The magical run for the Yorkton Xerox Terriers came to a crashing end at the 2016 Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship in Okotoks, Alberta, this past week.
The Bantam Terriers ran into some stiff competition, picking up just one point over four round-robin games to finish fifth overall at the Westerns with a record of 0-3-1. 鈥淭hose teams there, they are pretty strong and they come from a big population base, meaning they have far more players to draw from then we do,鈥� said Xerox Terrier head coach Dan Cross. 鈥淔or us coming from a smaller community where we have a population to draw from of somewhere around 25-thousand, we definitely had our hands full, but I think our guys represented our province well and never gave up all weekend long.鈥�
The Saskatchewan champion Terriers opened the Western Championships up with a game against the host Rocky Mountain Raiders, falling 5-1 in the first game of the competition on Thursday morning.
Jaevon Buschlen (two), Majid Kaddoura, Travis Thorhaug and Andrew Bonham scored for the Raiders while Josh Herman scored Yorkton鈥檚 lone goal 鈥� a first period marker that at the time made it a 2-1 game.
Nolan Maier took the loss between the Yorkton pipes stopping 27-of-32 Raiders shots, while Rocky Mountain net minder Jackson Berry turned aside 17 Yorkton chances in the game. 鈥淐oming in and playing the host team right away, you can tell the guys were a little bit nervous,鈥� offered Cross on the 5-1 opening game defeat to Rocky Mountain. 鈥淚 think if we got a bounce early in the game I think our confidence would have rose a little bit and we might have had a win, but instead they got the bounces and we didn鈥檛, but that鈥檚 how it goes sometimes.鈥�
Thursday night saw the Xerox Terriers take on the B.C. champion and eventual Western champion Burnaby Winter Club Bruins in a game that Cross said was very one-sided. 鈥淭hey really took it to us in that game,鈥� mentioned Cross, adding that Yorkton was playing their second game of the day while Burnaby was competing in their first game of the tournament.
Cross mentioned that while the game was one-sided, the play of bantam rookie net minder Spencer Welke was the highlight for Yorkton, as Welke officially made 37 saves, but appeared to have made more. 鈥淭hey had probably 50 shots on him, and he only let in five, so that was pretty good,鈥� mentioned the Bantam Terrier head coach, continuing, 鈥淭hey have a lot of dangerous players, and for him being an 鈥�02 goalie and playing that well, he definitely earned his game star in that one for us.鈥�
Friday鈥檚 lone game for Yorkton pitted the Saskatchewan champions against the Manitoba champion Winnipeg Monarchs in what ended up being the only game that the Terriers salvaged a point in.
Winnipeg opened the scoring midway through the second period when Jonny Hooker put the puck past Maier for a 1-0 Monarch lead.
Terrier captain Aiden Bulych responded with his first of the tournament five minutes later to even the game at one, but a Tristan Thompson marker just over a minute later gave Winnipeg back their one goal advantage heading into the final period.
An Eric Fawkes goal 5:06 into the final period made it 3-1 Winnipeg before Kishaun Gervais brought Yorkton back to within one with 7:27 left when he slipped the puck past Ryland Medick to make it 3-2.
That goal seemed to spark the Terriers, as they began to carry the flow of play resulting in a Luke Seremet hooking penalty, sending the Xerox Terriers to the power play where they would eventually capitalize, as Zach McIntyre tied the game at three with his first of the competition.
The game would remain tied the rest of the way, giving Yorkton their first and only point of the tournament. Maier made 33 saves in the draw while Winnipeg鈥檚 Medick turned aside 18 Yorkton shots. 鈥淚t was nice to get that tie there, coming from behind to tie it up,鈥� said Cross, adding the Terriers were able to do so because of the play of Maier, who earned the Yorkton game star for his efforts. 鈥淗e (Maier) was outstanding in that game.
鈥淗e made some huge saves for us to keep us in it, so it was nice to at least get the tie for him.鈥�
Because of Friday鈥檚 3-3 tie with Winnipeg, Saturday鈥檚 game against the Alberta champion Lethbridge Golden Hawks still had meaning. A win and Yorkton would be playing for bronze, but a loss and the Terriers would be going home early.
Lethbridge鈥檚 Zack Stringer gave the Alberta champions a 1-0 lead midway through the opening frame, and it wasn鈥檛 until the middle part of the second period when the Terriers were able to answer, as Josh Herman scored his second goal of the tournament to bring the Terriers even.
Stringer鈥檚 second of the contest just three minutes later gave the Golden Hawks their second lead of the game; a lead they increased twice in the third period, first on a Scout Truman goal with 13:32 remaining and again on an empty net marker by defenceman Bowen Byram.
Maier took the loss 鈥� his second of the tournament and third of the season 鈥� stopping 26-of-9 shots, while Lethbridge goaltender Carl Tetachuk allowed just one goal on 13 Yorkton chances for the win.
The 4-1 loss eliminated the Xerox Terriers from Western playoff contention and put an end to their impressive 2015/16 season that saw them go a combined 46-5-5 throughout regular season, playoff and tournament hockey. 鈥淓ven though we didn鈥檛 end on a high note, this has still been a remarkable season for us,鈥� stated the Xerox Terrier head coach. 鈥淲e had these 17 kids come in, and I don鈥檛 think anyone thought that we had the roster to run the tables like we did in the province.
鈥淔or them to all come together and finish first place in the league and to win those two tournaments going undefeated, then going through playoffs and making Westerns, that鈥檚 a huge accomplishment. To play that consistently all year long is amazing and I was very proud of the way they played.鈥�
