Melville 4 @ Yorkton 1

If these two teams didn't hate each other before, they do now.

Three fights in the third period, including two at once, wrapped up the game Saturday... and several others NEARLY started in the final minute.

Aaron Decorby opened the scoring on the powerplay for Melville in the first period. Decorby batted the puck out of mid-air on the backhand. Then, a funny bounce behind Yorkton's net wound up right on Shane Stanicky's stick in the slot who put it off the post and in for his second goal in as many nights. In my opinion, the one they call "Sticky" was Melville's best player in both games.

The second period saw the Terriers cut the Mils' lead in half, when Captain Derek Serdachny banged in a rebound just :56 seconds in. Kind of an interesting fact that all 3 Terrier goals this weekend came within the first minute of periods.

The Mils tacked on two more in the third for the 4-1 victory. Daniel Hope wripped a wrist shot top shelf on the powerplay, and Cody Hanson added his first as a Millionaire to round out the scoring.

Serdachny had a tilt with Melville defenseman Casey Dion late in third, which was followed by two simultaneous scraps between Curtis Beech and Evan Neibrandt, and Michael Rogoschewsky and Travis Coghill. Both pairs were tossin' some serious right hooks, and it was almost too bad they were both at once because they were both pretty exciting to watch. Referee Jeremy Shaw then threatened suspensions if anymore fights took place... and there weren't anymore the rest of the way.

Friday night was all about Terriers' goalie Devin Peters, who stopped 39 of the 40 shots he faced, but the next night, it was the road goalie once again, this time Travis Bosch who stole the show with a 44 save performance on 45 Terrier shots... *EDIT*... or, maybe 37 of 38. The shots did say 45 on the clock at the rink, and on the website last night, but it now says 38. Hmm. Peters stopped 26 of the 30 he faced in the loss.

Special teams were big, especially for the Mils in the first period when they went 1-for-1 on the powerplay, and killed off four Terrier powerplays, which included a 1:36 5-on-3. At one point the powerplays were 5-1 Yorkton, but ended up 8-6 Melville, although Melville's last 2 or 3 came within the last 30 or so seconds. The Mils went 2-for-8... Yorkton was 0-for-6.

So, the season series between these two rivals ends 4-4... which I think is great to fuel the rivalry. The Mils had Yorkton's number big time in the previous two seasons, while the Terriers owned the season series the two years before that while winning back-to-back championships. The matchups were more fun to watch this year.

Melville, I guess, retains the Parks Cup, out-scoring the Terriers 24-20 this season. I don't have official confirmation on that, but I don't see what else they could base it on. The Mils had a pair of 4-1 wins, but the other six games were decided by no more than 2 goals.

Yorkton Terriers vs Melville Millionaires 2008-09 regular season stats:

Terriers
Overall Record: 4-4
Home: 2-2
Road: 2-2
Goals For: 20 (11 Home/9 Road)
Goals Against: 24 (12 Home/12 Road)
Powerplay: 9/52 (17.8%)
Penalty Kill: 41/49 (83.7%)
Shots For: 259
Shots Against: 281

Most Goals: Coburn/Zubko/Stott (3)
Most Assists: Coburn (5)
Most Points: Coburn (8)
Most PIMs: Serdachny (57)

In Goal: Peters (4-3) 419 MP... 2.72 GAA / .925%

Millionaires
Overall Record: 4-4
Home: 2-2
Road: 2-2
Goals For: 24 (12 Home/12 Road)
Goals Against: 20 (9 Home/11 Road)
Powerplay: 8/49 (16.3%)
Penalty Kill: 43/52 (82.7%)
Shots For: 281
Shots Against: 259

Most Goals: Lind/Dolinski (4)
Most Assists: Herauf (6)
Most Points: Herauf (8)
Most PIMs: Stanicky (28)

In Goal: Bosch (4-4) 459 MP... 2.61 GAA / .920%

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Elsewhere...

KIN 3 - NIP 2 (OT)
Klippers move 2 pts ahead of Yorkton for third with 3 games in hand. Jordan Braid got the OT winner.

ND 4 - WEY 3 (OT)
Wings' winning streak snapped at 9 games. Their single point leaves them 9 points ahead of Melville for first. ND's Jaden Schwartz tied the game, and won it in OT.

HUM 9 - LAR 2
Brady Wacker scored 2 goals and leads the league with 75 pts.

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In the MJHL on Saturday...

After a scoreless first period the Wayway Wolverines won the second period 3-1, but lost the third period 4-1, falling 5-4 in OCN. The Blizzard pull 12 points ahead of the Wolverines for third. Paul Marcoux scored twice for Wayway, Cody Danychuk had a goal and an assist while Niko Grose also scored. Preston McLeod had a pair of assists.

And the Swan Valley Stampeders stormed out to a 3-0 first period lead, but the Selkirk Steelers got 4 in the second and wound up beating the Stamps 7-5. 17 year old Ryan Marshall had 2 goals and an assist for the Stamps. Myles Stevens and Darcy Riddell each scored once and added a helper, while Alec Doig also scored. The Stamps out-shot the Steelers 34-33. The Stamps magic, or un-magic number is now 2. Two more losses or two more Neepawa wins would eliminate them from the playoffs. They're 20 points back with 12 games left.