YORKTON - The 2013-14 version of the Junior Yorkton Terriers arguably provided the greatest moment in local sports in the past quarter century winning the Royal Bank Cup in May 2014.
Fans will remember the Terriers led the Royal Bank Cup final only once, but it was when it mattered most — overtime.
So now, years after the dramatic win the team will be inducted into the Ted Knight Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame in Swift Current at a ceremony later this month in Yorkton.
Then head coach Trent Cassan said he was appreciative of the selection.
“I am very proud to be involved with that group of inductees,” he said. “It’s exciting to get the opportunity to hopefully see some of the players and staff that were part of that team.”
Cassan who has played American college hockey, and now is an assistant coach with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, said the RBC win remains his most memorable moment in hockey.
“I’ll never forget that group of players and what they accomplished,” he said.
Cassan said the winning Terriers wouldn’t have been considered the most talented team in the RBC that year, but collectively they excelled.
“Everybody brought value to the group,” he said.
In the spring of 2014 it was a goal by Derek Falloon.
Falloon, the hero in a round robin overtime to advance the Terriers into the playoffs, scored 15:01 into the first overtime frame which propelled the Terriers to their first national title in five visits to the RBC.
"I don't even know what to say," said Falloon at the time, who said the goal was easily the biggest of his Junior career.
Falloon said the puck came his way, he just sort of shoved it toward the Canadian goalie and it went between the netminder's pads.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," he said after the game.
All these years later it is something Falloon recalls every year.
It happens each spring around the time Falloon is finishing seeding on his Manitoba farm, and the national championship is being held. There are usually a few messages recalling the win, and his memories are back.
“We never felt we were out of it. We always believed we could come back,” he said.
One might expect his goal was the big memory, but it is a more expansive recollection than that.
“It was the whole experience,” he said.
“Obviously the goal was a big part of that, but all around it was just a great event, and how it ended was the cherry on top.”
And, now there is the upcoming induction.
“It’s an honour,” said Falloon, adding “I was surprised (by the announcement). I never thought about it happening, but it’s pretty cool.
The Captain remembers
In 2014, Terrier Captain, and 20-year-old rearguard Devon McMullen said "never in the world" could he have imagined the feeling when the referee motioned the winning goal. "Unbelievable is all I can say."
Today, the impending induction leaves McMullen with a similar sense.
“I thought it was really cool,” he said from his home in South Dakota where he is now coach of the local high school team.
McMullen said when the Terriers won “Saskatchewan hadn’t won (the championship) for a while,” adding he thinks that was part of why they are receiving the Hall of Fame nod.
As for the win, McMullen said it remains his playing career highlight, and a memory he doubts will ever fade.
“I think we’ll always kind of remember it,” he said, adding he is in a group chat online with some former Terrier teammates and the championship comes up regularly. “. . . It’s one of the memories you’ll never, ever forget.”
The game itself was sort a slog, said McMullen as he looks back.
“It was more of a chess match than a hockey game,” he said.
But down a goal and a penalty to kill late things changed.
“The last three minutes were a blur,” said McMullen.
The talented rearguard recalls shooting the puck and Dylan Johnson putting in the rebound to tie the game and force OT.
And the winning goal remains etched in his mind, coming as it did from a somewhat unexpected source in Falloon.
“I think that showed what kind of team we did have. We didn’t have to rely on our top scorers to be our hero,” said McMullen.
Coach recalls confidence in team
Terrier coach Trent Cassan said once the game went to overtime there was some added confidence for the team.
"In the playoffs in overtime we've played pretty well, (the team was 8-2 in extra time games)," said Cassan in 2014.
So did Cassan have any special words before the start of OT?
"The same thing as always, play without fear," he said.
As for Falloon's goal, it was his second act of overtime heroics in the RBC tournament, having scored the extra frame winner in Game 4 of the round robin, a must-win game against Dauphin.
"Both goals, I don't know if they made the back of the net," said Cassan with a smile.
Cassan said it was great to see the 20-year-old Falloon have big goals, especially after he missed most of the Western Canada Cup in his native Manitoba with an injury.
Looking back in a recent interview with Yorkton This Week Cassan said Falloon wasn’t a top six forward on the team, but was the kind of player you need to win.
“He was a really solid third line centre,” he said, adding he was the type of player he could use to kill penalties, or take a shift on the powerplay.
“He was pretty much under the radar in terms of what his impact was.”
Cassan said the Terriers realized going into the third it was the last time they would be on the ice as a team, and the team responded.
"The boys just dug in in the third period," he said.
Cassan said the Terriers had been finding ways to battle back into games and the RBC was just another example.
"The guys never quit, just like they have all year," he said. "…. We had a good push in the third. We needed to play that way earlier. We almost left it too late."
Cassan said when he thinks about the RBC team, something he said he does every May sending out emails to staff he shared the championship with, the key memory is about the team never giving in to a situation.
“It’s how we were all year. There never really was a fear of losing with that group. The guys played together to the end,” he said. “It’s something they build up throughout the year, character and resiliency.”
Happy GM in 2014
Terrier general manager Don Chesney was among the happiest of Terriers in 2014 as he had played in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, was twice Coach of the Year, but it was his first national crown.
"This is like winning the Stanley Cup for Don Chesney," he said at the time.
Chesney said the win was one which he knew would reverberate back to Yorkton, and fans here.
"I think (the reaction), it's going to be unbelievable," he said. "And, to win it like we did, well it was almost a storybook finish."
As for the actual game, the Canadians started scoring in the final on a goal by Anthony McVeigh 9:26 in.
Daylan Gatzke responded tying the game at 15:07.
The game went to the second period knotted 1-1.
The second period went Carleton Place's way as Stephen Baylis at 4:12 and Andy Sturtz at 10:34 gave the eastern team a 3-1 lead.
In the third, the time started to wear off the clock on the Terriers, and when Dylan Johnson was tagged for an interference penalty at 14:05, a comeback looked unlikely.
But the Terriers killed the penalty, and then at 17:13 Tanner Lischynsky gave the Terriers life with Yorkton's second goal of the final.
Eight seconds later, Terriers fans at Kal Tire Place in Vernon were still celebrating the second goal when Dylan Johnson tied the game, which would eventually push the game to overtime, and set up Falloon to become a Terrier legend.
Johnson's goal was of course huge, and a moment of redemption for the big forward.
"There aren't even words to describe it … I was hyped to get that goal … The feeling is surreal," he said postgame in 2014, adding it was made bigger by the fact he had taken what he termed "a stupid penalty," only a couple of minutes earlier, eating away valuable time as the Terriers worked to kill off the man advantage.
The goal was a highlight to arguably the best hockey of Johnson's season at the RBC.
"I really needed to step up my game. It's a national championship,” he said, adding he was keenly aware this was the last chance for a number of key 20-year-old Terriers, and he wanted to be a part of extending the season as far as possible. "I wanted to put everything on the line for them."
As for the dramatic comeback late, Johnson said "we still believed," and once they got one the team had a feeling on the bench.
Falloon said the team has just never given up this season.
"Even in our league down in the third we battled," he said.
McMullen said the Terriers knew what they had to do.
"We had to get two goals," he said, adding it wasn't something where the timing mattered, as long as they came, and in the RBC final it all fell into place.
Chesney said the outcome once again showed the Terriers resiliency, and he wasn't surprised when the goals came to take the game to overtime.
"One thing about these guys, they never quit … I had texted my wife, if we got one goal, we'd get two," he said.
Kale Thomson was the winning netminder facing 34-shots, while Guillaume Therien took the loss facing 46.
The Terriers first visit to the RBC was in Sudbury in 1991 when they lost in the semi-finals which was their same fate in 1996 in Melfort, and 1999 when the Terriers hosted the RBC. In 2006 the Terriers made the RBC final in Streetsville, losing to the Burnaby Express.
.JPG;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
