The Canalta Cup final is deadlocked at a game apiece following the Yorkton Terrier's home ice win Sunday.
The win at the Farrell Agencies Arena was a big one for the home team as the Humboldt Broncos had taken the series opener with an overtime win in their home arena last Friday.
In the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League final opener the first period was a scoreless affair.
Logan Sproule opened scoring for the home team 3:10 into the second with a power-play effort.
Joey Davies made it 2-0 with an unassisted effort at 5:56.
It was then the Terriers' turn to use the power play to their advantage as Brady Norrish scored with the extra man at 7:02 of the second.
Humboldt would hold their one-goal lead until the 8:58 mark of the third when Dakota Odgers tied the game with a powerplay effort for Yorkton.
The game would stay tied into overtime, but it would be a short-lived extra period as Alex Forsberg scored the game-winner 1:01 into extra time.
Matt Hrynkiw, winner of the SJHL award as top goaltender, had the win in the Humboldt net facing 36-shots.
Dawson MacAuley faced 24 in the loss for the Terriers.
Terrier assistant coach Casey O'Brien said it was a good game for a series opener.
"We played really well up there," he said, adding "early in the year we didn't have too much success up there."
So the Terriers needed a good effort and got it.
"I thought our guys battled really hard right to the end," said O'Brien.
Sunday the game again saw a scoreless first.
Patrick Martens started the scoring in the second with a powerplay marker for the Terries 3:42 in.
John Odgers added a power-play marker at 11:44 to make it 2-0 for Yorkton before Davies had a Bronco goal with a man advantage at 17:39.
Martens was back 28-seconds into the third period to make it 3-1 Terriers, but Humboldt would make it closer when Matthew Aubertin scored at 13:46 to finish the scoring on a 3-2 Terrier win.
MacAuley backstopped the Terrier win facing 37-shots, while Hrynkiw faced 31 in the loss.
Martens said the Terriers recognized the importance of Sunday's game.
"We knew we had to work hard. We knew we had to hit them," he said.
And Martens said the team also recognized they had to get shots with traffic in front of Hrynkiw to be successful.
"They have strong goaltending," he offered, adding the Terriers had "to keep getting pucks on net, to keep getting rebounds." He added on rebounds the Terriers also want to get the secondary shots up to get them over the Bronco netminder.
In regards to the desire to have traffic in front of the net, Humboldt was clearly trying to do the same thing in front of MacAuley.
Martens said that was natural since their netminder has been strong through the playoffs too.
As for his two goals, Martens said they renew his confidence after a slow offensive series against Melville following a hot goal scoring streak in the opening round against Estevan.
The first goal on the power play was a case of being in a good spot for a pass, and taking a shot in traffic. It "was not a pretty goal," said Martens.
On the second goal Martens broke in on the right side, and he went high over Hrynkiw's glove hand. He said it wasn't really pre-planned noting the Humboldt netminder "has got a pretty strong glove hand," but the shot seemed to catch him off guard and found the twine.
O'Brien said Sunday the Terriers again played well, even as the Broncos had a lot of shots.
"A lot of their shots were from the outside," he said.
That the Terriers relied on two power play goals in the win was not a surprise for O'Brien.
In a playoff series he said special teams are hugely important, noting a big shot block on a penalty kill can be a huge momentum booster, and goals are of course of major importance in a tight game.
Up next
Game three of the series was scheduled to be played in Humboldt Tuesday, but results were not available at press time.
Game 4 will be played in Yorkton tomorrow (Thursday), with Game 5 back in the Broncos' barn Saturday.
Game 6, if necessary will be played in Yorkton Sunday, with Game 7, again if needed, going Tuesday in Humboldt.
