YORKTON - Three games into the preseason and the Yorkton Terriers have a perfect 3-0 record.
Labour Day the Terriers defeated the Virden Oil Capitals 4-3 at the Westland Insurance Arena in Yorkton via an overtime shoot-out.
The two teams locked horns again Saturday, this time on Virden ice and the Terriers again won 4-2.
Sunday the Terriers squared off with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines at Cote First Nation winning the neutral site contest 10-2.
Terrier head coach Emery Olauson said while preseason is about evaluating players, the wins do show the players in camp have the competitive drive to want to win.
In the end “they do keep score,” adding a competitive nature means players “much prefer to go into the dressing room with a win.”
That all said Olauson said he is interested to see how the team fares this weekend in a home-and-home set with Melville – the first SJHL opposition this preseason. The teams meet in Melville Friday and in Yorkton Saturday.
“I’m pretty interested to see the way the weekend goes,” he said.
Still, overall Olauson said the Terriers are still focused on just what the roster will look like come opening night of the season.
As of Monday there were roughly 29 players in camp – a number prone to fluctuate as Western Hockey League teams make decisions and players filter back to the SJHL.
Ideally the team would be down to 22-24 by season start, said Olauson, adding there is a lot of solid competition in camp for the final spots.
The 19-25 roster spots may not seem immediately critical, but Olauson said they can be, injuries happen.
“You will have injuries through the course of the season,” he said, adding the consistently successful teams have the depth “to plug and place” replacements. Without that depth “you can end up in a tough spot.” He cited last season when the Terriers had two wins in week one, had some lasting injuries, and by the time they found the right replacements managed only six more wins the opening half of the season.
“The quality has to be there,” he said.
So are there still holes to fill?
“I don’t think there’s glaring need right now,” he said.
But there are questions.
“We’re relatively inexperienced on the backend,” said Olauson, adding it remains to be seen if the players in camp can rise to the occasion and consistently overcome the inexperience.
Then there are the little things that always need to be learned through preseason. Things like “when you’re killing a penalty who do you send out there? . . . who’s blocking shots? . . . Who do you trust in the last minute?” offered Olauson.
