The Orillia Terriers Jr. C hockey club will wrap up their regular season today in Stayner where, with a single point, they can clinch home ice advantage for the first round of the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) playoffs against rival Penetang.
The Terriers are 19-18-1-3 this season - a vast improvement over a miserable season a year ago in which they won just four games.
Despite the turnaround this year, the Terriers rode highs and lows all season long.
The local squad started the season taking the PJHL by storm, skating their way to an 11-5-0-2 record by mid-November, putting them in the mix for the top seed in the Carruthers Division.
It was at that point where the Terriers experienced a nose dive on their roller-coaster season, as head coach Nick Ricca resigned from the team due to disagreements with management.
Assistant Coach Dallyn Telford took over as the bench boss, and the team began to slide down the standings, losing seven of their next 10 games.
Despite the losses, Telford says his players never lost belief in themselves during that cold spell.
“We tried to keep our players positive through that transition. Our guys have been resilient all season long from training camp in August, till now," said Telford
Telford said the recent struggles have been more of a mental barrier for the Terriers than anything. It’s a hurdle he believes they are getting over, and just in time for the playoffs.
Terriers Captain Jake Beard has led his team on and off the ice this season, registering 39 points in 39 games.
The rugged forward also believes the Terriers struggles are now in the past.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but that happens in hockey," Beard said after his team's dramatic 5-4 win over Hunstville at Rotary Place. "We’ve moved forward and now we are going to have a good run into the playoffs.”
Despite the ups and downs, both the players and coaching staff are taking great pride in their efforts this season.
“We are tremendously proud of where we are," said Telford, who has settled into his first head coaching job in the PJHL.
“We gave this team our word at the beginning of the year that we were going to turn it over and change things. And we told the guys it was going to take effort from everyone,” said Telford, referring to last season's nightmare and this year’s success.
It's also been a turnaround season for Beard, who was injured most of last season and could only watch in frustration as the team struggled.
But it was last season's struggles that made leading the team to a resurgence so rewarding this year.
“It means a great deal to me," said Beard. 'Everyone on this team has worked so hard, and with it being my last year I couldn’t ask for anything more."
With their Saturday night victory, the Terriers have won two straight, and are getting star player Kyle Heitzner back from a ten-game suspension in time for the playoffs.
Heitzner played much of the last three seasons with the OHL’s Barrie Colts, and was traded to the Mississauga Steelheads in September. He played five games there before deciding to leave his OHL dream behind to chase a Junior C championship with his home-town team.
Telford said if the Terriers are going to make a long playoff run, having Heitzner in the lineup is key.
“Kyle is an impact player, he’s going to inject energy into this team, he’s a leader and he makes us a better team,” said the coach.
The Terriers will battle the Penetang Kings in the first round. In their head-to-head season series, each team won three games.
Beard says the team is confident against Penetang.
“We are happy with who we are playing. We have a great group, everyone is tight, we got a lot of skill, and we are going to battle our butts off,” Beard said
Telford said in the post-season, there's only one goal. “Expectations for the playoffs? Win,” he said.
“We are absolutely capable of winning it all," said Telfod. "We know how good we are when we play the right way, the biggest thing for us in the playoffs is belief."
Beard says the team believes.
“We feel good in the room right now, we feel super confident and we are set to roll.”
Game times and locations for round one of the playoffs will be announced after final regular-season games are played today.
