The up and down Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season of the Yorkton Terriers continued this past week.
In fact, the swings in fortune were in some ways encapsulated in Flin Flon last Tuesday.
On the up side the Yorkton offence erupted for five goals.
But on the down side the Terriers gave up 66-shots and lost the game.
The teams traded goals in the first period with Jordan Evans striking short-handed for the Terriers 4:10 in, only to have Joel Kocur reply with a powerplay marker for the Bombers at 5:06.
Brandon Sookro and Shane Sherban had second period goals for the Terriers and Kocur replied with one, sending the visitors to the third period up 3-2 in spite of being outshot 43-15 through two.
Corwin Stevely and McKenzie Welke with a short-handed effort scored in the third for the visitors, but Brandon Switzer, Alex Smith and Tyson Empey had markers for the Bombers to leave the game knotted 5-5 after regulation time.
In the five-minute, four-on-four extra frame the offences failed to end the contest, sending the decision to the shoot-out where Flin Flon captured the two points for a victory.
Jakob Severson faced 66-shots in the Terrier nets and took the loss, while Zac Robidouz faced 34 for the Bombers to earn the win.
A night later it was another one goal loss for the Terriers, this time to Melfort.
It was a scoreless first period against the Mustangs.
In the second a Terrier goal by Adam Santoro was sandwiched between Melfort goals by Rylan Freed and Travis Mayan.
Mayan made it 3-1 for the home team with a powerplay goal 15:34 into the third.
Evans drew the Terriers within one with a goal with only four seconds left in the game to make it a 3-2 final.
Matt Kustra was in the Terrier net facing 30-shots in the loss, while Evan Plotnik had to face only 16-shots for the Melfort win.
Wings win
Saturday Weyburn, the top team in the SJHL鈥檚 Viterra Division visited the Terriers.
The Wings scored two in the second half of the first period; Jarrett Fontaine at 10:08 and Ian Parker in the powerplay at 15:15 for a 2-0 lead through 20-minutes.
Tyran Brown struck 3:17 into the second to give Weyburn a three-goal lead, but Jordan Ross would get that back with a man advantage marker at 18:06 to make it 3-1 through two periods of play.
Corwin Stevely scored 4:46 into the third to make it a one-goal game, until the Wings popped an empty-netter at 19:17, a goal credited to back-up goaltender Carter Phair on the SJHL website.
Jack Burgart was in the Weyburn net for the win facing 42-shots, while Severson took the loss facing 27 for Yorkton.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said there was 鈥渁 lot better effort,鈥� than New Year鈥檚 Day on home ice, but that didn鈥檛 mean a win.
鈥淏ut we need results,鈥� he said, adding the Terriers have to achieve better results at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
鈥淥ur record at home is not what it needs to be to have a chance in this league.鈥�
The Terriers are 6-9-0-1 on home ice, the six wins the lowest in the SJHL.
Against Melfort, Cassan said the team talked that it would be a game which was essentially a race to three, noting the Mustangs 鈥減lay an efficient game鈥� generally winning the close ones.
鈥淲e had our chances,鈥� said Cassan. It was more a lack of making the key play, especially earlier in the game.
Cassan said at times the Terriers struggled to make 鈥渢he skilled play at speed.鈥�
And there was the lack of success which came with a man advantage and the net minder pulled later.
鈥淥ur six-on-four was frustrating,鈥� said Cassan. 鈥淲e were really looking for the perfect play.鈥�
As a result the Terriers weren鈥檛 going hard to the net, but ended up cycling the puck out to the boards.
鈥淲e were taking ourselves farther from the net,鈥� he said, adding a shot from the perimetre is not likely to score often.
Cassan said the Terriers have shown good things, like five goals in Flin Flon, but also lost the game and gave up 66-shots.
It was much the same against the Mustangs where some positives were still lost because of the final score.
鈥淭here鈥檚 good things in our game, but not enough good things,鈥� said the Terrier coach.
Cassan said when the Terriers play at their top level 鈥渨e can play with all the teams in the league,鈥� and they鈥檝e shown that in periods of games, but in the end the consistency of a 60-minute game at that top level has generally eluded the team.
That lack of consistency has often came on a player-to-player basis.
鈥淲e as a team can鈥檛 have some guys not playing their best,鈥� said Cassan, noting against Melfort same players did not have the legs and jump they should have had.
鈥淚t was not what it needed to be,鈥� he said.
Without a win on the week, the Terriers managed to hold onto third spot in the Viterra with 27 points based on a record of 12-23-1-2, three points up on Melville.
Weyburn sits atop the Viterra with 54 points, third overall in the league. Estevan sits second with 44 in the Viterra.
Up next
The Terriers were scheduled to host Melfort last night (Tuesday), but results were not available at press time.
Kindersley visits the Farrell Agencies Arena for a rare Thursday contest, and Saturday Yorkton heads to Humboldt to face the Broncos.
Tuesday, Jan. 19, Weyburn will be in the city.
