The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers wrap up their regular season this week with a pair of road games in Stayner and Penetang.
The Terriers faced adversity all season long but are just two points away from locking up the fourth seed in the North Carruthers Division, which would earn them home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Terriers’ captain Dylan Palomaki says early season injuries and being forced to play at Brian Orser Arena for more than two months, while the city worked to resolve issues at Rotary Place, left the team feeling like they’ve had to play from behind all season.
“Recently, we’ve really been picking it up,” he said. “We’ve been playing our kind of hockey and we are coming around at the right time.”
The Terriers finished the month of February with a record of 6-4-0-0 and now sport a 19-16-1-2 record on the season.
“We have a resilient group,” Palomaki said. “We dealt with the adversity fairly well, we kept fighting, kept working, and we got back to playing our game.”
Palomaki says it’s taken a team effort to get the team back into position to host a first-round playoff series at Rotary Place.
“These guys have a lot of heart,” he said. “Everybody is going to have to continue to play a big role in the playoffs if we want to have success.”
Palomaki believes the Terriers could get past the second round this year, which is where their strong run ended last season.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “We want to go as far as we can and make a good run in the playoffs here.”
Playing first-place Stayner on Thursday night will put the Terriers to the test before the playoffs begin next week.
“We got to keep working,” Palomaki said. “No matter the result, we have to keep pushing through and giving our best.”
Palomaki says the Terriers feel as if they have already been playing playoff-like hockey over the last month in order to claw their way back up the standings.
“The boys have played the best hockey we’ve played all year this last month,” he said.
Once the season is over, Palomaki says he will reflect on the 2022/23 campaign fondly despite the challenges.
“We have a great group of guys this year,” Palomaki said. “Everybody gelled well together, and we had a great time on and off the ice."
