By Dave Leaderhouse
YORKTON TERRIERS, C
To say it has been a struggle for the Yorkton Terriers this season might be an understatement, but there is some form of a silver lining taking place as the Yorkton line-up is dotted with first-year players and all of them are only going to grow from the experience gained this year.
One of those rookie players is 18-year-old Dino Antoniadis as the 5-foot-11, 191-pound forward has taken his play to another level just before and immediately following the Christmas break.
The Saskatoon product had just one goal and four assists in his first 25 games, but in the last five he has racked up three goals and set up one more to almost double his yearly output. He has been put on the ice in key situations as evidenced by his short-handed marker in a game against Notre Dame just before Christmas and his assist on the game-tying tally in a win over Melville on New Year’s Day.
Prior to joining the Terriers, Antoniadis spent two full seasons with the Saskatoon Contacts of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. In 74 games during that span Antoniadis notched 24 goals and added 29 assists while also helping the Contacts capture the western regional Telus Cup qualifier in 2015-16. Antoniadis also appeared in seven games with the Contacts as a 15-year-old collecting one goal and two assists during that brief audition.
Yorkton still has a chance to get into the SJHL playoffs this year and to do that they will need continued improvement from their rising stars. Antoniadis appears ready to answer that call, but more importantly getting that valuable experience for the future is paramount and again Antoniadis looks like he is ready for that challenge as well.
Tag(s): Young Guns