It was a high scoring shootout at the Farrell Agencies Arena Tuesday night as the Yorkton Terriers battled the visiting Battlefords North Stars to a 7-4 blowout.
Terrier winger Clarke Breitkreuz opened the scoring for Yorkton midway through the first period assisted by Brent Struble and Robbie Ciolfi.
A three goal second period gave Yorkton what appeared to be an insurmountable lead.
Terrier defenseman Blaine Tendler's short handed marker late in the period made it 2-0 for Yorkton. Craig Eisenhut and Keon Vick earned assists on Tendler's goal.
Riley Paterson added Yorkton's third goal about two minutes later assisted by Nathan Murray and Vick.
Justin Lamontagne slipped the puck past Battleford goalie Graham Hildebrand to score the Terriers fourth goal with less than a minute left in the second frame assisted by Davis Van-dane and Struble.
Kyle Hall put the North Stars on the scoreboard with a goal midway through the second to tie the game at one before the Terriers exploded with three goals in four minutes.
The Terriers added three much needed goals in the third period as the North Stars rallied with three of their own. Battleford marksmen included Tanner Schwab, Blake Tatchell who each added a goal.
Murray opened the scoring to start the Terrier third period attack assisted by Kelly Leismeister.
Breitkreuz added his second of the game assisted by Vandane and Struble.
Ciolfi capped Terrier scoring midway through the final frame assisted by Kurtis Decker and Tendler.
Breitkreuz, named first game star for his two goals in the game, says it was one of those games where there were scoring opportunities for both teams which both teams managed to take advantage of their chances. "It's not a knock on any visiting team goalie or our goalie but just one of those games where there are lots of good opportunities for the forwards and they just buried them," he states.
Breitkreuz credits teammates with his two goals in the game. Great play by Struble and Ciolfi enabled him to knock in the rebound for his first goal, he explains. Struble made a beautiful pass to Vandane who took a shot on net which resulted in another rebound he managed to bang into the net. "So nothing special. Nothing pretty, but a lot of credit to the guys I'm out there with," he sums up.
Breitkreuz denies competing with Ciolfi in the points race. Rather each tries to help the other out as much as pos-sible on the ice to create room for each other, Breitkreuz claims. "I'm just as excited if I score when he scores. His goal is my goal. That's the way we look at it," he declares.
Breitkreuz says the Terriers haven't had a record like this at this point in the season since the days of Korchinski, Wagar and Sparvier. "It's a good feeling to be on a winning hockey club," he admits. However he says the team can't become too cocky and overconfident. Each player has to work hard in practice, bring his best effort to games. "When that happens we've been successful," he comments.
While the ultimate goal is the league title and possibly a shot at the national championship, Breitkreuz points out the Terriers shouldn't get ahead of themselves. It's still early in the year with half of the season left to play. "We just want to go into the break continuing firing on all cylinders and come into the second half of the season the same way. Hopefully we'll contend for first spot and then go into the playoffs on fire," he closes.
Terrier coach and G.M. Trent Cassan says the game was back and forth with both clubs making mistakes and both teams capitalizing on the other's mistakes. "It was a mid-November hockey game. There's room for improvement on both sides," he suggests.
In order to be successful, the Terriers need to put players into situations where they can get the ice time to contribute offensively. As long as they're doing the small things right, back-checking hard and taking care of their own end first they will continue to score. "We'll give them the freedom to be creative and offensive as long as they're going to play both ends of the rink," Cassan states.
Showcase is an important event for the league and the players. All 12 teams are there. The weekend is for the players. They're being watched by a lot of scouts from NCAA, CIS and some pro teams, Cassan points out. It's not so all important that it makes or breaks players, he cautions. "It certainly doesn't. It helps to identify guys and then they'll watch them over the course of the year to see how they're progressing," he adds.
Scouts start making their way through the area in mid to late October identifying players, Cassan reports. Coaches have their initial contact with the scouts then and try to provide them with some information on many of the players. Consistency becomes important for the players, he notes. "There may only be one or two games the scout sees you and if it's one of your better nights you leave a pretty good impression on him," Cassan explains.
The schedule sees the Terriers off for nine or 10 days before playing three games going into the Christmas break. It will allow some players to heal up a bit. "We'll work on some skill development and have some fun in practise. After that the guys will get to go home on Christmas break and relax for a bit," he closes.
