Following their two game loss to the LaRonge Ice Wolves the Yorkton Terriers appeared to turn the corner as they claimed a 4-2 win over the visiting Weyburn Red Wings at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Brenden Poncelet scored the lone first period goal to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes assisted by Justin Lamontagne and Kailum Gervais.
Dylan Coupla tied the game at one a little over a minute into the second period.
Nathan Murray added Yorkton's second goal late in the second period assisted by Zak Majkowski and Ryan Sookro.
The Terrier powerplay was working well as first Gervais and then Poncelet each notched a powerplay marker in the third period.
Lamontagne and Poncelet earned assists on Gervais's goal while Lamontagne and Norrish picked up an assist on Poncelet's goal.
Blake Kirkham capped the scoring in the game with Weyburn's second goal of the night.
Three second period goals stopped the Terriers from earning back to back wins as the Melfort Mustangs claimed a 4-2 win at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort.
Sookro scored the opening goal of the game with a late first period powerplay goal to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes assisted by Keven Cann and Devon McMullen.
Sookro, assisted by Norrish, gave Yorkton a 2-0 lead with a goal early in the second period.
Godric Tham scored two goals and Conor Bradshaw added a third in the second period to turn the game around, giving Melfiort a 3-2 lead.
Brendan Tash added an insurance marker for the Mustangs midway through the third frame to clinch the win for Melfort.
Yorkton's woes continued into the weekend as the Terriers dropped both games of a home and home series with the Melville Millionaires.
Friday night the Mils claimed a 5-1 win in the first game of the series played at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Sookro scored Yorkton lone goal in the game early in the third period assisted by Jamie Vlanich and Cann.
Jesse Mireau led Melville scoring with a short handed goal in the first period and a second goal in the final frame. Singles were added by Ian McNulty, Brett Kipling, and Mark Owen.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan says he put newcomer Dawson McAuley in goal because their first stringer, Warren Shymko was injured. McAuley, a 17 year-old from Prince Albert played with the P.A. Mintos for the past two years, Cassan states. He started with Medicine Hat of the WHL and was cut by the Tigers who had three goal tenders in camp. Yorkton made a trade with North Battleford to get him after the injury to Shymko, says Cassan.
Cassan thinks there is a strong possibility York-ton may go with three goal tenders for awhile because of the injury situation. "Ideally you don't want to carry three all year obviously but right now and in the near future we will have three," he says.
While Yorkton's powerplay has been working well recently, it wasn't able to produce Friday night. "Some guys are struggling a little bit and are a little tense. When they get chances and don't score they end up fighting the puck a little bit. There's no easy cure. You just have to get an ugly one and we weren't able to do that early on," Cassan explains.
Melville was able to capitalize on a lot second and third chances. While the young netminder McAulay, who is big and strong down low, was able to make a lot of good first saves by taking away the bottom of the net well, was swamped by a lot of second and third shots. "You ask your goaltender to make the first save but as a whole team you have to be able to not allow second and third chances. They were able to capitalize on some of those tonight, Cassan states.
Scoring early would help the Terriers in Melville, Cassan suggests. The Terriers need some guys who are currently struggling and working hard to break out, he adds. "If you're slacking off and being lazy, that's one thing, but they're still doing a lot of little things and not being rewarded for it," he continues.
Cassan says he's not going to make any quick decisions regarding any changes. He'll think about it, watch some game video and make some tweaks more than any big adjustments or changes.
Saturday night the Millionaires outshot the Terriers 52-22 on home ice to claim another 5-1 win.
Yorkton's lone goal was scored in the first period by Austin Lewis assisted by Lamontagne.
McNulty led the scoring for Melville with a pair of goals while Brett Kipling, Bob Pond and Tyson Newell each added a goal.
Despite the losses the Terriers remain in third place in the SJHL Sherwood Conference standings with a 5-6 record.
