Benny Walchuk: Good morning and welcome to another edition of the Yorkton Terriers Coaches Show on GX94, brought to you by Hometown Source for Sports in Yorkton.
I’m joined by Terriers Head Coach and GM Emery Olauson after a busy preseason weekend. Emery, you faced Dauphin twice—what stood out to you?
Olauson: Well, Saturday was a hard game to evaluate because obviously we were a week and a little bit into our process and they had just begun, so Dauphin had 09s dressed, some 0-8s and very few 0-7s and We had, we were basically on average about a year older, so you see a shot clock that, I think we ended up getting 69 shots on that to 11 or something like that. So it was a hard game to evaluate as far as the strength of players was, but what we looked at was habits and bench decorum and the way the guys were acting and coachability and things like that and we really liked it.
And then Dauphin obviously injected some more veteran players into the lineup in the second one on Sunday and so did we and things went our way, we didn’t play as well I don’t think. So yeah, plenty to digest and dive into as far as like the teams we played against weren’t anything alike.I think they had one player from the first night play in the second game, so it’s hard to get a good comparison on our recruits compared to our returners and things like that.
But all in all, we thought it was a successful weekend. We’re getting closer to that 24, 25 players that we’ll start our season with and we like a lot of what we’re seeing so far.
Walchuk: You’ve got another week of practice, then wrap up the preseason with a home-and-home against Melville. That’s always a meaningful matchup.
Olauson: I think it always matters a little bit more with Melville and I love how the history has been those last two games before the regular season starts. We get it going with Melville. It’s an important series for both towns and obviously after last year, I’m sure Melville is wanting to get back at us and us the same. I think everybody’s looking forward to those games kind of as a final tune-up for the regular season but also we will certainly see the compete level of our group.
Walchuk: Any surprises from camp or the first few games?
Olauson: The overall quality of incoming players continues to impress. We recruited well, and some guys are pushing higher in the lineup than expected. It’s a good sign, but also a challenge—returning players need to elevate too. If we want to be better than last year, everyone has to take a step forward. I’ve been especially pleased with how Junior-A ready some of the U18, AAA, and CSSHL kids look. They’re making smart plays and fitting in quickly.
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