Yorkton Bantam AA Xerox Terriers kick-off 2016 Western Canada Bantam Hockey Championships this morning!

After completing the 3-peat by winning their 3rd straight Saskatchewan Bantam AA League title, the Yorkton Xerox Terriers will set their sights on the top teams in Western Canada as they begin their 2016 Western Canadian Bantam Championships in Okotoks, Alberta later today.

Terriers will play their first game of the tournament this morning (Thurs)  at 9AM when they take on the host team, the Rocky Mountain Raiders. 

To preview the tournament, I had a chance to catch up with Yorkton Xerox Terriers Head Coach Dan Cross.

Mils Spring Camp Recap with Jamie Fiesel

Chesney resigns from Yorkton Terriers (SJHL)

The Yorkton Terriers regret to announce the resignation of Don Chesney as the team’s Director of Public Relations and Marketing, a position he has held for the last two seasons. 

Don has been an integral part of our team and a great ambassador for the Yorkton Terriers for the past six hockey seasons.

We want to acknowledge Don’s contributions to the SJHL and, in particular, to the Yorkton Terrier organization.

Don’s coaching career in the SJHL spanned twelve years where he coached the Melville Millionaires, Lebret Eagles and Yorkton Terriers. During this time he was twice named the SJHL Coach of the Year. Don coached the Terriers for two seasons from 2002‐2004 before retiring from the coaching ranks.

In the fall of 2010 Don returned to the Yorkton Terriers to serve as the team’s General Manager & Director of Marketing. Under Don’s guidance from 2010‐2014, the Terriers enjoyed a great amount of success on and off the ice. The team captured three division pennants (2011,2013,2014), an SJHL regular season pennant (2014), appeared in three SJHL League finals winning two league championships (2013,2014), a Western Canada Cup Championship (2014) and culminating with the crown jewel of Junior A hockey, an RBC Cup National Championship in 2014.

Don was also inducted into the Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

On behalf of the board, staff and all Yorkton Terrier supporters, we want to thank Don for his hard work and dedication to the team and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

For further information, please contact David Baron, President (306)641‐5180. 

Local products named to 2016 WHL All-Star teams

                                                   


The Western Hockey League announced their Conference All-Star teams yesterday (Wed) and a few local products were named.

Ochapowace’s D Ethan Bear (Seattle Thunderbirds) was named to the Western Conference 1st team Defence. Bear in his 3rd season with the T-Birds and had a career year in 68 regular season game had 19 goals, 45 assists for 64 points.

Bear and Seattle open up their WHL Playoffs tomorrow (Fri) hosting Prince George for Game 1 of their Quarter-Final.

Meanwhile named to the Eastern Conference 2nd team, defenceman & Elkhorn MB product Travis Sanheim (Calgary Hitmen)  & 19 year old Brandon Wheat King forward Jayce Hawryluk from Roblin, MB.

Hawryluk, during the regular season had 47 goals, 59 assists for 106 points in 58 games. The Wheaties open up their postseason tonight (Thursday) when they host the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings.

Sanheim, the Philadelphia Flyer 1st round pick completed his 4th WHL regular season with 15 goals and 68 points.

Sanheim and the Hitmen kick off their WHL Quarter-finals on Friday night visiting the 2016 Memorial Cup hosts, the Red Deer Rebels

2015/16 Yorkton Terriers Year-End Award Winners

Three Star Award: 1st- Regan Seiferling
                                 2nd- Brandon Sookro
                                 3rd- Corwin Stevely

Scholastic Award: Carson Welke

Dedicated & Serves Community (Ed Ruf Memorial): Kaium Gervais

Mr. Personality (Jamie Standish Award): Kevin Wolf

Chaplains Award: Paul Savage

Most Gentlemanly: Devin Gerwing

Unsung Hero (Park's Jewelry): Tyler Baier

Most Popular (Amos Border Memorial): Kailum Gervais  

Mr. Hustle (Yorkton Co-op): Jordan McCausland

Rookie of the Year (Doc's Cup): Carson & McKenzie Welke

Most Improved (Schoenroths & Wolfe Memorial): Matt Kustra

Top Regular Season Scorer, Playoff Top Scorer & Playoff MVP: McKenzie Welke

Coaches Award (Josh Campbell Memorial Trophy): Kailun Gervais

Most Valuable Defenceman: Regan Seiferling

Mosr Valuable Player (Guy Lamb Memorial Trophy): Corwin Stevely

Presidents Trophy: Brandon Sookro  

Stamps drop 2nd straight OT decision to Steinbach as 2015/16 season comes to an end

For the 2nd straight night, the MJHL Quarter-Final between Swan Valley & Steinbach went into extra time and for the 2nd straight time the Pistons were victorious as they beat the Stampeders 3-2 to sweep the Best of 7 series

The Stampeders unlike the previous 3 games were able to get the first goal as on the power play it would Michael Fortin re-directing home his 2nd of the playoffs by Roman Bengert to make it an early 1-0 lead. It would stay like that until the 18:10 point of the opening period as Cody Ellingson would capitalize on a Piston turnover and go fore-hand, back-end past Bengert for his 1st of playoffs to give the home team a 2-0 lead after 1 period. Shots after 20 minutes were 11-10 Stampeders.

The Pistons came out a firing in the 2nd period as they would completely dominate the Stampeders but they would only muster up 1 goal as Hayden Goderis would capitalize on a big rebound from Zach deGraves for his 1st of the series to make it a 2-1 Stamps lead. The Pistons sent a lot of rubber at the Stamps goaltender in the middle frame out shooting Swan 24-3 in the 2nd and 34-14 overall after 40 minutes.

The Stamps will continue to lead until the 13:24 mark of the 3rd when Goderis would snipe home his 2nd of the night to make it 2-2 game headed for the 2nd straight night to the extra time.

For the 2nd straight night it would be the Pistons' getting the game winner as Cole Smith would sneak through a hip check and then slide it just past deGraves for his 3rd of the postseason to help Pistons to the 3-2 win, and the 4 game sweep over the Stamps.

Roman Bengert once again wasn't the busier of the goalies but did enough to get his 4th straight win making 22 saves in the Pistons net while Zach deGraves finished off his final game of his Jr. career with another fantastic performance to keep his team in it stopping 50 of 53 shots in the Swan goal.

The Stamps season comes to an end while the Pistons become the first team to book their ticket into the MJHL's Final Four.

The Jr. careers of 5 Stampeder 20 year old's also came to an end. Congratulations and best of luck in the future to:

#2 Gavin Froese

#21 Evan Last

#24 Colton Brausen

#25 Daylan Creasy

#29 Zach deGraves.


Stamps Head Coach/GM Erik Petersen last post game of the season

Yorkton Cardinals continue to gear up for 2016 WMBL Season

The 2016 Cardinal Executive and Board of Directors are finalizing all operational plans for the 2016 WMBL Summer Collegiate baseball season. The  Cardinals, a community owned, not for profit baseball organization, are entering the 15^th year of operation and its second year of strictly Collegiate baseball, that falls within the scope of the Western Major Baseball League. Collegiate baseball meaning that the player must be attending a University or College somewhere in the world that has a baseball program and the player can produce visible statistics to verify he is indeed in a University program beyond High school. Each WMBL team has a maximum of 27 players on their roster at any given time during the summer schedule, of which 16 can be international players and the remainder to 27 must be Canadian. The 2016 regular season, for the Cardinals, begins on May 28^th and concludes on July 30. The schedule sees a total of 48 games, 24 at home and 24 away, and the top 4 teams from the Saskatchewan division and the top 4 teams from the Alberta division make the playoffs. The end date for the final playoff game is Aug. 16 and must be this, as the players are required to return for the new school term which begins on Aug. 19-20 in many jurisdictions. The Cities that have WMBL franchises in Western Canada are listed on the WMBL website. All Cardinal home games are played at Jubilee Park Yorkton.

The Cardinal organization held their Annual General Meeting on February 21^st which was well attended by the Executive, Directors and guests. At the meeting, the general order of business proceeded along with a review of the past seasons, 2015, financial shortfalls. The downfall of the major lottery has created some extra debt that our governing body generally agreed could be dealt with over a period of a couple of successful operational years. Lowering of some operational expenses and increasing some game day revenues along with extra fundraising, could go a long way in meeting and exceeding the operational budget.

The Cardinal WMBL organization believes that they are very vital to the community in a number of ways. Primarily the role that the team and its players play in leveraging young boys and girls to all the possibilities of an excellent secondary education, by way of athletics that enable the opportunity of scholarship funded schooling. Interaction in the community by Cardinal players with local minor baseball and youth oriented activities other than baseball. The visiting parents and relatives of Cardinal summer players along with teams from other WMBL cities contribute greatly in bolstering the City economy. Out of town baseball fans, attending Cardinal games, are also contributors to City vibrancy.

The Cardinals have scheduled an informational meeting for April 5^th at 7PM at the Days Inn. Any interested individuals that would like to learn more about the operation and structure of the Cardinals are invited to attend. There are areas of volunteerism required that would certainly help the organization. This is not intended to put a huge burden on anyone if they agree in any way to help in areas of their own comfort.

Cards Longtime Coach Bill Sobkow prepares for 2016 season