The Yorkton UCT Bantam Terriers took to the road this past weekend for a pair of games, one in Arcola against Estevan on Saturday and the other in Weyburn on Sunday, expecting nothing but a pair of victories.
But expectations are not always met as the Estevan TS&M Bruins, led by four goals and an assist by Cole Fonstad shocked the previously undefeated Terriers by a score of 5-4 on Saturday before the Terriers took out their frustrations on the Weyburn Crescent Point Wings by a score of 10-3.
The .500 record over the weekend gives the UCT Terriers a 12-1-0 record in the SBAAHL Â鶹´«Ã½AV Division, two points up on the second place Regina Monarchs (10-3-2) and five points ahead of the third place Prairie Storm (9-0-1).
Estevan sits in fourth with an 8-7-0 record and 16 points while Melville and Weyburn are fifth and sixth respectively with identical 6-7-2 records.
The Sask Valley Vipers (12-2-1) continue to lead the North Division with 25 points, closely followed by the Prince Albert Venice House Raiders with 20 and North East Wolfpack with 19.
Saturday's defeat
Complacency can be the enemy of many a great team.
That statement was proven yet again on Saturday as the undefeated Yorkton UCT Bantam Terriers were upset 5-4 at the hands of Cole Fonstad and the Estevan TS&M Bruins.
The UCT Terriers came out flat right from the get-go, allowing the Bruins to play their game and resulting in Fonstad's first of the night midway through the first frame.
Yorkton would draw even before the end of the period however, as Kaleb Bulych beat Estevan netminder Callum Spearing for his third goal of the season to make it 1-1.
Fonstad once again gave the Bruins the lead, this time scoring just 22 seconds into the second period when his shot beat a shaky Nolan Maier, who was starting just his first game of the regular season after being injured for the first 11 games.
However the Bruins' second lead of the game would last just one second longer than it took for Fonstad to score in the second as Kaeden Taphorn snapped the puck past Spearing just 23 second later to make it a 2-2 game.
Kaeden's twin brother Keenan gave Yorkton their first lead of the game under seven minutes later and Carson Miller would add to it with 5:47 remaining in the period to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead.
An Aiden Bulych interference penalty late in the frame gave Estevan a chance to draw to within one and draw within one they did as Fonstad completed his hattrick just 32 seconds into the man advantage to cut the Terrier lead in half at 4-3.
The start of the third period saw the Bruins make a goalie change, taking Spearing out for the more talented Cody Levesque in the hopes that they could get a couple of goals past Maier.
The move paid off as Levesque kept the powerful Terrier offence at bay while Fonstad first scored his fourth goal of the game before setting up a Ryder Pierson marker.
The Pierson goal, scored on the powerplay with Aiden Bulych once again in the penalty box, this time for roughing, would prove to be the game winning goal as the Yorkton UCT Terriers tasted defeat for the first time in SBAAHL, falling 5-4 to the Estevan Bruins.
Following the game UCT Terrier head coach Graham Garrett acknowledged the fact that the UCT Terriers allowed Fonstad, who scored 35 goals and added 33 assists as a first year bantam last year, too much time and space with the puck resulting in four goals by the Estevan sniper. "Our guys just didn't pay attention to him and he was able to find a lot of open ice and when he did he scored," offered Garrett. "Fonstad's a shooter and we let him shoot and when he shoots, more often than not he scores."
Garrett also mentioned that the Bruins as a whole simply outworked his Terriers on Saturday. "You've got to give them credit. They came out and played harder than we did," said Garrett of his club's Saturday night opponent. "They paid the price more than we did and they wanted to win more than we did.
"We were a little too soft and a little too casual and they were able to take advantage of that."
Whipping Weyburn
The UCT Terriers were back in action just one day after tasting defeat for the first time in regular season play.
They must not have liked the taste however, as the Terriers came out flying, scoring five goals in the first period, one each by Keenan Taphorn, Zach McIntyre, Brett Kemp, Carson Miller and Kaeden Taphorn while Weyburn could muster just one goal of their own when Shayde Peterson beat Tyson Byman to split up Yorkton's fourth and fifth goals of the period.
The second period was a little bit closer as Yorkton managed to put just two pucks past Wings goalie Jaxon Robertson with Miller finding the back of the net for his second of four goals in the game while Michael Coleridge also got involved in the scoring, netting his fifth of the season less than a minute after Weyburn's Todd Johnson had cut the Terrier lead to four to send the game into the final period 7-2.
Three straight UCT Terrier goals, two by Miller and one by Aiden Bulych, ensured that the UCT Terriers didn't just defeat Weyburn on Sunday, they annihilated them. Weyburn's Johnson scored his second of the game with just over a minute remaining but it didn't matter as Yorkton skated to a convincing 10-3 victory.
"I thought we played a lot better of a hockey game," offered Coach Garrett. "We shot the puck more, drove the net more and we were able to block more shots today. We just played an all-around better game than we did against Estevan."
Garrett then touched on the fact that all three lines found the scoreboard on Sunday afternoon, something he feels is key to the team's success this season and something that did not happen in Saturday's 5-4 defeat to Estevan. "We got scoring from all three of our lines and that's big for us," mentioned Garrett. "That was the problem yesterday against Estevan. The other two lines weren't able to create much offence and they weren't able to get any goals and it kind of cost us."
Two players in particular that impressed the coach on Sunday, other than the usual suspects of Miller and the Taphorn twins, were first year forward Zach McIntyre and second year veteran Brett Kemp; both of which had a multi-point game on Sunday against the Wings. "Kemper, he's a skilled hockey player and when he does the things he needs to do and uses his linemates, he's really successful," said Garrett, adding that Kemp also does yeoman's work on the penalty kill and is one of the top defensive players on the team. "McIntyre is a real offensive kid but he was hurt at the start of the season so it's nice to see him get out there and put the points up.
"Today we kind of changed the lines around and moved McIntyre up to Kemp's line and they seemed to have chemistry right away and scored a couple of nice goals so hopefully that will continue."
The UCT Terriers also welcomed the Notre Dame Hounds to the Farrell Agencies Arena on Tuesday, November 25.
Aiden Bulych and Kaeden Taphorn led the offensive charge with two goals and two assists each while Jordan Repsch, who had been snake bitten for much of the season, finally found the back of the net not once but twice in the game.
Brett Kemp, Carson Miller, Ashton Shewchuk and Michael Coleridge all had one goal, one assist nights while defenceman Kaeden Korczak picked up three helpers in the game.
Tyson Byman picked up the win between the Terrier pipes, stopping 11-of-12 shots while Notre Dame netminders Riley Kohonick and Timur Shiyanov split time in the Hounds net with Kohonick being saddled with the loss.
Next action
The next action for the Yorkton UCT Terriers (12-1-0) will be this Saturday when they host the undefeated Prairie Storm (9-0-1) for a top-of-the-table game at the Kinsmen Arena.
The UCT Terriers will then host the Regina Pat Blues (6-5-0) the following day at the Kinsmen. Both games are scheduled for a 4:00p.m. start.
