The Yorkton bantam AA Terriers kicked off February on a bright note, taking back-to-back road games over this past weekend.
The Terriers took on the Estevan Bruins in their first match on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Yortkon controlled the game from start to finish, running away with a 5-0 victory.
Josh Rohatysnky put the Terriers out in front early, scoring the lone goal of the opening period.
Cody Dubas gave Yorkton their cushion goal in the second, lighting the lamp at the 15:56 mark.
The Terriers came out hard in the final period with McKenzie Welke, Brett Melnychuk, and Jake Kustra finding the back of the net to finish out the contest.
Taking into account the Terriers were only up by one point on the Bruins prior to their game, Terriers head coach Damon Kustra was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
"Before the game, I didn't see a 5-0 win coming," he said. "They are a good team and you don't anticipate blowing out a team like that."
But as soon as the puck was dropped, Kustra started to see his team building up a blowout.
"As the game started going I could tell we were taking control of it," he said. "We were hungry for the win and just wanted it more."
One of the Terriers' top performers was puck-stopper Braidon Berezowski, who notched a shutout.
"He had a good game for us," noted Kustra. "When we were up by two, he made a strong backdoor save. Early in the game like that, those saves mean a lot. If a team can sneak one in, you never know how that can change the momentum in a game."
Yorkton traveled to Moose Jaw the following night, squaring off against the Warriors.
Despite having a late collapse in the third period, the Terriers squeezed out a 5-4 win.
Logan Foster and Brayden Miller netted one apiece in the first period to put the Terriers up by two.
Yorkton kept the ball rolling in the second with Josh Rohatynsky and Miller making it a 4-0 game.
Brennan Watson notched his team leading 19th of the year to pot the Terriers' final goal of the game at the 13:48 mark in the third.
A handful of Terriers' penalties opened the door for the Warriors to get back into the game in the final 12 minutes. Moose Jaw made no mistake, kicking it wide open with Kyle Arndt and Chantz Petruic scoring power play markers. Not long after, Wyatt Riendeau and Petruic made it a one-goal game.
"Those bad penalties really hurt us," said Kustra. "I also tried some players out in situations that they weren't use to with us having a big lead. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have done that."
Yorkton did regain their composure in the final minute of the match, not allowing the Warriors to muster a strong scoring chance.
"We had a strong final minute of the game," noted Kustra. "I was happy with how the guys came back and finished out the win."
The 11-8-4 Terriers now sit tied with the Prairie Storm for third spot in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League's Â鶹´«Ã½AV Division.
"I think we're in a pretty good spot," said Kustra. "We are aiming to finish third or fourth in our division. It will be tough to catch (second-spot) Swift Current with not many games left on our schedule."
Yorkton's next contest is against the Melville Millionaires on Tuesday, Feb. 5 in the Horizon Credit Union Centre.
