The Yorkton Terriers are headed to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs after missing the cut last season.
With the Yorkton Terriers losing at home to Humboldt, the Terriers will finish in 10th place, and travel to La Ronge to start the Wild Card Series against the 7th place Ice Wolves.聽 Games 1 & 2 will be at the Mel Hegland Uniplex.
The series will start in La Ronge Thursday and Friday, then switch to the Farrell Agencies Arena for Game 3 Sunday, and Game 4, if necessary Monday.
Cassan said it will be an important playoff series for both teams in the sense neither team made it to the playoffs a season ago.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a whole lot of playoff experience,鈥� he said.
The lack of playoff time, and the fact the series is a short one as a best-of-five means Game 1 will have added importance.
鈥淭he first game is very important. You have to try to win that one,鈥� he said, adding it will be four-games in five days to start the round which means little time to change things up. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really quick set.鈥�
Cassan said playoff experience can only be earned by being involved.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really important for young guys playing in the playoffs, in that atmosphere,鈥� he said.
Going into the best-of-five the Ice Wolves finished the season with six more wins than Yorkton, and 11鈥損oints.
The Terrier offence however was better than that in La Ronge. Yorkton scored 184-goals as a team, while the Wolves managed 166.
However, individually the Ice Wolves have bigger producers. Cole Porter leads the Ice Wolves with 28 goals and 56 points, while Matthew Painchaud has 52-points, and Jared Blaquiere had 50.
McKenzie Welke led Yorkton as a rookie with 42-points, Corwin Stevely had 40, and Kailum Gervais 38.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to need our scoring to be spread around,鈥� said Cassan.
And that means taking advantage of whatever chances are presented.
鈥淲e need to take advantage of some bounces,鈥� said Cassan.
The defensive nod goes to LaRonge which allowed 173 goals compared to 219 for the Terriers.
Kris Joyce played in 50 games for LaRonge, with a 2.67 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage.
Matt Kustra played in 26-games for Yorkton with a 3.26 GAA and a .894 save percentage, while Jakob Sverson played in 31, with a 3.63 GAA and a .889 save percentage.
Cassan said the Wolves 鈥渉ave allowed a lot less,鈥� so the Terriers goaltending and defence will need to be at top form.
Neither team is headed to the playoffs on a roll, with both teams on 0-1-1-0 streak to wrap up the regular season.
Yorkton was 3-2-3-2 in its last 10-games, while La Ronge was 4-4-1-1.
Kindersley will have home ice against Notre Dame in the other Best-of-Five Wild Card Series.聽 Notre Dame is two points back with a game left, but the Klippers have the tie-breaker.
Season wrap
With one win in three tries their final week, the Terriers finished the current campaign good enough for third spot in the SJHL Viterra Division, with 49-points based on a record of 20-29-4-5.
Weyburn tops the Division with 79 points, with Estevan second with 71.
Melville finished fourth with a league-worst 35-points.
The Terriers wound up its regular season road schedule Friday in Estevan.
Lynnden Pastachak, Tyson Predinchuk and Landon Gross popped unanswered first period markers to give the host Bruins a 3-0 lead after 20-minutes.
Owen LaClare scored 2:08 into the second to extend the lead to 4-0.
But Kailum Gervais used the powerplay for the Terriers鈥� first goal at 5:37 and Corwin Stevely would add one at 10:43 of the second to cut the lead in half at 4-2.
In the third Charles Manley scored at 7:10 to reestablish a three goal bulge for Estevan.
But the Terriers proved determined, using the powerplay for Jordan Ross to score at 10:11 and Gervais to add his second of the night at 11:53 to get close.
Thirteen-seconds later McKenzie Welke scored the 20th of his rookie season to knot the score 5-5.
The game would advance to the five-minute, four-on-four overtime, where Braden Oleksyn finally secured a win for the home side scoring at 2:40.
Jakob Severson was in the Terrier net for the loss facing 42-shots. Daniel Wapple took the win for the Bruins facing 33.
Cassan said the Terriers showed a lot of character in the contest.
鈥淲e were down 4-0 and 5-2 and came back from that on the road,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t showed a lot of character and desire.鈥�
Cassan added the Bruins will be hosting the Western Canada Cup, and the Terriers 鈥渨on the series season,鈥� against a very good team.
A night later the Terriers wrapped up the regular season hosting Humboldt, one of only two teams not making the playoffs in the 12-team loop.
The first period was a scoreless affair.
Shane Sherban scored the game鈥檚 first goal at 9:04 of the second, with Tyler Baier making it 2-0 with a powerplay marker at 11:24.
Laramie Kostelansky cut the lead in half with a goal at 16:02.
In the third Humboldt鈥檚 Wesley Shipton wrapped up his SJHL season with a natural hat trick with goals at 3:05, 4:50 and 14:52, to give the Broncos a 4-2 lead.
Carson Welke scored at 17:08 to put the Terriers with one at 4-3.
Trevor Posch made it 5-3 with an empty net marker for Humboldt.
But then Kevin Wolf would give the Terriers a last minute boost with a goal at 19:26 to round out the 5-4 loss.
Severson was again in the Terrier net facing 31-shots, while Carter Seminuk took the win for Humboldt facing 45.
鈥淲e had a couple of leads but we weren鈥檛 able to close it off,鈥� said Cassan.
Last Tuesday
Notre Dame visited the Farrell Agencies Arena last Tuesday for what would become a goal-filled affair.
Corwin Stevely would strike for the home team only 37-seconds in, and Kailum Gervais would make it 2-0 at 1:08.
Tyler Podgorenko would cut into the lead with a powerplay marker for the Hounds at 8:34, with Ian Willaims scoring at 12:54 to send the teams to their dressing rooms tied after 20-minutes of play.
The second would belong to Yorkton鈥檚 Carson Welke offensively as he scored at 12:25 and 14:31, and then assisted on Jordan McCausland鈥檚 powerplay marker at 15:55 as the Terriers jumped to a 5-2 lead through 40-minutes.
But the Hounds did not go quietly into the night.
Gage Ramsay would score at 14:55 on the powerplay, and Riley Bechard added one at 16:35 to draw within one, but that would be as close as Notre Dame could get as Yorkton held on for a 5-4 win.
Jakob Severson faced 36-shots in the Yorkton net for the win, while Darin Fox was tagged with the loss facing 32-shots in the Hounds cage.
