(Benny Walchuk)
Good morning and welcome to the Yorkton Terriers Coaches Show on GX94. Joined by Head Coach and GM Emery Olauson. Coach, a tough 5-4 home loss on Friday, but the group bounced back with a big shutout win in Melville on Saturday. How impressed were you with the way your team responded?
(Emery Olauson)
You know what, it was a funny weekend because I actually thought we played a little bit better at home in a lot of areas. I don’t love looking at advanced stats too much because game situations dictate so much—when you’re chasing the game, you might generate more shots because you can’t be as selective.I wasn’t that unimpressed with our game Friday. I thought we got to the scoring areas and generated good chances. The game got swayed heavily in their favour in the middle, and the score got away from us more than it should’ve. Whether that’s rust or whatever it might be, having the goal disallowed—which we certainly thought was a good goal—didn’t help. But I really liked the fight back and the never-quit attitude our team showed, and I think it carried over into Saturday. Add to that, we had perfect goaltending in Melville, and you’re going to win a lot of games when you give up zero goals.
(Benny Walchuk)
Your top line has produced with Courchesne, Leonard and Zawatsky but how important was it to see some depth scoring this weekend?
(Emery Olauson)
Yeah, we’ve talked all year about how much we love our forwards, and they showed why. Any time we bring guys out of the stands and into the lineup, they make it hard to take them back out. That’s exactly what Valens did. Vinny’s a 20-year-old who’s been productive for us before, and we knew it would come again. With Vallance and Lanigan, we found that secondary scoring. Even Tylan, our captain—he’s been a bit quieter than he’d like, and obviously than we expected, but it’s a long season. We know he can get hot, and he’s got points in a couple of games now.
(Benny Walchuk)
As you head into this week, what lessons do you take from Friday, and what positives carry forward from Saturday?
(Emery Olauson)
A big part isn’t even a lesson—now we haven’t been waiting 12 days to play. So I don’t expect any rust tomorrow night in Estevan. That being said, they’re a top-notch opponent with scoring depth, great goaltending, and elite defensemen. I think their top six stacks up well against anyone in the league, and they’re playing a tough brand of hockey. The trip to Estevan will be every bit the challenge we want. We want to get better every day, and we feel like we got better last week. Hopefully this week we take another step.
