Hammond, Farrow Lift Terriers Past Mills

8YORKTON, SK: Jeff Hammond completed his hat trick at the 13:14 mark of the second period, and Ethan Farrow stopped 28 of 29 he faced as the Yorkton Terriers were 4-1 winners over the Melville Millionaires on home ice.

It was a fast-paced opening twenty minutes, and the visiting Millionaires were almost gifted a goal in the opening ten seconds of the game. Terriers goaltender Ethan Farrow went behind his net to stop the puck, and the puck hit the Zamboni corner door and ricocheted right in front of the vacant goal, but Mills forward Caden Drury couldn’t put it home. The Terrier’s best chance to open the scoring came off the rush when David Overbeeke made a cross-ice pass to Cooper Algjer, who was robbed by Millionaire’s goaltender William Dyke to keep it scoreless. 

Moments later, the Mills thought they had taken the lead when Liam Cox-Smith ripped one blocker side past Farrow, but the goal was called off. That didn’t matter, as just 37 seconds later, Euan Morrison jammed home a loose puck to officially give the visitors a 1-0 lead. However, that lead would last all but 11 seconds as Terriers forward Jeff Hammond stormed down the right wing boards and snapped a shot from the top of the circle beating Dyke blocker side for his eighth of the campaign.

Both goaltenders were sharp in the opening twenty minutes. Four powerplays were awarded in the opening frame, three for the visitors and one for the Terriers. The Mills outshot the Terriers 9-8.

In the middle frame, the Terriers added a trio of goals via the man advantage. First, it was Desnoyers feeding the puck cross-ice to Hammond, and as he went for a deke to the backhand, he lost control, but the puck still found its way past Dyke five-hole. Then, on a 5 on 3 powerplay, the Terriers added to their lead. This time, it was from a heads-up play by Dalton Mayes as the defenceman found a wide-open David Coyle to double the lead; the goal was Coyle’s third goal as a Terrier and 16th overall on the campaign. The Terriers weren’t done there; on another powerplay, Desnoyers did some excellent work behind the net to pick up a loose puck, and he found a wide-open Hammond, and he hammered it home for his hat trick goal, sending the crowd into a frenzy. That goal signalled the end of the night for Dyke as he was yanked after allowing four goals on 17 shots. The Terriers almost added another as they had a 3 on 1, but Knutson, Coyle and Zawatsky could not convert. The Terriers went 2/3 of the powerplay in the second period.

In the third period, The Terriers locked things down solid defensively, and it did get chippy towards the end, but the Terreirs were able to hold on for a 4-1 victory and earn their first win over the Millionaires this season.

With the win, the Terriers improve to 10-19-2 on the season and will have a rematch with Melville on the road on New Year’s Day at 2 PM.