YORKTON TERRIERS goaltender Devin Peters makes the save on Melville Millionaires forward Michael Jordan during Survivor Series action Friday at the Stadium. The Terriers led for most of the contest but a late third period rally got the Millionaires into overtime and a goal by Matt Kinnunen gave the home squad the victory early in the extra session.

SJHL
Coach: Mils’ play “pathetic”

Melville Millionaires’ coach Jamie Fiesel doesn’t like what he‘s seeing.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League club did manage a 5-4 overtime win in game one of the Sherwood Conference Survivor Series against Yorkton Terriers Friday but Fiesel knows his team has to play a better brand of hockey in order to advance to a series with the Weyburn Red Wings who are currently waiting for either Melville or Yorkton.
In the second game of the best-of-five series the Millionaires were unable to generate much in the way of offense and dropped a 5-1 decision Saturday, and to say Fiesel isn’t pleased with his squad’s play is a huge understatement.
“We’ve played six periods of pathetic hockey and if we keep playing that way we’re going to have a short playoff season,” says Fiesel after second game of the series, a day after the White and Blue barely eked out the game one victory, striking for three late goals to get to overtime.
The team which had made vast improvements during the latter part of the season, including going on a season-high nine-game winning streak, showed little spark or jump other than at the end of game one Friday at the Stadium and Fiesel knows his charges won’t be able to get the job done unless they turn their play around—and fast.
“I’m really mad and this team is playing very poor hockey right now,” Fiesel says after a two-hour meeting with his players. “I think we need
to find the urgency in our game and do what we do well. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say we could easily be down two games to none.”
What the Millionaires have done well, especially during their late regular-season play, is get the puck deep and play physical and Fiesel feels these two aspects of the club’s play need to improve or they’ll be planning their wind-up party instead of preparing for the Wings.
“Neil (Lamberty) and I have made a 16-point preparation plan for Yorkton and so far we’re not doing 11 of the 16 things we need to do in order to win. We need to have a consistent physical presence and we don’t so far…we’re big and strong and we’re not playing that way.”
Fiesel hopes to have his charges going in the right direction and insists the Terriers aren’t as good as the Millionaires are making them look up to this point in the series.
“Right now, they’re wining every match-up. Our best players have not been our best players and their’s have,” admits Fiesel with a fairly simple plan in place for his team.
“We need to get pucks deep and get shots on net and right now we’re not doing either and their goaltending is better than ours but we’re really not doing anything to help ourselves. I mean, sure, we outshot them both games but we certainly haven’t out-chanced them…we’re playing their game.”

SJHL
Millionaires, Terriers split first two

As of Monday afternoon the Millionaires still had plenty of work to do if they were planning to move to the next round of the playoffs.
After a pair of contests the Melville club and the Yorkton Terriers were deadlocked at one game apiece with each squad securing a home-ice win in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Sherwood Conference Survivor Series.
Saturday night the Terriers scored three powerplay markers and didn’t look back in dumping the Millionaires by a 5-1 count in front of 747 fans at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton.
The Millionaires outshot the Terriers by a 29-27 margin but trailed 1-0 after the first period and 3-1 following 40 minutes of play with Cody Gross providing the only goal of the game for the visitors while Derek Wasylyshen notched the lone assist.
Deszi Wiens got the nod as the goaltender of record for the Millionaires while Devin Peters was between the posts for the Terriers who took eight of 15 minor penalties in the contest.
After a slow start in game one the Millionaires found life in the dying minutes and when Matt Kinnunen slid the puck between Devin Peter’s pads in overtime Melville had a 1-0 lead in the Sherwood Conference Survivor Series.
Despite a lifeless effort that saw the home squad fall behind 2-0 after the first period and 3-0 after 40 minutes the Millionaires made what can only be described as a miraculous comeback.
Trailing 4-1 with 3:04 left on the clock the Millionaires began their uphill climb with three tallies in 2:34 to send the game to extra time.
Jordan Reeve fired two goals while Kinnunen, Tyson Newell and Gross notched singles as the Millionaires outshot the Terriers by a 45-33 count.
Cody Hanson had a multiple-point night with a pair of assists as Wiens settled down after some butterflies early in the contest to backstop the Mils to victory.
Terriers took five of 15 minor penalties called in the contest and both teams scored a pair of powerplay goals with Kinnunen’s overtime marker being a shorthanded effort.
The Millionaires were playing a game with no bearing on the standings in their final game of the season and came out on top of the Estevan Bruins with a 7-1 shellacking at the Stadium last Tuesday.
It was a good night for a few Millionaires to pad their stats with Michael Desjarlais scoring once and addding three assists while Logan Herauf also notched four points with a pair of goals and two helpers, good for 65 points on the season, to lead the Mils.
Justin Hollinger also had a multiple-point night with a pair of assists while single goals from Kinnunen, who ended the season with a team-high 30 goals, Michael Rogoschewsky and affiliated player Jordan Paddock rounded out the scoring.
Zach Rakochy got a little more ice-time prior to the playoffs, stopping 28 of 29 shots while the Millionaires sent 38 pucks toward the Bruins’ net.
Millionaires led 2-0 after the opening stanza and 3-0 after 40 minutes before exploding for four markers in the third.
Millionaires were called for nine of 16 minor penalties in the contest.
If needed the fifth and final Survivor Series game would go at the Stadium Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

PA Bears maul Prairie Fire

The season is over for the Melville Prairie Fire.
The Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League club dropped three straight games to the Prince Albert Bears ending its season with a 3-1 road loss in P.A.
“It was a really frustrating way to end the season, that’s for sure,” admits Fire coach Greg Vaughan who cites offense as the major reason for the team’s early exit.
“I think scoring goals was our stumbling block all season. We played P.A. tough all year but just couldn’t score the goals we needed to in order to win...it’s frustrating.”
The Fire struggled all season and ended up with only 19 points, good for seventh in the eight-team league and Vaughan thought his team deserved a better fate.
“We played them really tough for five of the nine periods we played. I don’t know if it was them or if I just couldn’t get the talent out. I really thought we’d give them a tougher time than we did.”
The Bears were just too much for the Fire to handle in game three Sunday at P.A. as they fired 32 shots at Melville goalie Paige Hollinger as opposed to only 19 shots on the Bears’ net.
P.A. led 1-0 after the first stanza and increased its lead to 2-0 heading to the game’s fiinal frame.
Kennedy Ottenbreit scored the lone goal for Melville with Karlie Reeve getting credit for the assist.
The Prairie Fire took seven of 13 minor penalties called in the contest.
Saturday the Fire and Bears faced off in the Stadium and four straight third-period goals propelled the visitors to a 5-1 victory.
Prince Albert led 1-0 after the first period and after a scoreless second, the Melville squad tied the game early in the final frame only to watch the Bears score four goals over a ten-minute span.
The Bears outshot the Fire by a 32-26 margin with Rhianna Kaminski in net for the Melville club.
Ottenbreit scored the Fire’s lone goal with Dennea Shivak and Cara Zubko drawing assists.
In game one the Prairie Fire took a lot of shots but couldn’t score and it cost them.
Facing the Bears at P.A. the Fire managed to outshoot their opponents by a 23-13 margin but still came out on the short end of a 3-0 final score last Tuesday.
The Fire trailed 2-0 after the first period of play and 3-0 after 40 minutes with Hollinger between the pipes.
One aspect of the game Melville led in was penalties as it took seven with the Bears only taking six.
Vaughan’s future with the club is cloudy at this time with the realization that another season has come to an end.
“We could potentially have all the girls back except three but it’s been a tough season. Coming in I thought we’d be as good as all the other team except maybe Notre Dame and to go out this early is really frustrating. I’m just going to have to sit back and think about things for awhile.”

© The Melville Advance Pub. Co. 1986 Ltd.