The Saskatchewan Peewee ‘AA’ hockey world is still not safe from the terror that is the Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers, as proven by yet another pair of championship wins this past week for the most successful Saskatchewan Peewee dynasty in history, having recently surpassed the early to mid-80’s Regina Y’s Men club for the honours.
The Sherring Gold Terriers - coached by Ryan Hoffman - decimated the SSMHL top ranked Swift Current 鶹Ƶwest Terminal Broncos, unceremoniously dumping the previously undefeated Broncos in two straight games, 3-1 on the road and 6-1 at home, to claim their fourth straight SSMHL Peewee ‘AA’ championship and fifth straight title, the first one coming back in the 2010-11 season when they were the Kozie Drywall Terriers.
Game One saw the Terriers jump out to a two goal lead after the first period thanks to markers by Tanner Hoffman and Jackson Berezowski.
A Rhett Evjen goal in the second period brought the home side Broncos to within one at 2-1; however Berezowski’s second of the game with just over three minutes remaining in the middle frame regained the two goal cushion for the Sherring Gold Terriers.
Yorkton net minder Spencer Welke then held the fort, rebuking each and every Swift Current advance to put an end to the Broncos’ undefeated season in the form of a 3-1 Yorkton victory in Game One on enemy ice. “When you’re in a Best-of-Three that Game One is huge whether you have home ice or you don’t,” offered Sherring Gold Terrier head coach Ryan Hoffman. “To go in there and play a late game a day after we were in Saskatoon playing, the kids just played phenomenally.
“They played their hearts out and I couldn’t be more proud of them for the effort that they’ve put forth.”
Two days later the formerly undefeated Swift Current 鶹Ƶwest Terminal Broncos visited Yorkton’s Gallagher Centre for Game Two of their Best-of-Three SSMHL Peewee ‘AA’ championship series looking to even the finals at one game apiece.
Instead all they got was their second straight loss as Yorkton got three goals in the first period – one each by Ryder Korczak, Tanner Hoffman and Chace Sperling – while the Broncos could muster just one marker of their own on Evjen’s second of the series.
A second period goal by Berezowski and two third period goals, one each by Mitchel Madsen and Hoffman, sealed the 6-1 Yorkton victory and gave the Sherring Gold Terriers their fifth straight league title, this time knocking off a team that, until the playoffs, had had their number. “Coming off of our last four games of the regular season against Swift Current, we definitely had some soul searching to do,” mentioned Hoffman, continuing, “We hadn’t really hit much for adversity all season long and then there we were the last two regular season weekends of the year and we came up empty both times.
“But we regrouped. We’ve got some good leadership and we’ve got real good character in the room and it showed.”
The Sherring Gold Terriers finished the 2014/15 playoffs with a perfect 4-0 record.
Provincials
The Peewee Powerhouse also ran roughshod over the Saskatoon Express to pick up their fourth consecutive Peewee ‘AA’ provincial title, derailing the Express 7-2 in Saskatoon before battling back for a 2-2 tie on home ice Saturday, March 28 to win the two game total goal series 9-4.
Game Two saw the Sherring Gold Terriers fall behind in the first period, trailing 2-0 after 20 minutes of play as Saskatoon battled hard to keep their provincial title hopes alive and cut the two game total goal lead for Yorkton from five to three at 7-4.
A Tony Roebuck goal in the second period made the game 2-1 and the aggregate score 8-4 before a third period breakaway goal by Jackson Berezowski evened the game at two and restored the five goal aggregate lead; a lead they would not surrender en route to the Sherring Gold Terriers’ fourth straight Peewee ‘AA’ provincial championship. “It feels pretty good right now,” mentioned a smiling coach Hoffman when asked about the provincial final series following the game. “We went in to Saskatoon there and the kids really played their hearts out and we were able to come back here with a five goal lead.
“It was a nice cushion and Saskatoon played a heck of a first period and got themselves back in it but we kind of pulled it together there and focused on winning period two and we won each of the last two periods.”
The Sherring Gold Terriers will now head into the offseason as dual champions; something Hoffman said was the goal right from the get-go. “We had a couple of different goals this year,” mentioned the proud Sherring Gold Terriers head coach. “One was the league and one was provincials and to cap those both off, there’s not a whole lot more you can do.
“Big time credit to the kids, we played our best hockey of the year when it counted the most and that’s a credit to them, their resolve and their character.”