The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers wrapped up the first half of the 2023/24 season with an 8-2 victory over Innisfil on Saturday night at Rotary Place.
The win improved the Terriers' impressive record to 15-5-1 on the season. The Jr. C hockey club now sits in third place in the North Carruthers Division, behind powerhouse Stayner and Alliston.
Head coach Dalyn Telford says the team is doing "very well" this season and is meeting expectations to date.
"We've played good hockey," he said. "We've had a couple of stumbling blocks here and there, but that's normal and expected."
The Terriers had lost three in a row going into Saturday's contest, but Telford says the team has been resilient when faced with adversity.
"I think you have to go through adversity like that in the middle of the season," he said. "The playoffs are going to be full of adversity like that."
The veteran team, which sports a strong leadership group and excellent goaltending, needs to get better on special teams, Telford says.
"We need to improve both ends of it," he said. "That's going to happen over the next 20 games where we sort of interchange different guys in different roles to see what works best."
Looking ahead to the playoffs, Telford says he is very confident in his team's chances.
"We've beaten every team in our division and that's at the halfway mark in the season," he said. "In the past, there has always been a team we feel inferior to, and we don't have that this year."
When the Terriers are playing with "passion" and "heart," he says they can beat any team in the league.
Leading the Terriers between the pipes this year has been goaltender Jude Rondina, who has a stellar 12-4-1 record.
"I think we have a pretty good squad here," said Rondina, who picked up the victory last night against Stayner. "We've proven a lot with comeback wins and playing without some of our key players in the lineup at different parts in the season."
Rondina, who played in the Schmalz Cup finals last year with the Clarington Eagles, believes his team has what it takes to win a championship.
"I think we are just missing a couple of pieces here from going on a run," he said. "We have four open roster spots that we can fill."
Rondina says he would like to see the Terriers add some help to the blue line.
"We have a younger D-core, so I think there is still lots of room for improvement," he said. "If I could add one thing I would beef up the defence to allow us to start mixing up the lines a bit to find a D-pairing that nobody can get by."
One of the Terriers' biggest sources of offence this year has come from rookie Caden Carroll. He has 14 goals and 13 assists through his first 20 games in the Provincial Junior Hockey League.
Carroll, 16, played most of his minor hockey career with the North Central Predators until his major peewee year. Last year, he played for the Central Ontario Wolves.
The Patrick Fogarty Secondary School student says he didn't expect to make an immediate impact on the Terriers.
"I think my confidence with the puck has paid off for me," said Carroll, who had one of his team's eight goals Saturday night. "I'm also playing on a line with Colton Dumond and Mason Beck who have a lot of experience and have kind of taken me under their wing."
Carroll says the Terriers have a tight-knit group who love to play for each other.
"Everyone is really close," he said. "That's one of the reasons we are off to a good start. It really helps."
If Carroll can keep up his production, he believes the Terriers can make a deep playoff run.
"I think we can finish first in the regular season," he said. "Our team and coaching staff have really high hopes for the playoffs."
Terriers captain Dylan Palomaki has missed a handful of games this season with a hyper-extension in his MCL.
"I should be back to 100 percent soon," he said. "It gets a little better each day."
Palomaki says he is happy with where the Terriers are currently sitting in the standings, but he admits it could be better.
"We've lost some games we all know we should have won," he said. "We sometimes let games get away from us."
Palomaki says it's not about how you start a season, but how you end it.
"We are peaking now toward a good direction," he said. "We just really got to consistently play 60 minutes of our best game."
During the second half of the season, Palomaki would like to see his team climb to the top of the standings.
"There is always room to improve," he said. "If we can be a little bit better every time we are on the ice, I think we will be set up nicely."
The Terriers are on the road for their next two games but return home next Saturday, Dec. 9, to take on Caledon. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Rotary Place in west Orillia.
"There is nothing like playing in a packed barn," Palomaki said. "We love the support when Orillia comes out to watch for sure."
