A trip north to face Flin Flon on the weekend proved a long one for the Yorkton Terriers as they gave up 11 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League goals in losing a pair of games to the Bombers.
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The Terriers jumped out to an early lead in the game Friday as Cody Bruchkowski and Dino Antoniadis scored 18-seconds apart in the first period and held a 2-0 lead through 20-minutes of play.
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In the second frame Dononvan Houle-Villeneuve and Daylan Marchi would respond for Flin Flon to knot the game 2-2 through two periods.
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In the third the wheels would fall off for the visiting Terriers.
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Forty-eight seconds into the final frame Christopher Collin would score a powerplay goal for the home team. It would prove to be the game winner.
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Collin added an insurance marker at 2:09 again on the powerplay.
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Isaac Jackson would then add another goal with a man advantage at 7:48.
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Nate Hooper, Jordan Funk and Jackson would add three more to round out an 8-2 win.
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Joe Marcouiller took the loss in the Yorkton net facing 51-shots, while Brenden Newton had the win for Flin Flon facing 27.
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Terrier head coach Matt Hehr said the team just didn鈥檛 play a complete game Friday.
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鈥淲e were really playing really good for the first two periods,鈥� he said.
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But then the third period the Terriers ran into an old nemesis this season, their special teams鈥� play.
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鈥淲e took nine-minutes of penalties,鈥� said Hehr.
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鈥淔ive-on-five we鈥檙e pretty good,鈥� he added, but then noted the team has struggled both short-handed and with the man advantage.
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Hehr said it has been so frustrating it鈥檚 almost a case of asking to refuse a powerplay and stay at five-on-five because a poor powerplay can give the other team momentum.
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In fact Friday with a 2-0 lead, the Terriers had a trio of powerplays that did not result in a key third goal.
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鈥淲e had a few chances,鈥� said Hehr. 鈥溾�� But, if we get one goal, maybe two, it鈥檚 a whole different hockey game.鈥�
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A night later the Bombers started the scoring with a short-handed effort by Jordan McCausland that proved the only marker of the first period.
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Ethan Davos scored a powerplay goal for the only goal of the second frame to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
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Rob Johnson scored 2:08 into the third to extend the Bomber lead to 3-0.
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Cody Bruchkowski and Cole Keenleyside, (on the powerplay) would give the Terriers a chance, but the comeback came up one-goal short as Flin Flon won 3-2.
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Ben Laidlaw took the loss in the Terrier net facing 60-shots, while Newton had his second win in two days, facing 39.
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Hehr said the Terriers showed some fight in the game Saturday.
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鈥淲e went down 3-0 but climbed back to make it 3-2,鈥� he said.
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The pair of losses has the Terrier record slip to 8-26-2-1 for 19 points and still buried in the basement of the SJHL Viterra Division. Estevan leads the Viterra with 48-points followed by Weyburn with 44 and Melville in third with 28.
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Hehr said the mounting losses are 鈥渄efinitely frustrating for the players,鈥� adding the team has to find a way to win if they still have a chance to earn a playoff spot. 鈥淲e need to win four, or five-in-a-row to get back into the playoff race.鈥�
Up next
The Terriers have a single game ahead this week, a scheduled visit to Weyburn Saturday.
