The Yorkton Midget Kinsmen Terriers woes continue.
The struggling midget 'AA' club took to the road this past weekend for a pair of games and returned home with nothing but a tanned hide thanks to an 11-1 whipping at the hands of the Estevan Apex Bruins on Saturday and a 5-2 defeat to the Weyburn Petro Bakken Wings on Sunday.
With the two losses the Terriers fail to climb out of the SSMHL Midget League basement. Instead they remained tied with the Prairie Storm with 11 points and are now five points back of 11th place Weyburn.
Saturday's slaughter
The Estevan Apex Bruins scored three goals in the first period and one in the second before Steven St. Marie got the Terriers on the board with his 10th of the season to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.
A quick goal just 22 seconds into the final frame gave Estevan a 5-1 lead causing the floodgates to open, as the Bruins drowned the Terriers with goal after goal to make the final score 11-1.
The first period we might have been suffering from bus legs with it being 3-0 after the first," said Noel Budz, head coach for the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers. "We watched a lot of the play in the first period, we didn't have much energy.
"The second period was really good. We had lots of energy and lots of jump and then they scored a couple of goals to make it 6-1 early in the third and they continued to attack and we weren't in it."
Special teams also had something to do with the lopsided loss. Yorkton went 0-for-6 with the man advantage while Estevan's powerplay clicked at a respectable 36.4% rate going 4-for-11 in the win. Something Budz feels his team needed to address as soon as they could. "We had a meeting tonight (Monday) and it was about special teams and how we need to get better. We just can't keep giving up powerplay goals."
Sunday bloody Sunday
Both teams came into the game losers of six straight games, but it was the bad luck of the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers that continued in a penalty filled 5-2 loss to the Weyburn Petro Bakken Wings on Sunday.
Weyburn's Blake Dempsey got the home side on the board first just over the midway point of the first period. However Yorkton's top scorer Justin Poirier would draw the dogs even with an unassisted powerplay goal, his 10th of the season, to make it 1-1 with just over four minutes remaining in the period.
The Petro Bakken Wings retook the lead with 44 seconds left in the period. Brandt Hudson accepted the Jarrett Metheral pass and beat Terriers netminder Carter Park to give Weyburn a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Morgan Gallais gave Weyburn a two goal cushion with 16:56 left in the second period but it looked like Poirier cut the lead in half with his second goal of the game when he knocked the puck down in the crease and swiped at it with his stick resulting in the puck crossing the goal line.
However the referee was right there to wave the goal off and, despite arguments from Poirier and company, the score remained 3-1.
Weyburn's powerplay put the game to bed not long after as both Aaron Dionne and Brendan Beach beat Park with the man advantage to make it 5-1.
A Josh Rohatynsky powerplay goal with 23 seconds left in the second period seemed to spark the Terriers a little bit, but try as they might the hard luck Terriers just could not beat Wings goalie Dylan Hockley again.
A 5-2 loss is hard to swallow, but a 5-2 loss where, if not for a few bad bounces could have easily been a win, is even tougher. According to Coach Budz, the latter was the case in Sunday's loss to Weyburn. "In the third period we had four quality chances with the goalie down and all four times we hit him right in the belly or off the arm. We had a wide open net but we couldn't bury it," said an incredulous Budz.
Next game
The next game for the Yorkton Midget Kinsmen Terriers (4-21-3) will be Saturday, February first when they look to avenge their most recent defeat as they host the Weyburn Petro Bakken Wings (5-16-6) for a 2:30p.m. start at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
