The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League winds its regular season to a close over the next week.
Headed into their final weekend of action, the Yorkton Terriers, who along with LaRonge, are the only teams not making the playoffs, sit with a record of 12-37-3-2, fourth in the Viterra Division. Estevan tops the Viterra with 65 points, followed by Weyburn with 60 and Melville with 45.
Not pretty
The Terriers were in Kindersley and it was not a pretty night for the visiting team.
Curtis Peck and Austin Nault with a short-handed effort gave the home side a 2-0 lead.
It got worse for Yorkton in the second as Nikolas Malenica, Tanner Thompson with a second short-handed effort, Eddie May, and Nault with a powerplay effort extended the lead to 6-0.
Thompson would score a powerplay goal into an empty net in the third to round out the 7-0 whitewashing.
Justen Close earned the shut-out for Kindersley facing 27-shots.
Joe Marcouiller started in the Terrier net facing 27 shots and allowing six goals before being lifted for Ben Laidlaw, who finished the game facing 15.
鈥淥n the road, we got off to a slow start again Friday,鈥� said Terrier head coach Mat Hehr, who cushioned the statement by adding the Terrier first period was not horrible but when the Klippers scored 鈥渙ne on a defensive lapse鈥� and then got a second one 鈥渢hat shouldn鈥檛 have gone in,鈥� it created an early hole.
鈥淭hen we had a chance to make it 2-2 and missed it and they made it 3-0,鈥� he said, adding the Terriers didn鈥檛 have the comeback.
Back at it Saturday
The Terriers also squared off in Kindersley on Saturday, and while the score was somewhat closer, it was still a Klipper victory.
Tanner Thompson put the home team on the scoreboard with a goal 1:39 in, but Yorkton would respond on this day. Drew Coughlin with an unassisted marker, and Cole Keenleyside on the powerplay would give Yorkton a short-lived lead at 2-1.
It took only 3:34 before Cameron Shorrock scored the equalizer for Kindersley, and then a powerplay marker by Cole Plotnikoff would give the Klippers a 3-2 lead heading to the dressing room after 20-minutes.
The Klippers would add a pair of unanswered goals in the second by Nikolas Malenica and Curtis Peck to extend their lead to 5-2.
The teams would trade goals in the third. Joshua Dobberthien on the powerplay 35-seconds in for Yorkton, and Austin Nault for Kindersley at 2:39 to round out a 6-3 win for the home side.
Ben Laidlaw took the loss in the Terrier net facing 49-shots, while Zach Johnson faced 22 in the Kindersley net to secure the win.
Hehr said Saturday was another case where 鈥渁 couple of mental lapses,鈥� and they were down again. He admitted the Terriers have not been particularly resilient to comeback especially on the road this season.
Up next
The Terriers head to Melville for action Friday, with the two teams then meeting at the Farrell Agencies Arena in the city Saturday.
Hehr said the players of course recognize they are not bound for the playoffs, but they do realize they are playing the last few games to make a statement they want to be Terriers next season.
