Riding a three game win streak the Yorkton Terriers could be forgiven for potentially looking ahead in the schedule going into their weekend slate against the Humboldt Broncos and Notre Dame Hounds. After all their home and away regular season series finale with their rival Melville Millionaires loomed on the horizon as did a chance to retake the Sherwood Division lead.
First the Terriers would have to extend their win streak in games hosting the Broncos in a rematch of the Canalta Cup Final before travelling to Wilcox to face the Hounds at Duncan McNeill Arena. In the thick of a push to playoffs as the final month of the SJHL regular season officially started, the Terriers responded by showing their pedigree as defending champions by extending their win streak to five games with back to back convincing wins in regulation.
On Friday night the Terriers continued their recent trent of blowing opponents out at the Farrell Agencies Arena at the dismay of their 2012/13 Championship foes as the Humboldt Broncos recent slide in the second half of the season continued with a recent rock bottom low for the preseason contenders.
Goals from Daylan Gatzke and Tayler Thompson in the first period put Yorkton up 2-0 after 20 minutes, but it would be two late second period goals that officially put the game out of reach for the Broncos and started the Terrier rout.
Riding a three game win streak the Yorkton Terriers could be forgiven for potentially looking ahead in the schedule going into their weekend slate against the Humboldt Broncos and Notre Dame Hounds. After all their home and away regular season series finale with their rival Melville Millionaires loomed on the horizon as did a chance to retake the Sherwood Division lead.
First the Terriers would have to extend their win streak in games hosting the Broncos in a rematch of the Canalta Cup Final before travelling to Wilcox to face the Hounds at Duncan McNeill Arena. In the thick of a push to playoffs as the final month of the SJHL regular season officially started, the Terriers responded by showing their pedigree as defending champions by extending their win streak to five games with back to back convincing wins in regulation.
On Friday night the Terriers continued their recent trent of blowing opponents out at the Farrell Agencies Arena at the dismay of their 2012/13 Championship foes as the Humboldt Broncos recent slide in the second half of the season continued with a recent rock bottom low for the preseason contenders.
Goals from Daylan Gatzke and Tayler Thompson in the first period put Yorkton up 2-0 after 20 minutes, but it would be two late second period goals that officially put the game out of reach for the Broncos and started the Terrier rout.
The rest of the Terriers remaining games on the schedule see them play Humboldt twice (Feb 11, March 1), La Ronge on the road February 14 before playing in Melfort the next day, Weyburn at home February 20 before hosting Nipawin on February 22 and Notre Dame on February 26. They will then conclude their season on the road by visiting Flin Flon before their season finale in Humboldt. While most of those games are against much lower seeds in the standings, with each team trying to push towards the playoffs no points will be easy from here on out. With two games at hand and ten games remaining head coach Trent Cassan has a tough tightrope to walk in getting his Terriers ready for the playoffs while at the same time trying to avoid injuries and getting too banged up for the actual postseason.
Having officially clinched the playoffs the Terriers will now be able to turn their attentions to attempting to win the regular season pennant for the both the league and the Sherwood Division. The chance to take it from their rivals will make it more enticing for the defending champion Terriers, but like they have went about doing everything since winning the 2012/13 Canalta Cup, the Terriers will be going about the final month of the regular season with nothing but the goal of another league title in mind.
Around the League
Three SJHL teams in CJHL Top 20
Yorkton (13), Battlefords (14) and Kindersley (16) all cracked the CJHL Top 20 Power Rankings this week with the Melville Millionaires falling out of the rankings after a couple of losses last week. The Alberta league had three teams inside of the Top 10 alone while the MJHL had just one team inside the Top 10 in the Selkirk Steelers.
Norrish wins Defenseman of the Week
Terriers Chase Norrish was named SJHL Defenseman of the Week for his recent run of play where he has scored multiple points in three straight games. His hot streak has saw him score eight points over the three game stretch which helped extend Yorkton's winning streak to five games.
