"After dropping two straight and falling behind in the series, the Yorkton Terriers bounced back in a big way Wednesday night, rolling to a 7-2 win over the Battlefords North Stars to even the semifinal at 2-2.
“We got back to playing Terriers hockey—fast, direct, and supporting each other all over the ice,” said head coach and GM Emery Olauson.
Yorkton set the tone early on the power play, with Vinay Junek opening the scoring before Jye Zawatsky finished a slick feed from William Leonard to make it 2-0 after one.
Battlefords responded early in the second as Raiden Zacharias cut the deficit in half, but the Terriers quickly took over from there. Gavin Bartha restored the two-goal lead before adding another on the power play, and Thomas Ries extended the lead with his league-leading seventh of the playoffs to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes.
“When we’re skating and putting pucks behind their D, we’re a tough team to handle,” Olauson added. “That’s the standard for us going forward.”
The Terriers didn’t let up in the third, as Cash Lanigan and Gabriel Courchesne added to the lead before Alessio Nardella replied late for Battlefords.
Callum Creig made 20 saves for his sixth win of the postseason, while Spencer Michnik was chased after allowing five goals.
The series now shifts back to Yorkton for Game 5, with Game 6 set for a return to North Battleford.
Elsewhere, the Weyburn Red Wings evened their best-of-seven semifinal series at 2-2 with a convincing 5-2 victory over the Flin Flon Bombers in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
The game was tied after 40 minutes, with Reid Arberry and Josh Sale exchanging second-period goals, before the Red Wings exploded for four unanswered in the third. Sale added another, while Callas Pierce, Rylan Pearce, and Lucas Schmid all found the back of the net to put the game out of reach.
Rhett Ewen added a late goal for Flin Flon, but that was as close as they would get.
Joey Rocha turned aside 37 of 39 shots to earn the win, while Charlie Tritt allowed four goals on 29 shots in the loss.
The Bombers will host Game 5 at the Whitney Forum on Saturday night, before Game 6 shifts back to Weyburn on Monday."
