The Yorkton Peewee Sherring Gold Terriers travelled down Highway 10 on Friday, January 10 to take on their Highway 10 rivals the Melville Millionaires at the Horizon Credit Union Centre in their first Peewee SSMHL action since December 21, 2013, when they beat those same Mils 6-0.
Although the year was different the result was much the same, as the Terriers outplayed the Mils to the tune of 8-3.
The Sherring Gold Terriers got on the board first when Alex Moar put his second goal of the season past Melville goaltender Levi Horn with 2:36 gone in the opening frame.
However Melville would draw even before the first intermission when, with 3:12 remaining in the period, Shane Collins found a chink in the armour of Terrier netminder Nolan Maier to make it 1-1 after one.
Melville ran into penalty trouble in the first minute of the second period as Byers Johanson was given a two minute minor for cross-checking, sending the vaunted Sherring Gold Terriers powerplay onto the ice.
The Terriers powerplay took it's time setting up, but proved that patience is a virtue as, with nine seconds remaining in their man advantage, it struck, when Colby Vranai made it 2-1 for the Terriers with his third goal of the season.
Zach McIntyre's 19th of the year made it 3-1 Yorkton a minute and a half later, however Melville's Sheydon Woodhouse got the home team to within one just 55 seconds after the McIntyre goal to round out the second period scoring.
McIntyre restored Yorkton's two goal lead with his second of the game and 20th of the season less than a minute into third period. The early goal seemed to have sparked the Terriers offence as they carried the play for the entire third period, scoring four more times while Melville could only respond with one goal of their own, Woodhouse's second of the game, for an 8-3 Sherring Gold Terriers victory.
The win gives the Sherring Gold Terriers a 12-1-1 record and sole possession of first place for the time being ahead of this weekend's back-to-back games against Weyburn. Weyburn sits second with a record of 11-1-1 while Melville is in third with a record of 6-7-2.
While the Terriers managed to pull away in the third period, Sherring Gold head coach Chad Korczak felt that his team started slowly, something he feels is due to the lengthy Christmas break. "As the game went on we got better but it was kind of one of those slower starts to our second half of the season," said Korczak. "We haven't really played a game that meant anything since December 21st."
"We did have a few skates and practices and stuff over the Christmas break but going two and a half weeks without a game is tough. At this age the kids need to keep playing. Practices are good but a game is a game."
A game is a game is true, but when that game is against your rivals from down the road it's especially important. "It doesn't matter what age category it is when you play your closest neighbour it's always tough," mentioned Korczak, continuing, "It's always good to beat them. And with the rivalry it doesn't matter where you are in the standings, whether you're first or last they always play you tough. So yeah, it was a big win for us over them."
Now that the Sherring Gold Terriers have that big win over their rivals and once again have momentum, they are riding an eight game winning streak dating back to November 23, 2013, it's time to focus on the task at hand: Beating Weyburn and hopefully clinching first overall. "It'll be a huge weekend for us for sure," said the Sherring Gold bench boss. "It's pretty much the last time we'll see them (Weyburn) until possibly playoffs or provincials and it's a big weekend for first place."
"We're going there to try and seal up first place in the league."
Next action
The next action for the Sherring Gold Terriers (12-1-1) is this weekend when they visit the Weyburn Youngfellow Wings (11-1-1) at Crescent Point Place in Weyburn for a pair of highly important back-to-back games on January 18 and 19 that could reveal who finishes first and who finishes second.
The next home game for the Sherring Gold Terriers will be Tuesday, February fourth when they host their Highway 10 rivals the Melville Millionaires at the Farrell Agencies Arena. Game time is set for 7:30p.m.
