Benny Walchuk:
Emery, another strong week for your group — three more wins, two over La Ronge and one against Nipawin. Twenty-two goals scored. What stood out to you?
Emery Olauson:
You know what, actually the Wednesday game we weren’t pleased at all. I thought we were flat and played with very, very low urgency. And we talked to the guys afterward about the fact that no matter who the opponent is, if we want to be considered a true contender and be in the conversation about a championship, we can’t lose opportunities to learn about who we are as a team and make that statement to ourselves.
Credit to the guys, because I thought Friday and Saturday were probably our strongest two-game set of the season. Saturday was La Ronge again, but Friday against Nipawin was exactly the way we want to play and exactly the way I think we’re built to play. There were very few mistakes, and when we did make mistakes, I thought we did a great job of countering and covering for each other. It was a complete team effort and a really strong game for us.
Benny Walchuk:
You mentioned the offense — nine different goal scorers Saturday, seven on Friday. That depth has to be encouraging.
Emery Olauson:
Yeah, for sure. It makes it easier as a coach when everyone is contributing. I think on the last goal Saturday, we put out the line we had written down fourth on the sheet — and I hate even calling it a fourth line — but we threw them out there on a late power play, and they ended up scoring our 11th goal.
That’s a great sign. Everyone is playing the right way. From the start of the season, we’ve said we don’t have different rules for different players. We expect them all to play the right way and to play the Terrier way. Things are going well right now — knock on wood — but we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity to win our division, which was one of our goals. We’ve sealed a playoff spot, and now it’s about earning that first-round home-ice advantage and even staying in second so we could potentially have home ice in the second round as well.
Benny Walchuk:
Big matchup coming up against Weyburn. What are you expecting?
Emery Olauson:
We’re expecting a push. The last couple of times we’ve played them, we’ve gone to overtime and a shootout. There were a couple of games that maybe weren’t as close as we’d expect, but that’s not what we anticipate this time. They’ve got a very dangerous team that can score throughout their lineup, strong special teams, and two very good goaltenders.
They’re every bit as worthy of being considered a potential champion in this league as we are. Over their last stretch, maybe they haven’t played to their standard, but that usually creates hunger. So we expect a battle. It should feel like playoff hockey.
