HOW THEY GOT HEREYorkton- Swept Estevan (4-2, 5-4, 3-2, 6-1), Swept Kindersley (7-2, 7-0, 7-0, 3-2) in the Conference Final.
La Ronge- Beat Flin Flon in 5 games, Beat Melfort in 5 games in Conference Final.
THEY MEET AGAIN
2009/10 Finals Recap
Game 1 - Yorkton 4 @ La Ronge 3 (OT)
It was a back-and-forth series opener. The Ice Wolves led 1-0 after one, the Terriers made it 2-1 in the second, 2-2 after 40, the Terriers would lead again in the third, before Leo Lacoursiere tied it with less than 7 minutes to play. Blaine Tendler ended it 5:03 into overtime with a one-timer, right off a face-off, beating Adam Bartko. Former Ice Wolf Adam Moar scored twice against his old team, while Troy Smukowich added his league-leading 13th of the playoffs for the Terriers. Devin Peters stopped 43/46 shots.
(Terriers led series 1-0)
Game 2 - Yorkton 1 @ La Ronge 3
The Terriers kept momentum from their OT winner from the night before, when captain Cody Zubko beat Joel Danyluk just 3:16 into Game 2 for a 1-0 Yorkton lead. Danyluk stopped everything else he faced though, making 36/37 saves on the night, and knowing they couldn't afford to drop both games at home, La Ronge scored three straight, including two from defensemen, in Robert Monfore (late 2nd period) and Dustin Stevenson (early 3rd). Taylor Piller added a late one.
(Series tied 1-1)
Game 3 - La Ronge 4 @ Yorkton 3 (OT)
It was 3-0 Ice Wolves before the Terriers knew what hit them. In a space of 40 seconds, Ben Findlay (4:34), Dan Conacher (5:02) and Leo Lacoursiere (5:14) scored. The Terriers took their time-out, and the fortunate thing was there was a pile of hockey left. Blaine Tendler got them on the board with a late first period PP goal, Rylan McDonell cut the deficit to one midway through the 2nd, and Troy Smukowich tied it early in the 3rd with his 14th of the post season. La Ronge snuffed out the comeback when Aaron Enns scored on a rebound at 7:05 of overtime. Shots were 38-24 Terriers... Danyluk was big again.
(Ice Wolves led series 2-1)
Game 4 - La Ronge 2 @ Yorkton 7
The only lopsided game of the series, and Yorkton took control with a 4-0 lead through 2 periods. Adam Moar (8, 9) and Rylan McDonell (10, 11) scored twice each. McDonell surpassed his regular season goal total in the playoffs, as did Cody Zubko. Zubko, Nathan Murray and Kelly Leismeister also scored for Yorkton, and their PP went 3/8. Adam Bartko was back in for La Ronge, and the Ice Wolves were again out-shot, this time 34-22.
(Series tied 2-2)
Game 5 - Yorkton 1 @ La Ronge 3
Defenseman Dustin Stevenson had a hat trick (is that even allowed?!), scoring his 8th, 9th and 10th of the playoffs. His first came 24 seconds into Game 5, and his third was into an empty net. Kyle Miller had Yorkton's only goal, and I recall the game being reeeeeeeeally boring, as the Ice Wolves really shut the Terriers down.
(Ice Wolves led series 3-2)
Game 6 - La Ronge 3 @ Yorkton 2 (OT)
Game 5 it was Stevenson, this time it was Liam Brennan scoring all three La Ronge goals. After a scoreless first, Brennan made it 1-0 La Ronge early in the second on a short-handed. Brennan struck again with 5:49 to play in the third, and it looked like that was the game, and the season. The Terriers finally solved Danyluk just 26 seconds later. Cody Zukbo and Adam Moar had a 2-on-1... Moar hit the post, but banged in his own rebound. Then, with Devin Peters on the bench, Clark Bycyznski put a D-to-D pass along the blueline to Drew McDermott, who wristed it top shelf, glove side, with 38 seconds left in regulation. BEDLAM at FAA. But, 3:48 into the extra frame, a rebound squirted under Peters, and Brennan poked home his hat trick goal, giving La Ronge their first SJHL Championship in franchise history.
(Ice Wolves won series 4-2)
AN IMPROBABLE REMATCH
It was a meeting very few would have expected last year. The Terriers were 5th in the Sherwood Conference, while the Ice Wolves were 4th in the Bauer. Both had to go through the Survivor Series and play long series on their way to the championship series. La Ronge, if I'm not mistaken, played 6 games against both Battleford and Flin Flon, while the Terriers went the full seven against Kindersley, in an overtime-filled Sherwood Final. Yorkton played 16 games before last year's final, and just 8 this year. La Ronge played 15 last year, and 10 so far this post-season.
The Terriers graduated eight 20-year-old forwards from last year's team (Zubko, Moar, Smukowich, Stringfellow, Menke, Griffiths, Dietrich, Miller), and that was just the start of the departures. To pay for the Smukowich acquisition, the Terriers lost Clark Byczynski and Drew McDermott. Austin Bourhis (Prince Albert), John Niebrandt (Kootenay) and Davis Vandane (Spokane) all made the jump to the WHL as 18-year-olds. All 5 of those names are defenseman who would have been impact guys. Forwards Torey Stott and Rylan McDonell would have been 20-year-olds, but both retired from hockey. Suffice to say, the Terriers found replacements at all positions.
La Ronge... I didn't see this team being in top spot either. The key to their championship team was their blueline, and they graduated SJHL Player of the Year Dustin Stevenson, Defenseman of the Year Mike Alexander, along with Colton MacPherson and Kirk Moore. Up front, it was more the 'heart-and-soul' guys they lost... in Liam Brennan, Dan Conacher, Leo Lecoursiere, and late-season pickup Aaron Decorby. The Bruins also lost a pair of impact players in a "futures" deal, with F Ben Findlay and G Joel Danyluk sent to Estevan to pay for Brennan & MacPherson. Their success has been based a little bit on new guys filling voids, like Logan Herauf, Justin Ducharme and Phil Cliche, and a lot to do with returnees upping their game. Travis Eggum had 16 goals and 40 points last year, and erupted for a league-leading 58-goals and 106-points this season. Doug Lindensmith had 62 points last year, 98 this year. Marc-Andre Carre spent some time in the QMJHL last year, and had 43 points in 43 games in La Ronge, and more than doubled that, tying Eggum for the league-lead with 106. Those 3 were the top line in the league in the regular season, but they're NOT a one-line team. Herauf leads the playoffs in scoring (22 pts in 10 games), and had 54 points in 55 regular season games, while NOT playing on the top line. Cliche and Duharme are fixtures on the second line, and Ducharme had 28 points in just 27 games. The third line features three 20-year-olds who can all play with grit while adding offense. It will likely look something like Nick Keller-Nolan Souchotte-Taylor Piller. The 4th line has more than capable rookies like Rhyse Dieno, Skylar Hladun, Nathan Boyer, Graham Smerek. Not sure where Aaron Enns fits in, but he's a big, strong 19-year-old who quietly put up 29 points, along with 92 PIMs. The Ice Wolves also have ten 20-year-olds, provided Doug Lindensmith's back in the lineup, so someone has to sit. They are:
G Bartko
D Fossum
D Monfore
D Belanger
F Lindensmith
F Eggum
F Herauf
F Souchotte
F Keller
F Piller
Not sure who you take out... all of the forwards can play... and if a defenseman comes out, the blue line gets pretty young. Not a bad problem to have for a team as deep as the Ice Wolves.
TERRIER REGULAR SEASON STATS
ICE WOLVES REGULAR SEASON STATS
TERRIER PLAYOFF STATS
ICE WOLVES PLAYOFF STATS
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Devin Peters and Adam Bartko might not have been THE top two goalies in the regular season, with much of the press going to Charles Corsi in Melfort, Russell Abbott in ND, and P.J. Musico in Flin Flon, but Peters and Bartko have certainly been the top two goalies in the playoffs. Although, neither one has had to steal a series yet, with both teams getting this far in fairly short order with plenty of offensive support... but can you ignore these guys' playoff stats? They're incredible.
Devin Peters (22-10-2), 2.95 GAA, .906%
Playoffs: (5-0), 1.00 GAA, .970%, 2 SO
vs La Ronge: (2-1), 1.97 GAA, .945%
Adam Bartko (27-12-2), 2.96 GAA, .908%, 1 SO
Playoffs: (8-2), 2.40 GAA, .920%
vs Yorkton: (1-1-1), 2.29 GAA, .925%
SEASON SERIES
Oct 16 @ YOR: 3-2 LAR
Oct 29 @ LAR: 4-2 YOR
Oct 30 @ LAR: 2-1 (SO) YOR
Feb 18 @ YOR: 5-2 YOR
Yorkton: 3-1 / La Ronge: 1-2-0-1
In La Ronge: YOR 2-0 / LAR 1-0-0-1
In Yorkton: YOR 1-1 / LAR 1-1
Do keep in mind, three of the four games were in OCTOBER. That said, I think Yorkton's roster improved more since then than La Ronge's did, but the Ice Wolves are the top team in the league for a reason.
HEAD-TO-HEAD LEADERS
Terriers vs La Ronge
Robbie Ciolfi 1g-6a-7p
Clarke Breitkreuz 3g-3a-6p
Brant Remenda 4a-4p
Ice Wolves vs Yorkton
Travis Eggum 3g-0a-3p
Marc-Andre Carre 1g-1a-2p
Nolan Souchotte 1g-1a-2p
Doug Lindensmith 2a
*Eggum was the only Ice Wolf with more than 1 goal in the 4 games vs Yorkton.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Regular Season
Yorkton PP: 19.8% (6th) / PK: 80.0% (5th)
La Ronge PP: 26.2% (1st) / PK: 79.3% (7th)
Playoffs
Yorkton PP: 17.1% (6th) / PK: 89.8% (1st)
La Ronge PP: 27.1% (1st) / PK: 87.5% (2nd)
Head to Head Special Teams
Well this one didn't take long to dig up. The Terriers didn't have a powerplay in the last TWO meetings against La Ronge, while in the final meeting in late February, not a single penalty was called either way!
Yorkton
0/4
3/5
0/0
0/0
= 3/9 (33.3%) (Lar PK: 66.6%)
La Ronge
1/4
1/6
0/2
0/0
= 2/12 (16.7) (Yor PK: 83.3%)
The Terriers NEED to stay the heck out of the penalty box. 21 of Travis Eggum's 58 goals came on the powerplay, and 5 of his 7 playoff goals. That whole top line FEASTED on the powerplay, and there's no surprise they were the top ranked PP in the regular season and playoffs. The Terrier PK was outstanding in the Kindersley series, and they've killed off 27 consecutive powerplays heading into the championship series.
The Ice Wolves didn't lose back to back games in regulation all year. They had back to back losses only twice, but both times, one of them was a shootout loss. One of those times was against Yorkton, in La Ronge, October 29th and 30th. La Ronge's season-high winning streak was 11 games, from Jan/21 to Feb/16. Again, it was the Terriers that snapped that, on Feb/18th.
I still don't think having the upper hand in regular season meetings makes Yorkton the favourite, nor do I think having a better overall record and home ice makes La Ronge the favourite. Fact is, the makeup of these two teams is very similar, and this one's gonna be a dandy!
SERIES SCHEDULE
Game 1: Fri/Apr/1 @ LAR
Game 2: Sat/Apr/2 @ LAR
Game 3: Tue/Apr/5 @ YOR
Game 4: Wed/Apr/6 @ YOR
Game 5: Fri/Apr/8 @ LAR * if nec
Game 6: Sun/Apr/10 @ YOR * if nec (6:00)
Game 7: Tue/Apr/12 @ LAR * if nec
All games are on GX94, with 7:10 Pre Game Shows, and 7:30 faceoffs, except Game 6, which will start at 6:00, with the Pre Game Show at 5:40.
You can also catch us online at www.gx94radio.com !
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