The Yorkton Terriers are off to a 2-1 start in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
Friday Humboldt rolled into town to play at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
In spite of generating only 10-shots through the first two periods the Terrier led 3-1. Brenden Poncelet scored the first period's lone goal for Yorkton, with Zak Makowski and Jeremy Johnson adding second period markers.
Adam Zbitniff scored in the second for Humboldt.
The Broncos would tie the game in the third with goals by David Miazga and Joe Davies, and looked to have shifted the momentum their way when Nathan Murray made a strong moved to the net and scored what would be the game-winner.
"I walked around the defence and went to the net," said Murray, adding it was something "I haven't done for a long time."
Murray said he realizes he is a bigger body on the ice and must use that to his advantage.
"I've been trying to do that from the start of the year," he said adding he knows his game has strengths and weaknesses and he must focus on his strengths to be effective.
Terrier head coach Trent Cassan said Murray has the strength to make a difference when he uses it.
"He's in his fourth year. He has to realize how big a body he is when he does take the puck to the net he's a pretty hard guy to handle," he said.
Tyler Giebel would add an empty-net marker to complete the 5-3 win.
Kale Thomson had the win in the Terrier net facing 37-shots.
"I felt pretty good out there," said the Terrier netminder. " The guys ended up playing pretty good for me."
Thomson said the game was one where goals were going in at both ends that probably should have been stopped.
"There was a few scrambley goals I would have liked to have had back," he said.
Cassan had the same opinion of his charges' effort.
"I thought we really scrambled the first two periods," he said, adding that might have been expected in the sense he said they "worked them pretty hard off the ice all week." He said the coaching staff knew it might impact the game Friday, but hope over the long season conditioning will win them games too.
Cassan wasn't panicking after the shaky contest.
"It's game number two of the regular season in late September.
Obviously there are things to improve on," he said. " At the end of the day it's still two points."
While Thomson faced a lot of rubber Friday, Thomson said that isn't such a bad thing.
"For me at least when I gets lots of shots I really start to get into the game," he said.
It is likely Thomson will see his share of shots as the Terriers number one goaltender at this juncture.
"It feels good to get my chance to prove that I can win," he said.
The game was one where the Terriers knew they did not play their best but managed the win.
Murray said the team did not play well from the start.
"We were scrambley right from the start," he said. " We probably shouldn't have got that one."
Having Humboldt come back to tie the game was deflating, said Murray.
"For a minute we felt down and out and it was still tied 3-3,"said Murray.
Sunday the Terriers were on the road for the first time this season, heading to Wilcox to face the Notre Dame Hounds.
After a scoreless first period Johnson would score the lone goal of the second frame to give Yorkton a 1-0 lead.
Carson Grolla tied the game for the Hounds 4:37 into the third, withBrandon Millin giving the home team its eventualgame-winner at 7:05.
Thomson faced 19-shots in the loss for Yorkton.
Home action
The Terriers next home action is Saturday with the Nipawin Hawks in town.
