TERRIERS TAKE GAME ONE

Just came back from watching the Yorkton Terriers double the Estevan Bruins 4-2 in game one of the Sherwood Conference semi-final series.


Both starting goalies were surprises tonight as Shea Cooper got the nod for Estevan and Warren Shymko for Yorkton.  Cooper played in the marathon triple overtime game against Melville in the Survivor Series, but Joel Danyluk had been in the net for the other four and it was assumed Danyluk would also start this series against his former team, a club he helped beat in last year's Credit Union Cup final.  Shymko had received a lion's share of the work for the Terriers down the stretch, but that was only because Devin Peters was injured.  Peters dressed as Shymko's back-up this evening.


Yorkton got off to a monstrous start.  They outshot Estevan 17-3 and were up 3-0 after one.  If not for the exploits of Cooper, it easily could have been 5-0 or 6-0.  


In the two games i witnessed first hand in the Melville series, I thought the Bruins were a little dopey to start each game, but by the end of the third period they had emerged as a very formidable opponent.  It was no different tonight.  A very slow start, followed by a gift in the second period in the form of a four minute long 5-on-3 powerplay seemed to bring them to life.  They got one goal and then added another in the third by Jonathan Ceci.  Zak Majkowski potted an empty netter to erase any thoughts of overtime.


Yorkton played without offensive star Justin Buzzeo and SJHL Defenseman Of The Year Blaine Tendler, who are still on the shelf with injuries.  That's, arguably, the team's top two players out of the line-up.  And, who knows what the real status of Peters is.  Shymko hasn't given the club any reason to doubt him, so maybe they decided to just keep riding the goalie that has been more active.  The way they played for most of tonight, it would be difficult envisioning this team losing if icing a full strength roster.  Kelly Leismeister is also out and with Tendler already missing, his absence was noticeable too.


The Bruins welcomed back Lucas Stubel in game four of the Melville series after he missed over a month.  Their main scratches tonight were Ryan Ostertag and Justin Waskewitch.