Terriers Break Notre Dame Hearts
Photo Credit: Simple Shots By Jackie Blake Sittler was victorious in his SJHL debut, while five different Terriers had multi-point nights, and Yorkton ended Notre Dame’s playoff hopes with a 5-4 victory on home ice. The power-play was excellent for Yorkton, going 3-for-7, while the penalty kill went 3-for-4.
Yorkton opened the scoring midway through the first period. Clay Sleeva drove the puck into Notre Dame’s and saw his shot turned aside by Tucket Inabinet, only for Dylan Ruptash to whack the rebound out of midair for his team leading 22nd goal of the season. The Hounds replied 22 seconds later. The puck squirted out of the corner in front to Antoine Saint-Onge, who was stopped the first time by Sittler, but buried the rebound to make it 1-1. 1:08 later Yorkton restored their lead. Pavel McKenzie made a drop pass at the blue-line and Quintin Unreiner carried the puck to the right face-off circle before wiring a shot over the glove of Inabinet.
The Terriers extended their lead mid-way through the second period when the Hounds got themselves into a bit of penalty trouble. On a 5-on-3 power-play, Ashton Funk set up Cohner Saleski for a one-timer from the left circle, and the Saskatoon product made no mistake making it 3-1. However, the Hounds wouldn’t go away. A Jacob Ligi point shot was turned aside by Sittler, only for Cyprus Smith-Davis to follow up the rebound to make it 3-2. Then on a late power-play, a Saint-Onge shot was deflected by Dane Probe past Sittler to tie the game at 3-3 heading into the intermission.
The turning point in the third period was a double minor kneeing call against the Notre Dame Hounds. On the power-play, Yorkton struck not once but twice. First was a beautiful passing play, capped off by Sleeva, who received a feed from Ruptash. Then Ashton Funk scored his second goal of the season, as his point shot ricocheted off a number of skates and through the five hole of Inabinet. Carson Baylis scored a goal with 22 seconds remaining to make things interesting, but the Terriers smothered the remaining time and left with a 5-4 victory.
The Terriers are back in action on Friday night for the final home game of the regular season against the Humboldt Broncos. The game will be on the GX 94 alternate stream with the pre-game show starting at 6:50pm and play-by-play kicking off at 7:00pm.