Terriers Collide With Ice Wolves
Photo Credit: Simple Shots By Jackie Story Coming In:
A loss is how the Terriers began their seven game road trip, and now they look to rebound. Yorkton was shutout by the league’s top team in Flin Flon, 2-0, but not for a lack of trying. Bombers’ keeper Cal Schell was terrific in goal, stopping all 42 shots the Terriers threw on target. Now the orange and grey head to La Ronge for their first game at the Mel Hegland Uniplex since the 2020 playoffs. La Ronge is a team just ahead of the Terriers in the SJHL standings, so this game has a lot of importance for both teams. If Yorkton wants to find a win, they will need to buck a few trends. First, they will have to win the second half of back-to-back games, something they have not done this season. Second they will need to improve on their records on Saturdays, where they’ve gone 1-4-0-0. If there is one encouraging sign, the last time Yorkton played on a Saturday, they defeated the Battlefords North Stars in a shootout.
View From La Ronge:
The Ice Wolves played their first game at the Mel Hegland Uniplex last night, after a lengthy six game road trip. La Ronge were defeated by Kindersley 5-3, seeing their record fall to 5-9-1-1. The Ice Wolves are a high end offensive team with a suspect defence. The league’s third best power-play unit, is coupled with the league’s worst penalty kill unit, and that has hurt La Ronge this season. The x-factor for the Ice Wolves is 20-year-old goaltender Xavier Cannon. If Cannon is in net, the Ice Wolves have an excellent chance to win. However, Cannon has battled with injuries this season, which has kept him out of the lineup, and the other goaltenders on the roster have not proven that they can be relied on in net.
Experience Rules:
March 11th, 2020 was the last time Yorkton was in La Ronge. Lots of players from that day have moved on, including Chantz Petruic, Alec Zawatsky, the Taphorn twins and Phil Bond. However, the Terriers do still have a couple of holdovers from the shortened 2020 playoffs, and their experience may be the key factor when it comes to playing on the postage stamp called the Mel Hegland Uniplex. Chief of those will be defender Tyson Janzen. Janzen has the most experience on this Terriers roster, and there are very few things in this league that Janzen has not seen. The arguably top Yorkton defender will be relied on to lead this young group of Terriers to victory, as he looks to provide inspiration from the backend, both offensively and defensively.
Tale of the Tape
Yorkton Terriers (5-9-0-0 – 10 points) La Ronge Ice Wolves (5-9-1-1 – 12 points)
2nd Viterra Division/ 10th SJHL 4th Sherwood Division/ 9th SJHL
Powerplay: 5/64 – 8.3% (12th SJHL) Powerplay: 16/72 – 22.2% (3rd SJHL)
Penalty Kill: 55/64 – 85.9% (3rd SJHL) Penalty Kill: 51/70 – 72.9% (12th SJHL)
Last Ten: 4-6-0-0 Streak: 0-1-0-0 Last Ten: 3-5-1-1 Streak: 0-2-0-0
Stats Leaders For Yorkton:
Goals: Gervais (5)
Assists: Norum & Sleeva (6)
Points: Kruska & Sleeva (9)
PIM: Sklaruk (25)
Goalie: DePape 5-4-0-0, 1.65, 0.937%