Last week, the Yorkton Terriers Junior A Hockey Club made the announcement that the new head coach/GM of the team would be Mat Hehr.聽
Hehr has been with the team for one year as assistant coach, and stepped up as interim head coach/GM when the board released Casey O鈥橞rien from his duties three weeks ago.聽
Sunday evening marked Hehr鈥檚 first game in his official role. The Terriers hosted the Battlefords North Stars at the Farrell Agencies Arena.聽
In the end, the Terriers fell 5-3, but not due to a lack of effort on the ice.聽
The Terriers and the North Stars battled back and forth throughout the game, with shots on goal remaining fairly balanced all the way through.聽
In the first period, both teams came out strong and fast. The North Stars were able to capitalize on their chances in that period, scoring two goals before the 20 minutes were finished. The shots on goal were 14-13 for Battlefords, and the score was 2-0 at the end of the first.
In the second period, it was the Terriers who connected with the net. They scored two goals from Cody Bruchkowski and Austin Wieler. It was Wieler鈥檚 first SJHL goal. At the end of the second, the score was tied 2-2 and the shots on net were 23-20 for the North Stars.聽
To start the third period, the Terriers had a quick goal from Mason Mullaney to give them a 3-2 lead.聽
The Terriers held that lead until the last five minutes of play. The North Stars got two goals within two minutes of each other, which would result in their 5-3 win.聽
In the end, the shots on net were 36-28 for the North Stars.聽
This wasn鈥檛 the first time that the Terriers had given up a lead this season. Coach Mat Hehr said the Terriers need to learn how to play for a full 60 minutes in order to get in the win column.
鈥淚t was almost like we hit the panic button,鈥� Hehr said regarding the downfall in the last few minutes of play. 鈥淲e lost focus a bit, and stopped doing the things that were making us successful for the first 53 minutes.鈥�
Despite the loss, it鈥檚 fair to say that the Terriers looked to be on the right path for the majority of Sunday鈥檚 game. Hehr said he saw a lot from his guys that he liked.
鈥淚 thought we played a good game up until the last seven minutes when it got away from us. But other than that I liked the way the guys played tonight,鈥� he said.聽
鈥淭hey played hard, they did the little things, we鈥檝e just got to learn to win now.鈥�
Goalie Ben Laidlaw, who came to the Terriers at the end of October, 聽 played in net for the Terriers on Sunday night and put forth a strong effort, making 31 saves in the contest.聽
Since taking over the team, Hehr has made a number of trades in order to change up the team dynamic. Amongst those changes was the signing of a second goalie for the Terriers.聽 Joe Marcoullier joined the Terriers roster just last week. Hehr said he should get the start in the Terriers鈥� next game, which is on Wednesday night against the Melfort Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. at the F.A.A.
