It was a huge road week for the Yorkton Terriers who won three while away from the friendly confines on their home arena.
The trio of wins lifts the Terriers' Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League record 10-5-1-2 and 23 points, tops in the Sherwood Conference.
Estevan sits second with 20 points, Kindersley has 17, Notre Dame and Weyburn 16, and Melville with 13.
Terrier coach Trent Cassan said road wins are always good to get, especially given the team effort to secure the victories.
"It was a good week of hockey for us because we got contributions from everyone in all three games," he said.
The effort started in net.
"All three games, our goaltending was very good," said Cassan, noting Warren Shymko had a very good game in Kindersley, and Devin Peters was very solid in LaRonge.
On offence, the Terriers began to see secondary scoring taking pressure off the top line.
Cassan said it started in Kindersley.
"All four of our lines scored that night," he said. "Guys that don't get as much attention had a good week."
The good effort included a couple of Ochapowace Junior 'B' call-ups, Ron Cote and Jeremy Johnson who Cassan said "contributed to the wins."
The Terriers were in LaRonge for a pair of games on the weekend.
Friday the teams played through a scoreless first period.
In the second the Terriers took a 2-1 lead, with both teams doubling their scores in the third period leading Yorkton with a 4-2 win.
Riley Patterson and Sam Prpich scored in the second for the Terriers with Blaine Tendler and Brent Struble adding the third period markers.
Devin Peters was between the pipes for Yorkton, facing 33 shots.
Cassan said it was a game where Peters made some big saves early and "it kind of calmed the guys down a bit."
A night later the two teams ended up in a true defensive struggle.
The Ice Wolves led 1-0 after 20-minutes with Clarke Breitkreuz scoring the only goal of the second frame to tie the game 1-1.
The teams played through a scoreless third period, and a five-minute, four-on-four overtime period settled nothing either.
The game went to a shoot-out with each team sending five shooters to the line before Yorkton emerged with the win.
Peters was again in net for the win facing 50 shots.
Cassan said the game was low scoring, but the Terriers also fired lots of rubber, having 45 shots."It seemed liked both goalies were pretty determined we were going to overtime and the shoot-out," he said.
The shoot-out victory was good for the Terriers too, offered Cassan.
"It was big for our confidence to win in a shoot-out," he said.
Last Tuesday the Terriers traveled to Nipawin to face the Hawks, emerging with a 4-2 win in front of Warren Shymko in the nets where he faced 33 shots.
The teams were knotted 1-1 after 20-minutes, with Justin Lamontagne getting the Terrier goal.
The teams again traded lone markers in the second. Robbie Ciolfi had the Terrier goal.
In the third Yorkton took the victory with two unanswered goals from Zak Majkowski and Brennan Tutt.
Up Next
Yorkton remains on the road this week, with the Terriers scheduled to play in Weyburn last night (Tuesday), but results were not available by presstime.
This Friday and Saturday Yorkton plays in Flin Flon against the Bombers, then head to Wilcox Tuesday to face the Notre Dame Hounds.
Cassan said the team has to stay focused on the things which have made them successful on the road of late.
"That's the thing we'll talk about this week," he said. "We're happy where we are now, but we can't be satisfied by it."
So what has made them successful? Cassan said it has come down to keeping to the basics.
"We've talked about really simplifying our game," he said. He added goals don't need to make the "highlight reel." If they go off a players "shin pad or back end," they still count.
