The Yorkton Terriers raised their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League record to 10-4 with a pair of road wins over the weekend.
With 20 points Yorkton is tied with Melville atop the Viterra Division. Estevan sits with 14 points, with Weyburn having eight.
Friday the Terriers were in North Battleford to face the Stars.
The first period was a scoreless affair.
In the second Zach Zadorozniak on the powerplay, and Devon McMullen scored to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead.
It was enough for the win as the third was also a scoreless affair.
Kale Thomson had the shut out for the Terriers turning away all 40-shots he faced.
Darren Martin took the loss for the Stars facing 27-shots.
Saturday Yorkton moved on to visit the Kindersley Klippers.
Brandon Lauder scored the only goal of the first period to give the host Klippers a 1-0 lead through 20-minutes.
Jordan Ross tied the game for Yorkton with the only goal of the second stanza, a powerplay effort at 18:56.
In the third it took 18:26 mark before a game-deciding goal was scored off the stick of Terrier Brady Norrish.
Kale Thomson took the win in the Terrier net facing 23-shots, while Evan Weninger faced 28 in the loss in the Klipper net.
"I thought our guys played a really simple road game both nights," offered Terrier assistant coach Casey O'Brien.
"And we had outstanding goaltending from Kale (Thomson)."
O'Brien said Thomson is finally getting back into form after missing "most of training camp with a lower body injury." The lack of camp time, and limited playing time after Christmas last season had left the veteran goaltender with some rust to shake off.
"It takes a while for goaltenders to get into a rhythm," said the Terrier coach, adding, " Kale is definitely in a groove now."
The key to the turn around has been Thomson's personal play, including "great rebound control," combined with a stingier team defence in front of him, said O'Brien.
"Everybody in front of him helped out with a lot of blocked shots."
O'Brien said the Terrier defence is expected to be steady this season.
"We've got a great defence this year," he offered, noting it starts with 20-year-olds Chase and Brady Norrish and Devon McMullen.
The trio leads the defence, but have also chipped in offensively, with the three having a combined 31 points this season.
Chase Norrish is tied for the lead in points by a defenceman with Kindersley's Giovanni Bombini at 12 points, with McMullen tied for second at 10 points with Humboldt's David Stumborg.
Brady Norrish is among several rearguards with nine points.
O'Brien said the defence is deep too, with Dylan Baer becoming a hard hitting rearguard, Nick Sandy and Dallas Rossiter gaining experience, and rookies Sam Stormoen and Holden Cronin showing they definitely belong.
While the team played rock steady on the road, the key to the wins was how well the Terriers operated on special teams, continued O'Brien.
"We were 100 per cent perfect on the penalty kill this weekend," he said.
And the Terriers potted a key powerplay goal of their own in both outings.
Up next
The Terriers have only one game set for the week ahead, a trip to Nipawin Saturday.
