The Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers have punched two sets of finals tickets; one to the SSMHL Peewee Division Playoff final, the other to the Saskatchewan Provincial final, with series' wins over Estevan (league) and Regina (provincials) respectively.
Against Estevan
On paper it looked as if the Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers were the better team. On the ice they proved it.
The Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers ran roughshod over the Estevan Sherritt Coal Bruins, hammering the visiting team 13-3 in Game One to take a 1-0 series lead in the Best-of Three SSMHL semi-final series on Thursday night.
Aiden Bulych led the Yorkton offence with a four goal, two assist performance while Zach McIntyre, Troy Bryksa and Kaedan Korczak each tallied two goals.
Alex Moar, Jackson Berezowski and Kishaun Gervais also found the back of the net once on the night while Ryder Korczak was all over the assist column picking up six helpers in the game.
Spencer Welke picked up the win, his first of the playoffs, for Yorkton while Estevan goaltender Justin Hertes suffered the loss in Game One.
But while the final score was extremely lopsided, Sherring Gold Terriers head coach Chad Korczak felt that, at least for a little while, the game could have gone either way. "We had a 4-0 lead and we let them back in it and at one point it was 5-3," said Korczak, continuing, "Luckily after that we shut the door and it got better for us and we scored eight more goals."
Korczak also mentioned that his team seemed to grow stronger later in the game, despite missing many players due to injury or sickness. "We were short quite a few bodies today with an injury and a few kids sick," offered Korczak. "So we ended up playing the third period with two lines and four defencemen.
"In one way it's good because some of the kids got quite a bit of ice-time but on the other hand you don't want anyone out sick or hurt this time of the year."
Game Two in Estevan was much closer, however the end result was still the same as the Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers once again defeated the Estevan Sherritt Coal Bruins, this time by a 3-0 score line to eliminate the Bruins from the playoffs.
Bulych was once again the Yorkton hero picking up his fifth and sixth goals of the series to lead the Terriers to the SSMHL Playoff finals against the pesky Weyburn Youngfellow Wings, while Moar also scored for the Terriers, his second in as many games.
Welke once again backstopped the Peewee Terriers to the win while Bryson Garton was impressive between the Estevan pipes in the loss.
Rollin' over Regina
The Sherring Gold Terriers were also in action on the Provincial side of things, this time taking on the Regina Blues in Provincial Semi-final action on March sixth and 14.
The Yorkton Sherring Gold Terriers proved to be too much for the Regina representative in the two game total points series, taking Game One in Regina 7-0 on March sixth before dismantling the Blues 8-0 on March 15 at the Kinsmen Arena to win the series 15-0 and move on to the Provincial final where they will either take on the Warman Wildcats or a team representing the city of Saskatoon.
Zach McIntyre and Jackson Berezowski led the Sherring Gold Terrier offence in game one against Regina as both players picked up two goals, while singles were scored by Ryder Korczak, Alex Moar and Troy Bryksa.
McIntyre also added three assists for a five point night while both Moar and Berezowski had solid performances as well with three point each.
Game two was much the same as Game one, with the Sherring Gold Terriers once again dominating the Regina Blues in every possible category.
Aiden Bulych found the back of the net three times for Yorkton while Ethan Evanovich and Kaedan Korczak both had a pair of goals in the win.
AP call up Mitch Madsen also found the back of the net in his first career Peewee AA hockey game to help the Sherring Gold Terriers to an 8-0 Game two victory.
When asked if he could point out one player in particular whose effort stood out in recent memory, Sherring Gold Terriers head coach Chad Korczak didn't even need time to think. "Aiden Bulych has been amazing recently in both league playoff and provincial rounds," offered Korczak of Bulych, who has scored nine goals in his last three games. "That being said everybody pitched in and I'm proud of them."
Korczak also felt that he needed to mention the play of Nolan Maier in game two. "There was a time there where Nolan Maier made three phenomenal saves to keep that shutout," said Korczak, adding, "It's big to not give up a goal. If we can shut down teams that's perfect."
