Ottenbreit caps off season with Terriers RBC Cup win
For Saskatoon Blades prospect Turner Ottenbreit, the jubilation was delayed but worth it.
“We weren’t sure if it was in or not,” Ottenbreit said. “When he started celebrating, we all jumped the boards. The rest is history, I guess.”
The “he” Ottenbreit is referring to is Derek Falloon. The “we” are the rest of his Yorkton Terriers teammates after Falloon stuffed in an overtime goal to claim the RBC Cup — Canada’s top Junior A hockey prize.
Falloon’s goal at 15:01 gave the Terriers a 4-3 victory over the Carleton Place Canadians in Vernon, B.C., on Sunday.
The Terriers trailed 3-1 with less than three minutes left before Saskatoon’s Tanner Lishchynsky and Dylan Johnson scored eight seconds apart to tie the score.
“It feels great right now,” said Ottenbreit in a postgame phone interview. “I’m just soaking it all in.”
Ottenbreit, 16, has a wealth of information to let soak in over the summer.
The 6-foot, 3, 175-pound defenceman spent time with three different teams this season.
He was an alternate captain with the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League’s Yorkton Harvest, posting nine goals, 27 points and 110 penalty minutes in 42 games.
When the Harvest were eliminated from the post-season, Ottenbreit got a test run with the Blades and suited up in a total of 10 games.
Ottenbreit moved on to the Terriers when the Blades’ season ended.
He had one assist in six RBC Cup contests.
“It was a high level of play, what I expected,” Ottenbreit said.
“As the games went on and we went forward I got more confident. I wasn’t gripping the stick as tight.”
Ottenbreit turns 17 in July and hopes to crack the Blades’ roster on a full-time basis next season.
Thanks to everything he’s been through this season — capped off with the RBC Cup championship — the 12th-round pick (261st overall) in the 2012 WHL bantam draft believes he is ready for the challenge.
“It’s honestly helped me tremendously,” he said.
“Just the experience and having that opportunity to play at so many different levels I think will help my game overall.”