The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers returned to action from the holiday break, netting a hard-earn point after battling to a 1-1 draw with the Penetang Kings on Saturday night.
Making the start for the Terriers was goaltender Aidan Jerry, who was 2-0 on the season coming into Saturday. He and rookie Brody Pritchard will guard the cage for the rest of the season as Jude Rondina was traded back to Clarington in late December in return for player development fees.
Jerry started the season with the Midland Flyers where he went 0-3- with 6.38 goals against average and a .863 save percentage. The Barrie native was recently traded to Orillia following the departure of Rondina.
"Orillia is always where I've wanted to be," he said. "This is a team that is going to be competing for a championship this year, for sure."
The Kings were the first to the scoreboard when forward Carter Wilson dangled Jerry off a rush and tucked the puck behind him for the 1-0 lead.
After an over 20-minute deadlock, the Terriers knotted up the score in the second period. The home team offence was sparked by its third power play of the game. Captain Dylan Palomaki scored by faking a pass from the hash marks before driving to the net to fire the puck past Kings’ goalie Sawyer Lammle.
"It all started with good puck movement up top," Palomaki explained. "One of their forwards was cheating a little bit so I drove to the middle and let one go short side."
After scoring the goal, Palomaki gestured to his teammates to get excited and feed off of the energy in the building.
"It kind of helps us find another gear when we are all amplified," he said. "When we are all fired up it kind of makes us better as a team."
Things tightened back up in the third period until Terriers' forward Caden Carroll sped down the ice on a breakaway with under two minutes left. He was denied by Lammle who stopped 23 of 24 shots on the night.
The game needed overtime, where Terriers’ forward Mason Beck rung an early chance off the crossbar. Later in the final frame, Palomaki had Lammle beat but slid the puck right into his glove.
"I just couldn't get it up high enough on the backhand," Palomaki explained. "I couldn't get it over his pads and glove."
Terriers' head coach Dalyn Telford says he "tips his cap" to Lammle, who stopped five breakaway chances on Saturday night.
"He played well," Telford said. "When you go 0-for-5 on breakaways, you just know it's not going to be your night."
The seven-minute overtime period expired, solving nothing, as both teams skated away feeling unsatisfied with the result.
The first star of the game was Jerry, who stopped 28 of 29 shots on Saturday night. He now has a goals-against average of 0.67 and a save percentage of .972 as a Terrier.
"I think we play a really good defensive game," Jerry said. "Our forwards take over a lot of the time and it leads to a lot less time in our end for the opposing offence."
The Terriers enjoyed their best crowd of the season on Saturday night, as there were 288 local hockey fans in attendance at Rotary Place in west Orillia.
"We always love it when the fans come out to support us," Palomaki said. "We try to put a good show on for them and it makes the atmosphere in the rink a lot more exciting."
The Terriers head to the road to take on Innisfil on Friday, but before they do, the Provincial Junior Hockey League trade deadline is on Wednesday.
"I know our management is definitely working to fill needs that we have," Telford said. "If it happens, great. If it doesn't, we are still confident in our group."
