The Warman U18A Wildcats clawed their way back from a 2-1 deficit with three third period goals to defeat the visiting Yorkton Terriers 4-2 in a provincial playoff game at the Legends Centre in Warman on Saturday, March 26.
With the win, the Wildcats claimed the 18A Provincial Championship crown, after sweeping the Terriers in two straight games. The Wildcats won Game One by a score of 3-1 in Yorkton on Saturday, March 19.
In the March 26 game, the teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Daxton Kulcsar scored for the Terriers. Coltyn Blanchard had put the home team on the scoreboard with assists from Bradyn Wadman and Trent Larochelle.
Yorkton took the lead on a second period goal by Jaspyn Campbell.
In the third period the Wildcats began to dominate puck possession and were rewarded for their effort.
Cooper Linton scored early in the period with assists from Liam Kleinsasser and Ethan Hadland.
Coltyn Blanchard fired the game winner with his second goal of the game with assists from Bryson Johnson and Markus Thompson.
Brody Beason netted an insurance marker with 7:22 to play on assists from Lukas Viden and Coltyn Blanchard.
The team then shut down the Terriers to claim the provincial crown.
That is the story on paper. But the team’s outstanding performance is even more impressive when you take into account their late-season challenges balancing two playoff schedules simultaneously.
The team’s success had seen them advance deep into both league playoffs and provincial playdowns. As a result they had played eight games in 11 days and were beat up, sore and tired. A couple key players were out with injuries.
All this did not show up in their performance on the ice.
Assistant Coach Steve MacDonald was pleased with the team’s effort.
“I’m proud of the way they battled tonight, “said MacDonald. “They deserve this.”
On being down and coming back MacDonald explained that the team team tended to start slow and had battled back all year.
“Top to bottom we just rolled three lines,” said MacDonald. “That was probably the difference. No one could consistently play three lines, shift after shift. That is why we had the third period success. We just wore teams down.”