It was a fruitful weekend for the 小蓝视频 Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League鈥檚 Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers (Midget) and Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers (Peewee) as the two teams combined to go 3-0-0 this past Saturday and Sunday in SSMHL regular season action.
Midgets
The Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers picked up their first win of the 2015 calendar year on Saturday, January 17, when they destroyed the Melville Millionaires 6-0 in Melville.
Jarvis Gelowitz opened the scoring midway through the first period for Yorkton when he beat Melville goaltender Nicholas Houston to make it 1-0.
Tayon Metzler鈥檚 30th goal of the season gave the Kinsmen Terriers a two goal advantage with 4:20 left in the first period before a Brendan Dzuba power play marker with just over one minute remaining in the frame made it 3-0 Yorkton after one period of play.
Melville鈥檚 Jayden Napady tried to spark his team early in the second period; however he got a little too excited on his body-check attempt, colliding with the head of a Yorkton player resulting in both a double minor for head contact and the second Kinsmen Terrier power play opportunity of the game.
Unfortunately for Melville the second Yorkton power play attempt had the same result as the first, with Houston digging the puck out of his net after a Kinsmen Terrier power play marker, this time by Gelowitz, whose second goal of the game and 17th of the season caused Houston to be replaced between the Millionaire pipes by Braidon Berezowski.
Berezowski fared little better however, as both Jonah Sutter and Grayson Neufeld put the puck past the new Melville netminder before the end of the second frame for a commanding 6-0 Yorkton lead after 40 minutes of play.
A scoreless third period saw Melville pressure Kinsmen Terrier goaltender Carter Park, however Park was equal to the test, turning aside all 11 Millionaire third period shots.
Park also stopped five first period shots and 11 in the second for a 27 save shutout performance in the 6-0 victory to give him his first shutout of the season and improve his record to 7-6-2. 鈥淗e played very well,鈥� offered Kinsmen Terrier head coach Noel Budz on the performance of his starting netminder. 鈥淚t was one of the best games he has had this season, and the boys played very well in front of him as well.鈥�
Budz then commented on finally getting back into the win column, saying that while it was obviously good to get back on the winning path, it was even better to do it against a team such as Melville, who they have had their issues with in the past. 鈥淢elville鈥檚 had our number the last couple of years so it鈥檚 always nice to come out here and get a W here, especially in their own building,鈥� mentioned Budz, adding that their special teams, which have been strong as of late, were key in the win. 鈥淭hey took five penalties in the game and we scored two power play goals so that was big for us.
鈥淥ur penalty kill has been very strong all season and it continued tonight as well.鈥�
The win moves the Kinsmen Terriers back above .500 with a 13-12-6 record and 32 points, one back of the Swift Current K-Motel Hurricanes (15-7-3) for third place and just two points behind the second place Prairie Storm (15-9-4, 34 points).
The Regina Capitals continue to lead the SSMHL Midget Division with a 22-2-5 record and 49 points.
The win also propelled Yorkton ahead of the fifth place Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (13-10-5, 31 points) while the Notre Dame Argos (12-8-4), Notre Dame Hounds (12-9-4) and Regina Rangers (10-10-8) are tied for sixth through eighth with 28 points each.
The Estevan Apex Bruins currently sit on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff race. However they鈥檙e just two points back of the trifecta of 28 point teams, sitting in ninth with a 12-12-2 record for 26 points.
Moose Jaw (10-11-4) holds down 10th spot with 24 points while the Melville Millionaires and Regina Vics are tied for 11th and 12th with identical 9-15-4 records for 22 points each.
Weyburn (4-18-5) sits in 13th place with 13 points while the Lumsden/Bethune Lions (2-20-4) are mired in the basement with a paltry eight points.
Peewees
The Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers of the SSMHL鈥檚 Peewee Division also found success on the road this past weekend, sweeping a two game set in Moose Jaw by scores of 4-0 on Saturday, January 17 and 5-2 on Sunday, January 18.
Defensive defenceman Evan Krasowski gave the Sherring Gold Terriers a 1-0 lead late in the first period in Saturday鈥檚 win with his first of the season.
Krasowski鈥檚 marker would prove to be all that Yorkton would need as it stood up to be the game winner, however that didn鈥檛 stop the Sherring Gold Terriers from adding two goals in the second, one each by Jackson Berezowski and Kylen Taphorn, and one more in the third (Josh Herman) for a 4-0 final.
Spencer Welke picked up the shutout, his first of the season, and the win between the Sherring Gold Terrier pipes while improving his overall record to a perfect 7-0-0.
A day later and it was the Sherring Gold Terriers that once again got the better of their Moose Jaw opponents, downing the Peewee Warriors 5-2 at the Red Knight Arena.
However it was Moose Jaw鈥檚 Quinton Ross that opened the scoring in the game, beating Sherring Gold Terrier goaltender Kael DePape for his 10th of the season with just 59 seconds left in the opening frame for a 1-0 Moose Jaw lead after one period.
That lead was short lived though, as Yorkton tallied for four goals, including three in two and a half minutes, to take a 4-1 lead into the final frame. Scoring in the second period were Jackson Berezowski with three goals, while Mitchel Madsen also found the back of the net for the eventual game winner.
Berezowski鈥檚 fourth of the game made it 5-1 Yorkton less than four minutes into the third period, however Moose Jaw鈥檚 Jaxsen Wiebe would make the score a little more respectable, beating DePape for his 15th of the season with four minutes left to round out the scoring in a 5-2 Yorkton win.
DePape picked up the victory, improving to 8-1-0 on the season and more importantly avenging his only loss of the season which occurred back on Sunday, October 19, 2014, against the same Moose Jaw Warriors.
Provincials
The 2015 Provincials have started and both Yorkton SSMHL teams have qualified.
The Peewee Sherring Gold Terriers by virtue of their first place positioning were given a first round bye and will now face the Melville Millionaires, who upset the Moose Jaw Warriors in Round One.
The Midget Kinsmen Terriers took on the second ranked Swift Current K-Motel Hurricanes in a two game total points series in the first round of the Midget 鈥楢A鈥� Provincials, tying Game One 3-3 on three third period goals, one each by Tayon Metzler, Josh Rohatynsky and Jarvis Gelowitz before losing 2-1 in double overtime in Game Two with Metzler scoring the lone Yorkton goal in the game.
Alex Geddes was given the loss in the game, however head coach Noel Budz felt that he still played his best game of the season and that he certainly did not deserve the loss. 鈥淎lex (Geddes) played amazing,鈥� offered the Kinsmen Terrier head coach on the performance of his netminder. 鈥淭hey fired the puck on him from every angle and he stopped them.
鈥淗e really kept us in and it鈥檚 too bad we couldn鈥檛 reward him with a W.鈥�
Next up
The next action for the Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers of the SSMHL Peewee Division will be Tuesday, January 27 when they travel to Melville for Game One of their two game total points Provincial series. Game Two will take place two nights later at Yorkton鈥檚 Kinsmen Arena. Puck drop is set for 6:45p.m.
The next action for the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers of the SSMHL Midget Division will be on Friday, January 30 when they visit the Notre Dame Argos in Wilcox.
