The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers suffered their first loss of the season Saturday night, but less than 12 hours later, bounced back with a solid effort to get back on the winning track.
With the weekend split, the Terriers sport an impressive 7-1 record in Provincial Junior Hockey League action.
The Terriers looked poised to extend their season-opening winning streak against a strong Schomberg squad on home ice at Rotary Place Saturday night.
An early third-period goal from Devin Edmonds - his second of the contest - gave the Terriers a 4-2 advantage over the visiting Cougars and things looked positive for the home side.
But Schomberg exploded for five unanswered goals en route to rallying to an improbable 7-4 victory in front of 252 fans at Rotary Place.
Josh Brown, with his team-leading sixth goal of the season, and Mason Beck also scored for the Terriers in their first defeat of the season.
Goaltender Wade Monague suffered his first loss of the season between the pipes as Schomberg outshot Orillia 42-33.
Despite the disheartening defeat, the Terriers rebounded Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 win over the host Caledon Golden Hawks.
Orillia got off to fast start when Isaiah Philip scored his fifth goal of the season just 17 seconds into the game. In the second, Sam Pink tallied his third goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0 heading into the final frame.
In the third, the Terriers kept up the pressure, outshooting their rivals 15-3 in the final period. Noah Mountain scored a late, empty-net goal to secure the victory.
Orillia outshot Caledon 43-26 as netminder Reed Spinola earned the shutout and picked up the win in goal. Spinola has a perfect 4-0 record and has allowed just five goals in those four goals; he has a sparkling 1.26 goals against average.
After the weekend split, the Terriers are now one point behind Schomberg atop the North Carruthers division, but the Cougars have played one more game than Orillia.
The two teams will clash again this week; Orillia will travel to Schomberg Thursday night.
The Terriers are back on home ice Saturday night when they host the rival Midland Flyers in an 8 p.m. contest at Rotary Place.
