YORKTON - The Yorkton Terriers have long been a fixture in our community with a history now stretching back more than a half century as a franchise.
When a team has been hitting the ice for some 50-years – in their case as members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League – it’s natural some great players will have worn the jersey and thrilled local fans.
That’s certainly the case for the Terriers, while the successes of the team season-to-season have varied – from a single national championships to seasons where the hopes of a playoff spot were dashed far too early – individual players have still stood out as among the best in team history.
To be a player who might be recognized among the elite of a team like the Terriers is quite an achievement when you do the math that in a given year some 25 players will skate for the team and over 50 years that translates to some 1,250 players (less of course as some play multiple seasons but the number is still large).
The best players are certainly part of the team’s proud heritage.
As such, the best should be recognized, but it is an aspect of the Terriers that has been missing.
It’s well-understood that there are a lot of things that must be done to keep a junior team afloat, and it has not always been easy as more than one deep dip into red ink has put the very survival of the Terriers in question.
So along the way paying bills and getting fans in the building have been a priority.
That has meant limited focus has been on honouring the Terrier-best.
Often such honours are a jersey number of a great player retired. In the case of the Terriers until this past Saturday only three had been hung from the arena rafters based on player merit; Darrell Spelay, Barry Marianchuck and Bob Burak. Other banners do hang to remember players who died tragically as Terriers.
Now Ed Zawatsky has been added to the very short list, and credit to the current Terrier board for finally adding another.
Still, four in some 50-years is obviously no where near enough.
There is thankfully talk of rectifying what has clearly been an oversight through the years.
Whether the new effort will be more retired numbers – a team realistically has access to about 110 so even retiring a couple of dozen is not impacting sweater choices – if it will be more of a ‘wall or ring’ of honour is unknown. But the exact look of the project matters little. What does matter is that it will finally address what has been an oversight in not honouring the team’s elite.
The list will be significant as the team plays catch-up when you remember the team has gone to five national championships through the years, and sent numerous players to all-star events.
It will be interesting to watch team plans unfold and to enjoy coffee shop debate as fans discuss who should finally be honoured as outstanding Terriers.
