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Information For Prospective Terriers
 The league's largest centre...
Second-highest game attendance...
2005-06 RBC Cup finalists...
Solid community-owned team...
Extensive media coverage...
And more!
We'll help you take your hockey and academic skills to the next level.
Thanks for checking out the Yorkton Terrier Junior A Hockey Club, our community, and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League as you prepare to make a decision about your future for the next few years.
Our goal is simple... we want to provide you with opportunities to go the next level, as a player, as a student, and as a person. We are looking for quality young men who believe that being part of a strong and cohesive team will help them develop their skills and their personality.
Like the Terriers, the league believes in development of players and students. The Terriers and the league operate in a competitive environment where skill and dedication are needed to succeed in the league, and beyond in interprovincial and national Royal Bank Cup competition.
Our graduating players in recent years have gone on to play at the University of Minnesota, Brandon (MB) University, University of Regina, Holy Cross University, University of Alaska, Princeton University, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, other colleges throughout the United States, and on minor pro league teams in the U.S.
Coming off a great season that saw the Terriers make it all the way to the SJHL Finals, we are looking for players who want to learn and develop, who have the dedication to succeed, and who will be proud to wear the Terrier crest on their chest in a community where Terrier hockey is the major focus from fall to spring.
The community of Yorkton, the Terrier organization, and our players are looking forward to living our dreams together!
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League web site: www.sjhl.ca.
 Trent Cassan, Head Coach
A native of Medora, Manitoba, Trent enters his third season with the Terriers and first full season as Head Coach. Trent took over the Head Coaching duties with just eight games remaining in the 2009-10 regular season. He led the 10th seeded Terriers to three playoff series victories before falling in six games of the SJHL League Finals to the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
Before taking over as Head Coach, Trent served as the team Assistant Coach and Marketing Director. Trent played three seasons of Junior Hockey with the Terriers from 2001 to 2004.
Upon completion of his junior career Trent earned an NCAA Division III scholarship to Geneseo State University, located in Geneseo, NY. During Trent’s four years at Geneseo the Ice Knights captured back-to-back League Championships. Trent was also Team Captain his Senior season and was named to the Conferences All-Academic Team for two seasons.
As a young coach who isn’t far removed from his playing days, Trent relates well to today’s young players. He is very active in helping Terrier players develop and prepare for the next level of hockey. Trent brings a positive hard working attitude to the rink each day.
Danny McKay, Assistant Coach
McKay teamed up with Cassan to lead the Terriers on a very successful playoff run in 2010. McKay joined the Terriers Coaching Staff with just eight games remaining in the season. Danny was also an Assistant Coach with the Terriers for the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons where the Terriers captured back-to-back SJHL League Championships and were finalists in the 2006 RBC Cup.
McKay has been the Head Coach of Team Saskatchewan at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) for the past 3 seasons. Under McKay’s leadership the team captured a bronze medal in 2007 and back-to-back gold medals in 2008 and 2009.
Danny resides in nearby Broadview, SK and has been involved in the SJHL for various teams and capacities since 1993.
Don Chesney, General Manager
Don Chesney’s hockey career started in Yorkton where he played his minor hockey. He played in the first ever SAJHL All-Star Game as a member of the Melville Millionaires. He has coached at all levels of hockey for over 30 years. At the Junior B level he won Coach of the Year in the Prairie Junior Hockey League with the St. Phillips Rangers. He has coached the Canora Cobras where he was named an All-Star Coach. Chesney led the Fort Knox to a Silver medal at the Keystone Cup. He has also served as an Assistant Coach of the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.
Most recently he scouted for two seasons for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
His SJHL coaching career has spanned 12-years where he coached the Melville Millionaires, Lebret Eagles and the Yorkton Terriers. During this time he was twice named SJHL Coach of the Year.
The Team:
The Terriers play a 58-game schedule from September through February in the 12-team SJHL. The league playoffs begin in mid-February and end in mid-April with the SJHL Credit Union Cup being awarded to the League Champion. The League Champion moves on to play the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) Champion for the ANAVET CUP. The winner of this play-down advances to the National Junior “A” Championship, the RBC Royal Bank Cup.
The SJHL has enjoyed a great deal of success on the intra provincial and national level, winning the ANAVET CUP twenty-six times in its thirty-four year existence. At the Royal Bank Cup Championship the SJHL traditionally has done very well. Humboldt (2003), Weyburn (2005) and Humboldt (2008) have all won the event in recent years with Yorkton (2006) and Kindersley (2004) finishing as national finalists.
The Terriers average three games a week, participiate in dryland training, and have practices the mornings of all non-game days.
The hockey club supplies players with all outer equipment (helmets, sticks, gloves, pants, socks and jerseys), and gets great discounts on all other equipment needed by the players. Because of Yorkton's central location, most road trips are less than three hours. While on the road, the Terriers use a state-of-the-art charter bus fully equipped with VCRs, TVs, CD players and washroom facilities.
The Yorkton Terrier Hockey Club is operated by a community-owned not-for-profit organization under the leadership of a volunteer board of directors elected at the annual meeting. The hockey club and its hundreds of volunteers carry out extensive fund-raising projects to support the team and its players.
The Arena:
Home for the Terriers is the Farrell Agencies Arena in the Gallagher Centre, Yorkton's newly renovated and expanded recreation complex.
Along with the arena, the Centre houses an indoor lane swimming pool with waterslide and leisure water recreation areas, sauna, hot tub, meeting and convention facilities, a fieldhouse used for soccer, volleyball, track, trade shows, entertainment events and more, and an eight-sheet curling club.
The Terriers have their own dressing room, training room/player lounge, skate sharpening, offices for coaching and administration staff, and a popular souvenir shop in the main lobby. Free gym memberships are provided to the players at a downtown facility.
Gallagher Centre web site: www.gallaghercentre.com
Player Accommodations:
Full room and board is provided at the expense of the hockey club and at no cost to the players. Players are billeted with host families within Yorkton, who have been screened by the team to ensure the players have a good home. Players without vehicles are billeted with teammates who do, so that rides to and from the rink and school are not a problem.
Education:
High school classes are available to all players. Yorkton has both a public and a Catholic high school, and both schools have counselors who work closely with the hockey club to ensure that players classes are co-ordinated with game and practice schedules. Tutoring is also available if required.
University classes are available through the local regional college. The first two years of university can be completed in Yorkton. Players are reimbursed their tuition fees on successful completion of university classes. Help is also available to prepare players for SAT exams, and NCAA clearinghouse requirements.
Getting Noticed:
Terrier and SJHL games are scouted extensively by NCAA colleges, Canadian universities, minor pro and NHL teams. Scouts are provided with player profiles and information by the coaching staff to keep them informed about the accomplishments of players. The Terrier and league web sites also provide player details and stats.
Our Community:
Yorkton, with a population of about 17,000, is the largest centre in the SJHL. It has a large retail trading area of about 200,000 people, which means that all essential stores and services, including big-box stores, are located in the city.
It is the largest community on the Yellowhead Highway between Winnipeg (4.5 hours east) and Saskatoon (3.25 hours west). Regina is less than two hours away to the south.
The city has ample accommodation facilities, several excellent golf courses in or near the city, and lots of hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, skiing and other outdoor activities at nearby provincial parks.
The newly renovated and expanded Gallagher Centre, where the Farrell Agencies Arena is the home of the Terriers, is one of the finest such recreation centres in the province.
Yorkton is the media centre for eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba, with two local newspapers, two radio stations, television stations, and two cable TV outlets that provide live game broadcasts and extensive coverage of the team and the league.
Want To Contact Us?
Yorkton Terriers
Box 277
Yorkton, SK Canada
S3N 2V7
Tel 306-783-4077
Fax 306-782-3633
Head Coach: Trent Cassan
coach@yorktonterriers.com |