After finishing fifth last season, and nearly missing the playoffs, the Yorkton Terriers have wound up the current Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season atop the league's Sherwood Conference.
The Terriers finished the season with a record of 34-16-3-5 and 76 points, currently seven points better than second place Kindersley with 71 points, with the Klippers having one game yet to play.
Weyburn sits third with 64 points, Estevan is fourth with 60, followed by Melville with 51 and Notre Dame with 49.
The regular season wraps up for all teams Tuesday.
"It's just a real nice accomplishment for our team," said Terrier head coach Trent Cassan, adding it takes a lot to stay on top for almost the entire 58-game schedule.
"But there's more they want to win and accomplish as a team."
As for his personal accomplishment taking a fifth place to team in his first full season as a head coach, Cassan stayed modest, adding it was something he would "reflect back on when the season is done."Cassan did add "it's gratifying in that we always talked about that it doesn't matter what other people outside our dressing room said." The team might not have been expected by others to have the success they did, but the Terrier coach said the team had confidence in itself.
The Terriers finished the season with a pair of wins, one on the road and one on home ice.
Last Tuesday (Feb. 15), Yorkton was in Estevan, where it took overtime for a 6-5 Terrier win.
The winner came from an unlikely source as Kurtis Decker scored his first goal of the campaign with one second left in the five-minute, four-on-four overtime frame. The Bruins enjoyed period leads of 2-1, and 3-2 before ending regulation time knotted 5-5, thanks to Jeremy Boyer's Terrier goal at 19:06 of regulation time. It was Boyer's second of the night.
Craig Eisenhut, Justin Lamontagne, and Robbie Ciolfi also scored in the victory.
Warren Shymko faced 40-shots in the Terrier nets for the win.
Friday the Terriers played their final regular season game of the season on Farrell Agencies Arena ice, topping visiting LaRonge 5-2.
The Ice Wolves led 2-1 after 20-minutes, but the rest of the game went the Terriers way as they added two in each of the second and third periods for the win.
Eisenhut, Zak Majkowski, Brent Struble, Jeremy Johnson and Clarke Breitkreuz scored for the home team.
Shymko had 30 saves for the win.
The last game of the year was unusual in one aspect, there were no penalties called."That's pretty rare," admitted Cassan.
In spite of no players heading to the penalty box, Cassan stated, "I thought it was still a hard fought game."
Cassan said it wasn't a surprise considering "both teams had developed a good rivalry with each other."
Up nextThe Terriers now wait as the best-of-five Survivor Series between the fourth and fifth place teams on the Sherwood Conference take place. Yorkton will have home ice advantage in a semi final best-of-seven against the winner.
Asked if the time off before the semi final would cause the Terriers rust, Cassan stated, "I don't think so."
The Terrier coach noted, "we have a pretty mature group that holds each other accountable."
The time off will also allow the Terriers to hopefully get healthy, with regulars such as Devin Peters and Blaine Tendler missing the last month of the regular season.
Being healthy is important, said Cassan who added "we're hoping to go on a long playoff run."
Cassan said the Terriers would be given three, or four days off, a chance to go home and get away from the rink, and then be brought back to ready themselves for the playoffs.
The Terriers won't know their opponent until the survivor round is over, so Cassan said the team will concentrate on preparing itself "for the way we want to play," then fine tune as an opponent emerges
