Eight teams made the trip to Yorkton over the weekend as the LDM Foods Mano's Midget Terriers Tier II hockey tournament was held at the Yorkton Kinsmen Arena. Eight teams ended up playing their way into one of four playoff categories, which were alphabeticalized.
After falling by one goal in their opening game on Friday against the Prairie Storm, Yorkton's Mano's Midgets slipped to the 'B' side and went on to win the remainder of their games.
That included a close, 2-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors in the 'B' final game; Yorkton wasn't favoured very highly going into it and Moose Jaw responded by scoring for an early 1-0 lead.
"We got better and better," as the tournament went on, offered Jim Prokopuik, head coach of the Mano's Midgets following a pair of goals his team scored in a comeback win.
"We started to gel."
Travis Inglis scored to tie the game when he picked the far corner off a partial breakaway to the goalie's left side. Martin Pearson scored what turned out to be the 'B' side winning goal.
"Hopefully we can implement this into our regular season play."
The victory capped off a good weekend at the Kinsmen which saw just about everything take place out on the ice. Tournament chair Dan McKenzie said it was a good turnout and that some of the games got nasty at times.
In the late-night matchup Friday evening, the Dauphin Kings Midgets and Moose Jaw game saw misconducts handed out to both teams and players get tossed with suspensions.
Other competing teams included Kamsack Flyers, the Balgonie Prairie Storm, Clavet, Lampman Imperials and Lanigan.
According to Prokopiuk, the only team Yorkton was familiar with was Kamsack, who made their way into the 'A' side finals Sunday evening.
Prokopuik said that not knowing all these other teams made setting goals kind of hard.
"Ultimately you want to try and win," he said following his 2-1 win over the Warriors "but the only team we knew (from) our league was Kamsack."
Yorkton beat Lampman in their Saturday morning match, 3-2 and that put them into the 'B' final Sunday afternoon.
He said the Midget level is a tough one because if you allow the game's first goal, there is a tendency to have the game plan roll down hill at that point.
"In games before, you get down by a goal and the wheels come off," he told the paper, grinning.
"We were quite happy (with our win today)."
Moose Jaw had opened the scoring in the second period when Carson Bell scored. However, Inglis and Pearson both responded to complete the comeback.
The Mano's Midget Terriers are back in action tonight (Wednesday) when they entertain Esterhazy at the Gallagher Centre. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
