Terriers earn shootout victory over Melville in SJHL Season Opener

The Yorkton Terriers won the 1st instalment of the Highway 10 battle on Friday night defeating the Melville Millionaires 5-4 in the shootout to open up the 2019/20 season.

The Terriers would strike first just 8:19 into the 1st as newcomer Carson Henry would finish off a nice passing play from Chantz Petruic and make no mistake for his 1st SJHL goal to make it 1-0. They would make it 2-0, just under 6 minutes later as Ryan Ries would pick up a loose puck and slip it over top of Mils net-minder Berk Berkeliev for his 1st as a Terriers to give them a two goal lead.  The visiting Mils would respond though in the late stages of the opening frame as first off Luke Nkwama would slip one five-hole through Phillipe Bond to make it a one goal game. Aidan Steinke would draw his team even with 58 seconds to go as after a scramble in front the puck would squirt out to him and he would make it 2-2 after 1 period.

Shots after 20 minutes were 21-9 Yorkton.

After a scoreless 2nd, the Mils would grab their first lead 12:36 into the 3rd when Nic Porterfield would take a nice saucer pass from Luke Spadafora and make no mistake past Bond for his 1st SJHL goal to make it a 3-2 game. Then just a few moments later, Jonathan Krahn would add to the Mils lead with 1st as a Millionaire just 31 seconds later to make it a 2 goal game. The Terriers would respond though as Ryan Ries would add his 2nd of the game then Chantz Petruic would sneak one over top of Berk Berkeliev in the final minute to force the overtime period.

After overtime solved nothing, Chantz Petruic would get the only move in the shootout beating the Mils net minder to give the home side the extra point.

Phillipe Bond made 31 saves to earn his 1st SJHL win while Mils G Berk Berkeliev was solid making 45 saves on 49 shots in the loss.

The two teams will meet in the back-end of the home and home series on Saturday in Melville at 7:30PM.

Elsewhere on Friday:

Battlefords 7 Kindersley 1

La Ronge 2 Flin Flon 5

Weyburn 2 Estevan 0

Melfort 0 Nipawin 3


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Stampeders blank OCN to wrap up Preseason 

The Swan Valley Stampeders got a 30 save shutout from 20 year old Michael Davis as they finished up their preseason with a 3-0 victory over the OCN Blizzard on Friday night.

Carter Cockburn, Callum Fortin and Josh Maucieri scored the goals for Swan.

The Stamps finish up the exhibition schedule with a 4-0-1 record and they will now shift their focus to next Friday when they open up the 2019/20 MJHL regular season hosting the Dauphin Kings at the Centennial Arena. We will broadcast that game on GX94 with Yorkton Dodge Junior Hockey, pregame show begins at 7:20 with the Play by Play getting underway at 7:30PM MB time.

Elsewhere in Friday's MJHL preseason schedule:

Dauphin 2 Neepawa 1

Steinbach 6 Winkler 4