2014 RBC Cup

TERRIERS BEAT CANADIANS FOR FIRST WIN, STAY ALIVE AT RBC CUP

JASON LA ROSE

VERNON, B.C. – Tayler Thompson scored the winner 14 minutes into the second period, helping the Yorkton Terriers keep their semifinal hopes alive at the 2014 RBC Cup with a 3-1 win over the Carleton Place Canadians on Wednesday afternoon.

The Terriers’ win means three teams – Yorkton, the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots and host Vernon Vipers – will battle for two semifinal berths when the preliminary round comes to an end Thursday.

Brett Boehm and Chase Norrish scored the other goals, both on the power play, for Yorkton (1-2), which has never failed to reach the semifinals in its four previous trips to Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

Riley Hunt added two assists in the win.

Kale Thomson bounced from after getting pulled from Yorkton’s 6-4 loss to Vernon on Monday night, stopping 25 of 26 to record the win in the Terriers’ goal.

Anthony McVeigh scored the lone goal for Carleton Place (2-2), which had already clinched a semifinal berth, but could have wrapped up second place with a victory in their preliminary round finale.

Despite being outshot 16-8 in the first period it was the Canadians who opened the scoring when McVeigh took a pass from Stephen Baylis on a shorthanded two-on-one and snapped a shot over Thomson’s glove midway through the opening frame.

Yorkton answered back just seconds shy of the halfway mark of the second period; from the left of Carleton Place goaltender Guillaume Therien, Hunt spun and fired a no-look pass across the crease and onto the tape of Boehm, who buried his second in as many games, on the power play, to pull the Terriers even.

Thompson got the game-winner less than four minutes later, finding a loose puck at the side of the Canadians’ goal and lifting a shot over a fallen Therien to give Yorkton its first lead.

Norrish added insurance on the man advantage 6:04 into the third period, rocketing a slap shot through a screen, off the cross bar and in past Therien.

The Terriers outshot Carleton Place in all three periods, and finished with a 37-26 advantage overall.

Yorkton wraps up the round robin Thursday afternoon when it faces the Dauphin Kings in a rematch of the Western Canada Cup final (2 p.m. PT), while the Canadians will wait for Thursday to play out before it learns who it will face in Saturday’s semifinals.