The Yorkton Terriers wound up their Junior preseason with a pair of wins.
Thursday Yorkton was in Manitoba to face the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.
Devin Nemes scored for the Terriers in the first period.
In the second Waywayseecappo would pop a pair to take the lead.
Kurt Johnas would knot the score 2-2 with a third period goal for Yorkton, sending the game to a shoot-out where veteran Terrier Dylan Johnson would notch the deciding goal.
Riley Medves faced 22-shots in the win for Yorkton.
Saturday the Terriers travelled to Swan River to play the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Swan Valley Stampeders.
Yorkton jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first on goals by Cortlan Procter, Joe Wilkinson and Kai Robinson.
Corwin Stevely would add one in the third to complete a 4-2 win.
Carson Bogdan faced 31-shots in the Terrier nets for the win.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said the focus now changes as they are into the final week of practice before the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season kicks off.
"We start to teach the guys a few things," he said, adding implementing systems is a process which evolves as they identify the skills and strengths of individual players.
Similarly, Cassan said coming up with line combinations and defensive pairings will also be a process which will extend into the regular season. He said through preseason line-ups varied night-to-night as player evaluations took place, but now they will start to focus on who clicks with whom.
"It is going to take some time for guys to jell," he said, adding he expects to start the regular season with 26 players still active, including eight defencemen.
"There's a lot of new faces to the hockey club, more than in the past," he noted, adding "which is Junior hockey."
The new faces include a defence with only Dallas Rossiter and Dylan Baer who saw SJHL action last season.
The new rearguards include 19-year-old Dylan Bowen, Joe Wilkinson, Paul Savage, Dayton Boutilier and Braden Lozinski, all 18, as well as Regan Seiferling, 17.
In net Medves, last year's number two man, and rookie Bogdan are listed, although rumours of the likely return of Dawson MacAuley, who starred in a playoff run with the Terriers in 2013 persist.
MacAuley, 20, played last season with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League but has been released this fall.
"I've talked to him a couple of times," said Cassan, who added the netminder has indicated if he has to return to Junior 'A' "he'll be happy to return back to Yorkton."
However, Cassan said MacAuley is waiting to see if other Major Junior opportunities present themselves before heading back to the Terrier fold.
Up front the Terriers have 16 players listed oin their roster, nine players who played with the Terriers last season, three who saw time as affiliated players, a trade arrival, and three new faces to the fold.
The new faces up front include; Devin Nemes, Kai Robinson, and Brandon Sookro.
Up next
The Terriers start the SJHL regular season Friday in Weyburn, then host the same Red Wings in their home opener at the Farrell Agencies Arena Saturday.
Next Tuesday Battlefords rolls into Yorkton to face the Terriers.
