It was a tough end to an occasionally frustrating season for the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers of the SSMHL Midget 鈥楢A鈥� league last week, as the Kinsmen Terriers dropped Game Two of their best-of-three quarterfinal series 5-3 to the Notre Dame Bantam Hounds last Tuesday to find themselves eliminated from the midget 鈥楢A鈥� postseason.
Yorkton fell behind early as Notre Dame forward Cordell Larson snapped the puck past Yorkton goalie Carter Park just 4:38 into the first period for a 1-0 Bantam Hound lead.
The Kinsmen Terriers would respond less than eight minutes later when midget rookie Ashton Shewchuk put the puck behind Joe MacDonald for his first SSMHL Midget 鈥楢A鈥� playoff goal to even the game at one heading into the second period.
A Reece Newkirk marker just past the midway point of the second frame gave the Bantam Hounds their second lead of the game; a lead that they would extend twice later in the frame as, first Edge Lambert and then Matthew Culling, would score to make it a 4-1 Bantam Hound lead through 40 minutes of play.
A Jaydon Dureau power play goal with 10:28 left in the game made it 5-1 Notre Dame, and although third year Kinsmen Terrier players Jonah Sutter and Josh Rohatynsky would both score to make it 5-3 late in the third period, the four goal deficit proved to be just too much for Yorkton on the day in a 5-3 season ending loss. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough way to go out, because I don鈥檛 think it was our best effort overall,鈥� Kinsmen Terrier head coach Grant Ottenbreit told Yorkton This Week, adding that if their effort in Game Two was equal to that of Game One things could have been different. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we were as good in the Kinsmen as we were in Notre Dame.
鈥淚f we were then I think we would have probably had a different outcome. I don鈥檛 think we really took it to them physically early on and that鈥檚 what cost us.鈥�
The Game Two loss ends the Yorkton Minor Hockey careers of seven Yorkton players. Graduating from the team are goaltender Carter Park, defencemen Brett Melnychuk, Mason Plews and Jonah Sutter, as well as forwards Brodie Ottenbreit, Brayden Miller and Josh Rohatynsky 鈥� all of whom played their final Yorkton Minor Hockey game last Tuesday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough for everyone, but it鈥檚 harder for those guys because that鈥檚 it for them; they鈥檙e done,鈥� mentioned Ottenbreit. 鈥淪ome will probably try some intermural stuff or rec stuff at university or junior 鈥楤鈥�, but for others this was their final game and it鈥檚 hard to go out like that, but they went down fighting.
鈥淭wo of our veterans scored late in the game to make it close when it would have been very easy for them to give up, so that was great to see that they were going to go down swinging.鈥�
Overall, Ottenbreit said that while it鈥檚 not ideal to lose in the first round of the playoffs, the season in general could be seen as a success with the Kinsmen Terriers qualifying for the playoffs for the second consecutive season thanks to a record of 13-14-11. 鈥淲e improved all season long and that鈥檚 the important thing, because we had a lot of young guys on the team this year,鈥� mentioned Ottenbreit. 鈥淲e started off slow, but once we juggled the lines around and got players to where they needed to be, we started to find success and you see that with how we played in the second half of the season.
鈥淚n the first half we had something like nine or ten losses, but in the second half we had maybe four or five.鈥�
Ottenbreit also said that the season was a success in terms of player production, with a pair of midget rookies showing that they have what it takes to not only play at this level, but higher levels. 鈥淐arter Lake and Ashton Shewchuk really had great seasons and earned everything they got this year,鈥� said the Kinsmen Terrier head coach. 鈥淟ake played a lot on our power play and quarterbacked it and 鈥楢P鈥檇 up to the Maulers which helped him stay focused for the entire season because he had his eye on the prize and Shewchuk, he鈥檚 almost kind of been a role player or a piece of the puzzle but he never had the chance to be the guy because he was always playing with those other 2000鈥檚 that played with the Maulers this year, and I think a year in 鈥楢A鈥� did him a heck of a lot of good because he proved he could score at this level.
鈥淏oth of those guys, along with the other young guys as well. They were kind of the guys that gave us some jump and spark this year.鈥�
