Falloon launches Yorkton into a semifinal
Derek Falloon scored the biggest goal of the Yorkton Terriers’ season to date on Thursday — and yet he still took some grief.
“The puck didn’t even make it to the back of the net,” a chuckling Trent Cassan, Yorkton’s head coach, said from Vernon, B.C. “It’ll be a highlight-reel goal (in the retelling).”
Falloon’s tally at 2:40 of the first overtime period lifted Yorkton to a 2-1 victory over the Dauphin Kings, a result that put the SJHL-champion Terriers into one of Saturday’s semifinals at the RBC Cup — the Canadian junior A hockey championship tournament.
“There’s a sense of happiness and relief that we’re moving on,” Falloon said. “I’m just happy for the team and everyone. I’m just glad that we get to keep playing hockey.”
In fact, Falloon is happy just to be playing again this post-season.
The 21-year-old product of Russell, Man., suffered a concussion in Yorkton’s first game of the Western Canada Cup in Dauphin. He missed the Terriers’ final three round robin games and the 1 vs. 2 playoff game at that tournament as well as his team’s first two contests in Vernon.
He returned for Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over the Carleton Place (Ont.) Canadians, but made a bigger impact Thursday.
“I was itching to play; I was tired of watching,” Falloon said. “I felt a lot better, so I just tried to play the
“CONSIDERING HOW THE TOURNAMENT STARTED FOR US, THIS WAS A REALLY GOOD TURNAROUND.”
TRENT CASSAN
best I could.”
As a result of his OT goal, Yorkton completed the round robin with a 2-2 record. The Kings finished first at 3-1.
The semifinal matchups were to be determined after Thursday’s late game, in which the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots (Central) faced the Vernon Vipers (host) in a battle of teams with 1-2 records. The winner was to join Yorkton and Carleton Place (East) at 2-2.
After opening the tournament with two straight losses, the Terriers needed victories Wednesday over Carleton Place and Thursday over Dauphin to stay alive. That’s precisely what they did.
“Considering how the tournament started for us, this was a really good turnaround,” Cassan said. “The guys really dug in.
“In the third period (Thursday), we needed a good pushback and we got it. With our season on the line in the last two games, the guys found a way to chip away and get it done.”
Cassan said his charges were relatively calm through their two must-win games, but a lack of offence through two periods Thursday created a sense of desperation.
After Tyler Giebel pulled Yorkton even with the Kings midway through the third, the Terriers settled down. That said, relief was evident after Falloon’s winner.
The Terriers may have generated some momentum for the semifinal with consecutive wins, but Cassan thinks having a day off today is more important.
“We need a rest,” he said. “We played back-to-back games Sunday and Monday, had a day off and then went back to back again. If we make it to the final, it’ll be back to back again Saturday and Sunday.”