The Terriers overcame a 2-0 deficit to win the first edition of the Battle of Highway 10, 3-2 in overtime. Tyson Janzen had the overtime winner, while Karsten Kruska, on his 19th birthday had a goal and a helper.
The Millionaires jumped out to a good start in the first period. Zach McIntyre got his first goal of the season, after intercepting a Maddux Nollski pass and going one-on-one on Kael DePape, beating him over the blocker. The Mils doubled their lead in the second, after Zach Cain finished a pretty passing play, started by a turnover at the Terriers blue line.
The Terriers would start their comeback in the second period. Nollski would make amends for his turnover in the first by charging into Melville’s zone on a 2-on-1. Nollski ripped a shot over the blocker of Alexis Giroux for his third goal of the season, cutting the Melville lead to 2-1.
Both teams would have their chances in the second half of the game, but the goalies, DePape and Giroux stood tall in their nets, making big save after big save. Finally, with 37 seconds remaining in the third, Steven Norum found an open Kruska in the slot, and the Edmonton product made no mistake, tying the game at 2.
To overtime, we would go where the Terriers carried the majority of the play. It ended when Kruska drove the puck to the half wall, and picked out a perfect pass to Janzen, who out-waited Giroux, wrapping the puck around the outstretched goalie, giving the Terriers a 3-2 victory.
For the Terriers, they snapped a three game losing streak to improve to 2-6-0-0, while the Millionaires dropped their first four games of the season, falling to 0-2-2-0.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night for the second half of the home-and-home series at the Westland Insurance Arena in Yorkton. The action can be found on the online only stream on GX 94 with the pre-game show starting at 7:20pm and puck drop at 7:30pm.