Losing Dawson MacAuley to the WHL's Regina Pats after the star netminder earned the starting job on the way to co-Canalta Cup MVP honours would signal quite the drop off in goaltending for most Junior A hockey teams. That has not been the case for the Yorkton Terriers as a familiar face has stepped up his game in his final junior eligible season.
Yorkton's Kale Thomson earned two shutouts in one week to earn his third SJHL Goaltender of the Week award in the first half of the 2013/14 SJHL season and even more importantly kept the Terriers atop the league standings despite a shootout loss in Weyburn with backup goalie Riley Medves in goal. The 20 year old netminder put up a 1-0 shutout against the Estevan Bruins at Spectra Place midweek before keeping another clean goal sheet against the Melfort Mustangs at home on Saturday night to complete a week where Thomson gave opposing players trying to find the back of the night fits.
The Terriers needed Thomson's help as they have struggled to find the back of the net as of late as the absence of one of their expected top returning forwards in Tyler Giebel has hamstrung the offense at times as a new group of rookies have been attempting to gel with last year's holdovers from the 2012/13 champs. On Saturday against the Mustangs the Terriers remained scoreless for over 50 minutes, failing to beat Mustangs goalie Austin Rediron despite a significant advantage in shots.
Captain Devon McMullen would continue his recent knack for producing late game winners, finding a goal with nine minutes left to give Thomson some support on the scoreboard. It would be the game winner, and the second straight weekend where McMullen would find some late magic after scoring an OT winner against the Millionaires.
For McMullen who is playing in his last season he is enjoying the big moments when they come. "In a tied game where our goalie has a shutout you start to want to find the back of the net and I was lucky to be the guy to get the chance to do it and I capitalized," mentions the Terriers captain.
Thomson has been enjoying the best hockey of his Junior career, the 20 year old is currently posting a record of 15-5-2 with three shutouts and a 1.75 GAA. Numbers that point to him as an early favourite for Goaltender of the Year. The hot goalie credits his streak to experience and confidence with his veteran blueline.
"I have been with a lot of these defensive players my whole Junior career and now that I get to start nearly every game we have gotten to build on that chemistry and it isn't a situation where I am sharing the time so I feel much more confident and carefree this season," says Thomson.
Head coach Trent Cassan had all praise for his goalie and his recent play, giving him the nod as one of the best in the league based on his consistent performances. "When you look at Kale he is extremely consistent in the first half of the season and that is what you really want in a starter," says Cassan who adds some goalies can run hot and cold. "You run into a lot of guys who will make a 45 save night and give up two soft goals to lose the game, but with our team we haven't been giving up a ton of chances with a veteran defense back there and Kale has been keeping pucks out most nights so he is doing everything we can ask of him."
Cassan also discussed injuries and roster leading into the next roster deadline where the Terriers were forced to shed a couple of players, trading Nick Sandy to the Neepawa Natives and reassigning Brayden Schmidt to Pilot Butte of the Junior B ranks. Cassan said the moves were necessary and mentioned that they would have had to make more if it wasn't for some lingering injuries to veteran players that kept them from being over the roster limit.
"We had to let some guys go to keep some options open and we like to have two to four spots open on our roster and with guys like Tyler Giebel and John Odgers on the shelf they will need to come back so unfortunately we had to make some tough decisions on moving a well liked guy in Sandy to a place where he will get on the ice more plus reassigning Schmidt where he can be closer to home and get ice time."
Cassan also mentioned that he hopes that Giebel and Odgers can return as soon as possible, but hinted that the recently streaking Odgers may be out for an extended period like his fellow 20 year old teammate in Giebel has been.
"Giebel has been testing out his arm and is still in the rehab process while Odgers recently picked up his injury and it may take some time to heal which is unfortunate and just a part of the game," says Cassan.
