A five goal outburst in the third period propelled the 2013/14 SBAAHL champion Yorkton Bantam UCT Terriers to a 7-1 victory over the visiting Weyburn Crescent Point Wings in game one of the regular season on Sunday afternoon at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Kaeden Taphorn led all players in scoring picking up two goals and three assists for five points while twin brother Keenan registered a hattrick and added one assist for a four point effort.
Carson Miller, regarded as one of the top five bantam players in Western Canada, also had a four point night with a goal and three helpers while second year forward Brett Kemp also chipped in offensively with one goal.
Cameron Zamonsky picked up the win between the Terrier pipes stopping 9 of 10 Weyburn shots including two highlight reel saves early in the second period, before giving way to Keenan Aarrestad for the third period, who stopped all five shots he faced.
Weyburn's Jaxon Robertson suffered the loss turning aside 39 of 46 Yorkton shots.
And while the game eventually went to the Dogs, things didn't actually start out well for the UCT Terriers as Kyler Douglas gave the visitors a 1-0 lead on Weyburn's first shot of the game when his wrist shot beat Zamonsky blocker side to make it 1-0.
The Terriers responded quickly however, as Miller walked in off the right wing and snapped it top shelf blocker side to knot the game at one.
Yorkton added to their lead early in the second period when Kaeden Taphorn finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Miller, backhand one timing the Miller pass past Robertson and into the net to make it 2-1 Yorkton and just 1:03 into the middle frame it seemed as if the Terriers were going to run away with it.
But someone forgot to tell Robertson that as he simply slammed the door shut for the remainder of the period, turning away rush after Terrier rush to keep his team within one heading into the final 20 minutes.
However the Yorkton UCT Terriers aren't the defending SBAAHL champions for nothing, as Robertson and the Wings quickly found out in the third period.
Keenan Taphorn initiated the third period onslaught beating Robertson for his first of three on the night before wrapping up the Terrier offence with his second and third goals, the third one coming with just one second remaining in the game to give the UCT Terriers a 7-1 victory to open the season.
And while a 7-1 win to open the season is always a positive, the negatives, according to UCT Terrier head coach Graham Garrett, severely outweigh the positives, although he does admit that it is the first game of the season. "I thought that we didn't come out with the intensity that we needed to. Maybe we didn't respect this team enough but those are bad habits that we can't have," offered Garrett, adding that his team was able to pick up the intensity in the third period and put pucks past Robertson to secure the victory.
Garrett also noticed that his team seemed a little bit lackadaisical defensively and during transitions: something he hopes to iron out before their next game. "We've got to move pucks quick and whether we're carrying the puck or passing it up it has to be quicker and we've got to transition quicker," said the head coach. "But that'll come. It's the first game of the season and there are a lot of things to work on, especially when you look at the first game of the season."
One more thing that Garrett is fully aware of is that, now that the UCT Terriers are the defending league champions, everyone will be trying even harder to beat his boys. "This is a team that has won a lot of games in peewee and bantam and teams don't like them for that," suggested Garrett, continuing, "So they want to make the point that they can come out and play with these guys and everyone wants to be the team that beats them.
"We're going to see the best from everybody all year so we better be prepared for it."
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton Bantam UCT Terriers will be Friday, October 3 when they travel to Melville to battle the rival Melville Millionaires. Game time is set for 7:30p.m.
