Erik Boers had two goals and an assist, and the Yorkton Terriers scored four goals in the third period to down the Weyburn Red Wings 5-2 in the season finale. Zach McIntyre and Tanner Sklaruk each had a pair of points, while Kael DePape stopped 21 shots in the win.
Yorkton opened the scoring on power-play. A McIntyre one timer bounced off the post, off the back of Dazza Mitchell and into the goal to make it 1-0 Yorkton. For McIntyre, it was his 20th goal of the season. The Red Wings tied up the game before the end of the period. DePape robbed Kirk Mullen on the backdoor before the Weyburn forward batted in the rebound to make it a 1-1 game.
In a penalty filled second period, Weyburn found the only goal of the frame. On the power-play, a Mullen shot from the right face-off circle was deflected by Matthew Reidy to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. Terrier had several opportunities to score, including four power-play chances, but Mitchell was sharp in goal stopping all 14 Terriers’ shots in the second period.
A nervous energy surrounded the Westland Insurance Arena before the Yorkton offence exploded in the third. Tyson Janzen tied up the contest with his 10th goal of the season. McIntyre poked the puck back to Janzen at the blue-line who wired it past Mitchell to make it 2-2. 29 seconds later the Terriers took the lead. A wrist shot from Sklaruk at the right point was tipped by Colby Vranai past the outstretched pad of Mitchell for Vranai’s 7th goal of the year. Boers got in on the fun. A shot from the goal-line bounced off the pad of Mitchell, sliding over the goal line to make it 4-2 Yorkton. Boers scored once more in the game, on the power-play. Karsten Kruska found a wide open Boers in the slot, and the St Albert, Alberta product wired a shot off the blocker of Mitchell and in for his 15th goal of the season.
With the victory, Yorkton finishes the year in 6th place in the SJHL standings. They will play either Battlefords or Melfort in the first round of the playoffs, which will be determined on Monday. Game 1 of the playoffs will take place on Friday, while game 2 is scheduled for Saturday. Yorkton will be on the road for the first two games, before returning home for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday, March 22nd and Wednesday, March 23rd.
