The Yorkton peewee AA Terriers crossed winning a provincial championship off their bucket list on Saturday, March 23.
The Terriers won both matches in their provincial championship total-point series against Prince Albert, taking the first game 10-4 and the second 7-3.
"It was a great team effort," said club manager Brent Repsch. "Every line played hard and contributed. Prince Albert came out strong, but we responded well. Our defence played great and our forwards scored some big goals."
Although in hindsight Yorkton didn't have a whole lot of trouble capturing their provincial banner, they didn't know what to expect beforehand against Saskatchewan's best peewee AA hockey clubs.
"We knew we had a good shot of winning it all, but we didn't know exactly what to expect against some teams," said head coach Chad Korczak. "We weren't too familiar with a lot of the Northern teams. They played in a different league, so weren't exactly sure how good they were."
Even before their provincial banner, the Terriers were widely known throughout the province and even Western Canada as the class of Saskatchewan peewee AA clubs. Yorkton went 20-0-0 throughout the regular-season in the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League and more notably won Regina's 21st annual PeeWee AA Classic, which is the most prestigious AA peewee tournament in Western Canada, in late January.
"We have a very talented group of kids who work really well together," said Repsch. "We have a complete team with good goaltending, a strong defence, and some really talented scorers."
An undefeated regular-season record might go to some kid's heads, but not this group of youngsters.
"I'm very proud that there isn't any showboating and the kids win with class," said Korczak. "They are actually a pretty quiet group of kids. Some times when I walk into the dressing room there isn't a whole lot being said. They just go out on the ice and do their jobs."
The Terriers' season isn't done yet. They still have their best-of-three championship series for the league title against Weyburn this week.
Taking into account Yorkton has beat Weyburn in all five of their matches this year, it is their series to lose. So if the Terriers play as they have all year long, it seems it is only a matter of time before they cross a league title off their buck list as well.
"We expect to win, but we aren't going to underestimate our opponents," said Repsch. "Weyburn is a good team and we will have to be at our best to win."
