They started the tournament looking pretty good and they ended it looking pretty good too.
If there were any concerns about goal-scoring for them, there aren't any now.
The Xerox Tier I Atom Yorkton Terriers were hosts to the 2010-11 Sherring Gold Jewellers 3rd Annual Tier I hockey tournament, all game played at the Yorkton Kinsmen Arena, Friday through Sunday afternoon.
With preparations made for Super Bowl XVI in Dallas, there wasn't any attention paid to it at the arena Sunday as the Terriers made it to the tournament finals against Estevan.
Yorkton went into the final game with a perfect record of 4-0 and remained perfect, taking down the Estevan Bruins by a decisive margin of 11-1.
Head coach Chad Korczak said it wasn't the plan to walk through the tournament the way that they did and give up fewer than five goals in total.
"We didn't know what to expect," he said outside the locker room of his Terriers following the win over Estevan.
They finished everyone they played relatively quickly.
"These kids probably played the best that (they've) played all year long."
Yorkton was led by a pair of three-goal performance from both Bret Kemp and Keenan Taphorn. Taphorn scored his first goal at 17:43 of the first period and it stood to be the game-winning goal.
Estevan's lone goal came about a period later, at 18:34 of the second frame.
Korczak said that like so many other teams in hockey, getting the game's opening goal can usually be the difference.
It also helps get the confidence of the team up.
"It does, it does," he told the media, adding that when it goes that way, they just keep "coming and coming".
Yorkton got by Estevan by a 10-goal margin, but despite the lopsided score, he also told the media that regardless of the age of the players in the game, there is always things that need to be fine-tuned throughout the regular season.
"There's always stuff to work on with the kids," he said, adding that "sometimes when the game gets out of hand, (we) try to keep them focussed and play as a team."
Korczak added that Yorkton hadn't played Estevan in awhile, so neither coach likely knew what to expect in the finals match.
He mentioned that Estevan had routed Moosomin earlier that morning and that that win was good for them.
The Xerox Terriers added their home tournament to their list of accomplishments over the season, which also includes a win-loss record that should see them finish up top in the standings.
"We've had a successful season so far." Yorkton plays in a division with Weyburn, Estevan and Moosomin.
