BENNY WALCHUK:
It’s time for the Yorkton Terriers Coaches Show on GX94. The Terriers split the weekend, picking up a big win over Flin Flon before falling to Weyburn yesterday. I’m joined by Terriers head coach and general manager Emery Olauson.
Emery, let’s start with Saturday. A rematch of last year’s SJHL final against the Flin Flon Bombers, and a really strong effort from your team on home ice.
EMERY OLAUSON:
Yeah, great job. Obviously, we had an advantageous schedule with Flin Flon coming off a long road trip, and an emotional one with the departure of three players and everything that came with that.
I thought we did a good job taking advantage of the situation. But then you follow that up with what I guess we have to call a hockey game, even though it really didn’t look like one.
It’s disappointing to be that inconsistent, and that’s on us. You can’t talk about leadership without including the coaching staff. How do we not take steps forward in these weekends?
That’s really been the story of our season so far. We win an exhibition game, lose an exhibition game, win one, lose one. We win our home opener, go on the road and find a way to lose in overtime. Then we go on the road, fix everything, and lose the next night.
We play the defending champions and win, and then give up nine. Offensively, you have to be scoring five goals on the road, and then you lose by four. It’s just not good enough.
BENNY WALCHUK:
A couple of bright spots, though. Alex Morrison, since you acquired him, has really found that offensive touch that he had throughout minor hockey. What have you liked from him since he joined your club?
EMERY OLAUSON:
He’s just a dog on the puck. I think there was always the potential for him to score. If you look at his numbers before U18 AAA, he joined the league early, so a lot of those kids have that blossoming year when they’re 17. He didn’t really have that opportunity.
He’s kind of been sharpened defensively and with his work ethic. He does a lot of things right, but we always felt when we played against him that this kid was just inches away from scoring.
If given the opportunity and rewarded for his hard work, we felt that was something we could see in his game. Obviously, he’s making the most of his opportunity, so all the credit goes to him.
BENNY WALCHUK:
Evan Hymovitch scored his first two SJHL goals on Sunday. What did you like from him in that game?
EMERY OLAUSON:
He’s just a big, thick-neck, net-front guy. He wins a lot of draws and he’s one of those heart-and-soul players.
When you lose a player like Langan and some of those straight-line skaters who are pure power forwards, he’s a guy like that. He brings his lunch pail and goes to work.
I think both of his goals were close to the crease, and that’s what we were looking for when we brought him in. I thought he was a big addition. Even in the Flin Flon game, he had some huge minutes and helped us on the penalty kill.
It’s nice to see him rewarded offensively as well.
BENNY WALCHUK:
Quick thought on next weekend. It’s a home-and-home with Melville to kick things off for the Highway 10 battle.
EMERY OLAUSON:
We’re going to have to find some consistency. Melville’s off to a really good start offensively, and they’re always defensively sound.
We can’t expect to outscore our mistakes in that series. It’s got to be grindy, hard hockey in the D-zone. Obviously, we want to be a team that punishes you for being aggressive, and our transition game is going to have to be good.
We’ll also be working on special teams again this week because, so far, it’s cost us a lot.
