Two Denver hockey teams were in town on Friday, Dec. 28 to faceoff against a pair of Yorkton minor hockey clubs.
The Littleton Atom AA Hawks squared off against the Yorkton Atom AA Terriers at 5:45 and the Littleton Bantam AA Hawks took on the Yorkton Bantam AA Terriers at 8:00 in exhibition action at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
The Atom Terriers wiped the floor with the Hawks in the first matchup, beating them 7-3.
The Terriers came out flying against the Hawks, scoring three goals in the opening period.
They kept the ball rolling in the second, going into the final period with a commanding 7-1 lead.
The Hawks did, however, make a late push in the third period, potting two goals and not letting any in their own cage.
In the second contest the Bantam Terriers made it a sweep with a 6-2 win over Littleton.
The first period was close, with the Terriers going into the intermission with a 2-1 lead over the Hawks.
Yorkton started to take over the game in the second, outscoring their opponents 3-0.
Each team lit the lamp once in the final period that entailed a boatload of penalties and some heavy hitting.
Several people from Denver and Yorkton played a part in putting these back-to-back games together, including Terriers assistant coach Scott Welke, Littleton head coach Brian Ten Eyck, and Arcola, Sk., native Kelly Hollingshead, who played four seasons with the University of Denver and stayed in the area after graduating from college.
"Kelly Hollingshead is from around here and he works with Littleton minor hockey and he brought his team up here three years ago for a game," says Ten Eyck. "So that is where we got the idea. Then this year his son (Brett Hollingshead) made my team, so he started helping us to make this happen."
"Their team got into contact with us in like September and we just started working on the project back then," says Welke. "They were eager to come up here and we were happy to have them."
The Denver-based squads came up to Yorkton on charter busses, enjoying the scenery on the way.
"It was a smooth drive," says Ten Eyck. "We got to see a lot of our country and your country. It was a fun way to see a chunk of North America."
The Farrell Agencies Arena also impressed the Hawks' bantam head coach.
"I love the rink here," says Ten Eyck. "It has great seating and the ice is in great shape."
Despite losing both contests, Ten Eyck is happy his squad made the trek up to Saskatchewan.
"It was a a lot of fun," he said. "I'm happy we came up here. It was a great experience and all of our boys had a blast."
As far as the future goes, Ten Eyck hopes they can make this event a tradition.
"I hope we can do this again in the future," he said. "It would be nice to make this a bi-yearly event or something like that. The boys love seeing what hockey in Canada is all about and whether they can compete with some of Canada's best minor hockey teams."
