The Yorkton Terriers won a pair of Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League games on the week and now sit tied with Estevan at the bottom of the Viterra Division, each with 21-points.
Yorkton's record is 9-14-1-2.
Melville tops the Viterra with 27-points, while Weyburn is in second with 25.
Last Wednesday the Nipawin Hawks visited the Terriers and jumped out to an early lead with a Carter Coben powerplay goal 2:33 into the contest.
But the Terriers responded with first period markers from Adam Santoro, Brandon Sookro and Daylan Gatzke.
Regan Seiferling and Kurt Johnas padded the Yorkton lead with goals in the second and Zach Zadorozniak added one in the third to salt away the 6-1 win.
Matt Kustra faced 29-shots in the Terrier nets for the win, while Joe O'Brien and Logan Flodell split time facing 31 in the loss.
Friday in Melville the Millionaires struck first with Allen Kilback getting the only goal of the opening frame.
Landon Farrell had the only goal of the second extending the lead to 2-0.
Carson Cayer finally gave the Terriers a goal 8:17 into the third to cut the Melville lead in half, but Reed Murray would add a third Mils marker at 16:39 to round out a 3-1 win.
Kustra took the loss in the Terrier net facing 31-shots, while Troy Trombley faced 26 for the Melville win.
A night later the teams met again at Farrell Agencies.
Gatzke gave the Terriers a lead late in the first with a goal at 19:50 of the first.
After a scoreless second, Corwin Stevely scored 6:58 into the third and Devin Nemes added an empty-netter to round out a 3-0 win.
Dawson MacAuley had the shut-out facing 26-shots, while Trombley faced 35 for the Mils in the loss.
"Oh my goodness I needed that one," said a smiling MacAuley after being the game's first star Saturday.
The 20-year-old netminder said he has not been completely happy with his play so far this season.
"My play hasn't been where it needs to be. Or that my team deserves it to be," he offered.
And even with the shut-out, MacAuley was not taking all the credit, noting the entire team effort Saturday was strong.
MacAuley said to get the shutout against Melville was sweet too.
"Ever since I was 17 and played my first Junior game against Melville I've come to realize how strong a rivalry this is between us and Melville," he said.
MacAuley said while the Terriers have struggled at times this season, adjusting to numerous personnel changes from last year's championship team and dealing with the 'hangover' of a national crown, a win like the one Saturday can be a huge step in righting things.
"I think this is a turning point," he said, adding in the close Viterra division, the Terriers only need a short hot streak to vault up the standings.
"As poorly as we think we've played so far, were only five, six points out of first."
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said the effort was certainly better in the shut out.
"The first period was really good. We were strong on the puck. Took it to the net hard," he offered.
Cassan noted too that when needed MacAuley came up with some solid saves.
The Terrier coach was also happy to get the win over the Millionaires, pointing out "we lost three-in-a-row to Melville." Putting one in the win column over the conference leaders of course was a positive.
On offence Gatzke was again strong and Cassan said his veteran is playing well of late.
"You know every night what kind of effort you're going to get," he said, adding it is through hard work the goals come Gatzke's way. "He gets goals by working so hard and being hard on the puck."
As for the Terriers record so far, Cassan said they are trying not to look at the season as a whole, but instead are taking it in eight game segments and trrying to improve as they move forward.
In that progress the Dec. 1 mark arrived Monday, the day a team needs to solidify its 25-man roster by assigning cards which cannot be transferred after. For the Terriers that meant trimming the troops. The team had 24 players in town as of Saturday, but Cassan said that night he wanted to be down to 21-22 cards used, leaving a few open cards for possible trades up until Jan. 10, 2015.
Up next
Friday the Terriers swing north to play Nipawin and then return to the Farrell Agencies Arena to face Battlefords Saturday.
