By TERRY PUGH
tThe Warman Wolverines gave the hometown fans their money’s worth on Tuesday, September 22, downing the visiting Yorkton Terriers 5-4 in overtime at the Warman Home Centre Communiplex.
Trailing 4-2 with less than 30 seconds left in the third period, Wolverines forward Trey Markus scored two goals 15 seconds apart to tie the score and send the game into overtime. Markus also earned an assist on teammate Theron Bensler’s extra-time winner.
Markus had his fingerprints all over the game, notching a hat trick but also responsible for four penalties in a physical match-up that saw a lot of hits at both ends of the rink. The former Warman U18AAA Wildcat and second-year Wolverine already has three goals and three assists for six points in just three regular season games so far. He’s currently tied for first in the early-season SJHL scoring race.
The Wolverines owned the first and third periods of the game, while Yorkton dominated the middle frame.
Markus scored the opening goal of the game on a power play less than a minute into the first period, with assists from Ben Morton and Ethan Dundas. Teammate Peyton Allard (with an assist from Kayden Yeaman) made it 2-0 for the home team at the five minute mark.
But, Yorkton scored four straight goals by Nathan Ramos, Jake Britz, Alex Morrison and Aidan Vallance in the second period to take a 4-2 lead and put the Wolverines back on their heels. Terriers goalie Callum Creig continued to stymie the Wolverines’ offense throughout the third period until the dying minutes of regulation, when a Terriers player took a costly delay-of-game penalty giving the Warman squad the opportunity they needed.
Wolverines goaltender Luke Brunen went to the bench in favour of a sixth attacker, and with the two-man advantage Markus found the back of the net at the 19:35 mark to make it 4-3 after connecting with Owen Parks and Carter Bergen. The Wolverines once again pulled the goalie and continued to press with a 6 on 5 attack, and Markus struck paydirt at 19:50 after taking a pass from Owen Parks to tie the game 4-4 and send it into three-on-three overtime.
Brunen stopped 21 of 25 shots for the Wolverines, while Creig was good on 24 of 29 shots for the Terriers.
The win against Yorkton moves the Wolverines to first place in the SJHL Nutrien Division with 2 wins and 1 loss for 4 points. They play the 0-1 Nipawin Hawks on Friday September 25 in Nipawin and then take on the host 1-1 Battlefords Stars on Sunday, September 27.