The short-handed McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers - missing six regulars - bounced back from Thursday night's road defeat in Stayner with a determined 8-5 win over the Schomberg Cougars on Saturday night at Rotary Place.
Terriers forward Austin Holenski opened the scoring six minutes into the first period when he beat Cougars goalie Tristan Szymanowski on a breakaway opportunity for his fifth goal of the season
Just two minutes later the Jr. C Terriers went on the power play after Cougars forward Kory Lund took a two-minute boarding penalty. Terriers centre Devin Edmonds made him pay by banking home his seventh of the season after being set up by captain Broderick Black, and left winger Mason Beck.
“It felt good, it felt like it got the team going, and it gave us a head start,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds says the power play goal was an important way to kick-start the special teams unit, which has struggled at times to get pucks to the net.
“Tonight, it was great. We were moving the puck quick, we were finding open guys, and we got lots of shots on net,” he said.
The Terriers finished Saturday’s game, which attracted 210 fans to the Orillia arena, going two for two on the power play.
As the saying goes, a two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey, and that proved to be true on Saturday night as the Cougars responded with four straight goals to make the Terriers chase the game they once led.
However, late in the second period, the Terriers got the offence rebooted after clutch defenceman Isaiah Philip went bar down for goal number 11 on the year after receiving the dish from right winger Josh Brown.
Less than a minute later, left winger Mason Beck walked through a pair of Cougar defenders to net his fourth, which evened the score at four apiece.
“To be honest, a two-goal lead is absolutely nothing in this league. There are so many high scoring games where any team can get back in it at any time,” Beck said.
“We did a good job at keeping our guys settled and getting back to our game plan. We got the game tied and we got back on our feet.”
Two minutes later, centre Noah Mountain got his fourth of the season and gave the Terriers their lead back after banging home a feed from right winger Sam Pink.
In the third period, the offensive onslaught continued when Black tallied his eighth of the season on a shorthanded breakaway to extend the Terriers lead to two.
“I felt the goalie was playing deep in his net, so it was a good opportunity to go high on him,” Black said.
The Terriers added two late goals, including an empty netter, while the Cougars would add one more as well to bring the score to 8-5.
“We showed resilience tonight. Everybody was committed and played within the system. We never got down on ourselves and it paid off,” Black said.
The Terriers improve to 12-3-0-0 on the season and are in a tie with the Stayner Siskins for first place in the North Carruthers Division; the Terriers have played two more games than Stayner. The third-placed Cougars fell to 10-4-0-1 with the loss in Orillia.
“It was a big win for us because Schomberg is right up there with us too. These games will count later on for sure,” Black said.
The Terriers were without Noah Sands, Caleb Sands, Jack Ahern, and Kaden Goggins who were suspended following a line brawl in Stayner on Thursday night. Ryan Moulton and Lucas Wessinger missed Saturday’s game due to injury.
The Terriers next home game is next Saturday, Nov. 27, versus Caledon.
