The Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers of the SSMHL Midget Division took to the road for a pair of games this past weekend in the hopes of improving their 9-7-2 record.
Things looked good early on in both games, with the Kinsmen Terriers leading by one in each match only to allow their two opponents to tie each game late, resulting in two draws instead of two wins, 4-4 on Thursday, November 27 against the league leading Regina Capitals and 3-3 on Saturday in Wilcox against the surging Notre Dame Argos.
The two ties resulted in just two points for the Kinsmen Terriers, who now sit tied with the Notre Dame Hounds (9-3-4) for third place in the 14-team SSMHL Midget Division with 22 points, one back of the second place Regina Rangers (9-5-5) and seven back of the league leading Regina Capitals (13-1-3).
Swift Current sits in fifth place with a 9-7-1 record and 19 points, while the Prairie Storm (8-7-2), Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (7-6-4) and Notre Dame Argos (7-6-4) round out the top eight in a three way tie for sixth through eighth place with 18 points each.
On Thursday night The Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers got off to a slow start against the first place Regina Capitals, allowing Regina defenceman Windsor Belanger to score just 1:58 into the period.
Windsor's brother Fraiser Belanger then gave the hometown Capitals a two goal lead just over a minute later when his shot also eluded Kinsmen Terrier netminder Alex Geddes to make it 2-0 Regina.
Following the second Capitals goal, Kinsmen Terrier head coach Noel Budz opted to call a timeout in order to regroup his troops.
The decision appeared to have worked as Yorkton came out of the 30 second timeout with renewed energy, taking the play to the Capitals, resulting in a Josh Rohatynsky goal with just under eight minutes left to cut the Regina lead to one.
The Terriers would then draw even late in the frame when Brendan Dzuba's shot found a way past Capitals goaltender Morgan Bogdan with 1:06 left on the clock to send the teams into the first intermission tied at two.
Both teams had opportunities to take the lead in the second period, however both Geddes and Bogdan stood their ground, turning aside every offensive opportunity either team had until Yorkton assistant captain Hunter Arnold finally managed to beat Bogdan, giving the Kinsmen Terriers their first lead of the game with just 25 seconds left in the period.
A Regina powerplay goal off the stick of Donovan Beatty 7:58 into the third period made it 3-3, however Yorkton would once again take the lead, this time with their own man advantage marker as first year defenceman Cody Dubas' point blast beat Bogdan to make it 4-3 with just 7:19 remaining in the game.
It looked as if the one goal lead would hold up, but unfortunately for Yorkton their lack of killer instinct hurt them as a weak shot by Brandon Griffiths drew the home side even with 3:44 left in the game to round out the scoring in a 4-4 tie.
Following the game Yorkton head coach Noel Budz said that his team neither started nor finished the game at a level he or they expected. "We came out flat and spotted them two goals early, within five minutes, so that put us behind the eight ball quickly," offered Budz. "So I called a time out and we regrouped and ended up leading 4-3 with about three minutes left and gave up a weak goal and that was the end of the game.
"We really should have come away from that game with a win because we deserve better than that."
The Kinsmen Terriers deserved better than what they got on Saturday afternoon as well, as they skated to their second consecutive tie, this time drawing 3-3 with the Notre Dame Argos in Wilcox.
But unlike Thursday's game, it was Yorkton that jumped out to a quick two goal lead as blueliner Matthew Wilgosh and star forward Tayon Metzler both beat Argos netminder Scott Kasaboski early for a 2-0 Terrier lead.
A lead that Yorkton would carry into the second period, when Notre Dame would pull to within one on a Jared Power goal with 13:46 left in the middle frame.
However Yorkton quickly regained their two goal lead as Metzler beat Kasaboski with his second of the game and 21st of the season just 24 seconds after the Power marker to make it 3-1 and it looked as if Yorkton were in control.
And they were, until Yorkton forward Brayden Miller, in just his second game of the season after returning from injury, took a four minute penalty for a hit to the head with two minutes remaining to give Notre Dame a late powerplay opportunity.
It was an opportunity that the Argos did not waste, as Teddy Prior wired the puck past Carter Park to cut the Yorkton lead to just one at 3-2 with just 31 seconds left in the middle period.
The Argos would complete the comeback late in the third period as Power beat Park for his second of the night, while the Yorkton offence couldn't find a way to beat Kasaboski a fourth time resulting in a 3-3 tie.
"We were up 2-0 early and it looked really good. Then we lost our focus a bit and lacked some killer instinct," said the Kinsmen Terrier bench boss, continuing, "We had one guy that was away and another guy that got sick during the game and couldn't finish so we had four defencemen. It's hard to play with four defencemen at any time, but that's no excuse. The boys did well, we just couldn't close the deal.
"The Argos have been playing very well as well and they've moved up the standings here recently so they're a good team and I don't want to take anything away from them but I think in the dressing room after both games we thought we had left a point on the table for sure."
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers (9-7-4) will be this Friday when they host the Notre Dame Hounds (9-3-4) at the Kinsmen Arena for a 7:45p.m. start.
They'll then take to the road on Tuesday to battle their highway 10 rivals the Melville Millionaires at 7:30p.m. at Melville's Horizon Credit Union Centre.
