The Terriers road to the Royal Back Cup in Nanaimo ends where it all started with the Terriers taking on the host Clippers, although this time it is one of two must win games Yorkton needs to win in order to advance to the RBC Cup in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. After losing 3-1 to Surrey on Thursday the Terriers fell to third place in the round robin, ensuring that they would play a must win game Saturday and another on Sunday if they are to pave their path to the Royal Bank Cup and a loss will end their postseason run.
As for their opponents, the Nanaimo Clippers rode a controversial 7-2 blowout win over the Brooks Bandits that the Bandits camp has blamed on officiating as the Clippers scored four powerplay goals in the win, including three on a five minute powerplay after the Bandits were handing a major for a hit to the head call. After that the Clippers still needed a win on the final game of the round robin schedule over the Steinbach Pistons to advance to the knockout stage, but they will have the home ice advantage on Saturday afternoon, something that will be one of the X factors in this elimination contest as the hosts will hope to get a jump from their home fans in a must win situation.
While the Clippers will have the hope of some sort of home ice advantage, the Terriers will be looking at the numbers that are on their side in tonight's clash. The Terriers do hold the 4-3 win in the round robin over Nanaimo and the Clippers home ice advantage has only managed to amount to two wins during the tournament, and although the 7-2 win over Brooks popped eyebrows, it is very unlikely that a five minute major will be taken in tonight's game. If anything can be suggested from the round robin results of these two teams, it is that this afternoon's clash is going to be a very dicey affair as both teams played each other extremely close and both sit at 2-2 with wins over the Steinbach Pistons, who lost all four games of their Western Canada Cup campaign.
If the Terriers are going to win they will need to stay out of the sin bin as penalties have been haunting Yorkton throughout their two losses to Brooks and Surrey, while being last in the tournament in playing shorthanded, the Terriers have been just 76.9% on the powerplay and have had the penchant for taking inopportune penalties, especially when behind. Austin Bourhis has been one of the main culprits of this and is often the most victimized players by the officials, many of the Terriers penalties have came as a result of the speed and the emotion of what is on the line creating unfortunate collisions as a result of playing hard, the Terriers will either have to hope that the whistles are a little more liberal with what is at stake or that they can avoid putting themselves in positions to make penalties this afternoon. With Nanaimo being 33.3% on the powerplay the Terriers will need to focus on making sure Dawson MacAuley will have to do as little penalty killing in between the pipes as possible.
Expect Trent Cassan to continue to juggle his lines and roster yet again going into Saturday afternoon, his biggest move on Thursday against the Eagles was to put Nathan Murray on the top line with Jeremy Johnson. Murray did not let his coach down as the last year forward combined with Johnson for the Terriers only goal in the 3-1 loss to tie things up in the second period, giving the power forward two goals in two games to close out the round robin. Murray and Dylan Johnson have been big body presences in the two Terriers losses, but ultimately the Terriers offense has sputtered after the opening weekend, compiling just two goals in 130 and some minutes of hockey in their losses to Brooks and Surrey. That will need to change tonight and a player like Patrick Martens, who after tearing up the SJHL Playoffs is scoreless at the WCC, could be the guy to discover his scoring touch again as well as Dakota Odgers who like Martens has been eerily quiet on the scoresheet after lighting the province on fire in the postseason. A huge part of the Terriers success this season has been finding that one player to elevate his game at the right time to lift them to the win, they will need that more than ever today. Jeremy Johnson will be crucial in what could be his final Jr. A game, the forward has been all over the ice once again in the Western Canada Cup and paired with Murray on Thursday created a handful of scoring chances that were turned away by the Eagles hot goaltending, he could be expected to be on the scoreboard today.
As for the Clippers, their key players as expected have been Kyle Kramer and Greg Fraser, the two forwards have two goals apiece, with Kramer's three assists making him the Clippers leading round robin scorer with five points. Nanaimo will also have a different look in goal as Derek Dun's only start came against Yorkton and the Clippers have handed the reigns over the Jayson Argue with the Swan River, Manitoba product not letting head coach Mike Vandekamp down. Argue has a .933 save percentage in his three starts and was in goal in both the Clippers wins over Brooks and Steinbach, his presence could be a difference after the Terriers scored four goals over Dun in their opening night win over Nanaimo.
The Terriers season will come down to their first elimination game of the 2012/13 season. With the host Clippers looking to avenge their 4-3 loss just a week ago the Terriers will be hoping to see some deja vu on the island. Regardless of the result the Terriers can hold their heads high knowing that they have had a successful season, but none of that will matter to a hungry group that has made the RBC Cup their mission since the beginning of the season. Win, and they stay alive. Lose and it is time to look back on the memories. A team that has made things interesting all season will ensure that everything will be left on the ice in Nanaimo regardless making one thing for certain, the 2012/13 Yorkton Terriers won't see their season end without the fight of their lives.
