it should not come as a surprise for the Terriers that their penalty kill was not up to typical form, with Kale Thomson out of action it was clear just how much impact the much improved 20 year old has on this year's team. Hopefully Thomson will be in the lineup sooner rather than later, even if Riley Medves was capable by all accounts in filling the void over the weekend.
Hunt makes debut
The weekend also marked the debut of the Terriers trade deadline acquisition Riley Hunt who came from the KIJHL's Summer-land Heat, the same league that 2013 deadline acquisition Josh Ellis came from before being a solid utility forward that could win faceoffs and kill off penalties during the Terriers SJHL championship run. Hunt made his impression on the Terriers right away with the shorthanded goal to put the Terriers up 3-0. While it wasn't the game winning goal it could have been, it was a good sign that Hunt might be a solid role filler during this season's postseason push.
2012/13 Canalta Cup finalists slumping out of Christmas
At Christmas time it appeared that the Yorkton Terriers and Humboldt Broncos were the odds on favorites to win their divisions at the end of the regular season come the beginning of March. So far the Kindersley Klippers and Melville Millionaires have had other ideas.
Winners of seven straight games, the Klippers have rode a win streak right as the Broncos have dropped three straight games, allowing them to take a six point lead over the defending North champions at 54 points.
After beating the Terriers on Saturday, albeit with Thomson out of the crease for Yorkton, it looks like the Klippers have joined the title favorite discussion as leaders of the pack in the Kramer Division.
Playing two more games than the Terriers at the time of printing, the surprise Millionaires haven't missed a beat since losing Tyson Predinchuk to the defending WHL Champion Portland Winterhawks at the deadline. At the 40 game mark the Millionaires have 58 points and 27 wins, totals that weren't exactly expected when the Millionaires lost half of the SJHL Awards winners last season in a campaign that ended with a Game 6 loss to the Terriers at home in the Sherwood Conference Final. With a six point cushion over their rivals in the Viterra Division, the Millionaires may just be for real when it comes to contending for the Canalta Cup this spring.
Up Next
After some difficulties finding the win column in play against the Kramer Division, the Terriers will be welcoming a slate of games against the weakest division in the SJHL when they continue their North road trip.
This weekend forward Brett Boehm makes his return to Flin Flon to take on the Bombers before the Terriers visit "The Cage" when they try to knock off the Nipawin Hawks.
These two games will be extremely important for the Terriers as they can't afford to let the Mils gain any distance/further momentum over them in the Viterra Division race.
