The RBC Cup champion Yorkton Terriers are pleased to announce that two more of their graduating players will be headed to the collegiate ranks after the most successful season in the history of the franchise has naturally led to interested college teams adding as many graduating Terriers talents to their rosters as possible.
Moosomin product Devon McMullen and Balgonie native Tyler Giebel will be joining former Terrier teammates from the 2012-13 season John Neibrandt and Austin Bourhis with the University of Regina Cougars of the CIS when they start their collegiate hockey careers, reuniting with two key blueliners from their 2012 SJHL Championship winning team when the Cougars return to CIS hockey with plenty of former Terriers league champions on their roster.
McMullen, the captain of the Terriers for the past two seasons and a player who played in three SJHL Finals, winning two along with his National Championship this season, will go down as one of the greatest captains in Yorkton franchise history as well as one of the best blueline players in the history of the SJHL. Playing 300 games, McMullen scored 25 goals as a offensive defenceman who had a knack for finding big goals during his career with the Dogs. In addition to 25 goals McMullen compiled 75 assists to finish with 100 points for his career that spanned an impressive 300 games in the Junior A ranks.
Perhaps most impressive was McMullen's sterling record in the postseason, playing in a the 2011, 2013, and 2014 league finals in a postseason SJHL career that went 51 games without including his two Western Canada Cup tournament appearances in addition to the 2014 Royal Bank Cup. Finishing his career with three championships in 2014 in addition to his back to back SJHL titles, McMullen will be heading to Regina with an extremely impressive Junior resume while also joining former teammates that he will be extremely comfortable playing with in Bourhis and Neibrandt should one of the two pair up with the undersized and speedy McMullen on a Cougars defence pairing next season.
Giebel played in just over 180 games as a Terrier, scoring 76 goals and 85 assists for 161 points as a productive forward for Yorkton during his stays with the team that were mixed between plenty of stints in the WHL whenever teams needed a quick scoring punch. Giebel played 66 games in the Western Hockey league with the Everett Silvertips, Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades, scoring six WHL goals while also playing in three WHL Playoff games with the Silvertips as a youngster.
While Giebel didn't catch on in the Western league, his Junior A career was equally as successful as McMullen's as a member of both the 2013 champions as well as the National Championship winning Terriers squad this spring.
Both players will join a long list of Terriers entering the CIS as well as the Norrish twins Brady and Chase who will be playing NCAA D-I hockey with the RIT Tigers next season.
McMullen, Giebel, Bourhis and Neibrandt will also have a former teammate in the Regina-Saskatoon collegiate hockey rivalry as forward Tayler Thompson will be playing with the University of Saskatoon next year.
