The Yorkton Terriers went into action Sunday night in a three way tie for top spot in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Sherwood Conference.
Hosting Flin Flon, top team in the Bauer Conference, at the Farrell Agencies Arena the Terriers took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after 20-minutes of play on a Daylan Gatzke goal.
In the second Brenden Poncelet and Tyler Giebel scored for Yorkton, while Brett Penner replied for the visitors.
Tayler Thompson scored a powerplay goal 1:06 into the third to extend the Terrier lead to 4-1.
But Penner and Boehm would both score their second goals of the night, and Josh Roach would add one to knot the score 4-4 at 18:10 of the frame.
Thompson would finally give Yorkton the 5-4 win with a goal with only seven seconds left on the clock.
Kale Thomson took the win in the Terrier net facing 36-shots, while Devin Buffalo was tagged with the loss facing 33-shots for the Bombers.
Thompson said the winning goal was one of opportunity.
"Derek (Falloon) just had it on his stick and threw it in front of the net," said Thompson, who said he just wanted to get the puck on net with a shot.
"I seen the goalie was on the far side and his shoulder was down. I tried to put it there and it worked," he said.
The win was a big one said Thompson who noted on seven games in-a-row away from home ice the Terriers "struggled a little bit" at times.
"I think every team has some ups and downs," said Thompson, adding the last-minute win put the Terriers back on an up.
The Terriers did let the Bombers back into the game late, but Yorkton head coach Trent Cassan did note "that was our fourth game in six days," with three of those on the road and lots of miles on the bus.
"On some shifts I thought there was a little bit of fatigue," he said.
Cassan too mentioned the ebb and flow of a season.
"We talk about the ups and downs of the year, but tonight it was the ups and downs of a game," he said, adding a goal on the powerplay by the Bombers in the third gave them life, after the Terriers scored early and looked in control. Then the winning goal in the dying seconds turned fortunes again.
The win would push the Terriers into lone possession of top spot in the Conference as of Monday morning with 31-points, based on a record of 15-7-0-1, two points up on both Melville and Notre Dame which sit with 29-points, and a game in-hand on Yorkton.
Kindersley is fourth with 17 points, followed by Estevan with 16 and Weyburn with 10
In Weyburn
The Terriers were on the road Friday to face the Weyburn Red Wings.
Nathan Murray scored the only goal of the first period for Yorkton, with Zak Majkowski and Chase Norrish adding the only goals of the second period.
In the third Thomas Carlton managed a powerplay goal for Weyburn to round out a 3-1 score.
Dawson MacAuley faced 26-shots in the Terrier nets for the win, while Jean-Philippe Boucher faced 25 in the loss for the Wings.
Northern swing
Last Tuesday the Terriers were in Flin Flon but their goal scoring stayed on the bus.
The host Bombers held period leads of 2-0, 3-0 and finally 4-0 in front of the shut-out goaltending of Devin Buffalo who turned away all 35-shots he faced.
Bomber goals came from Konrad Litke, Brett Boehm, Dylan Balaski, and Spencer Mault.
Conor Barrie was in the Terrier net for the loss facing 33-shots.
A night later the Yorkton paid a visit to LaRonge.
The game was knotted 2-2 after 20-minutes Brenden Poncelet and Patrick Martens scoring for the Terriers with Brett Hope and Owen LaClare responding for the Icewolves.
Martens, Dylan Johnson and Nathan Murray would score unanswered second period goals for Yorkton to give them a 5-2 lead.
In the third Martens would complete his hat trick, as Nathan Boyer scored for LaRonge to round out a 6-3 Terrier win.
Dawson MacAuley faced 32-shots in the Terrier nets to get the win.
Dasan Sydora started the game for LaRonge but was pulled after allowing four goals in favour of Myles Hovdebo.
Up next
The Highway 10 rivalry re-heats this weekend.
Friday the Terriers head to Melville to face the Millionaires, with the teams facing each other Saturday at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton.
Tuesday the Terriers host Estevan.
