The Yorkton RawTec Maulers had a busy week in the SMAAAHL, traveling to Wilcox to take on the Notre Dame Argos on Wednesday before returning home to host the veteran laden Battlefords Stars for two games, one each on Saturday and Sunday at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Winning in Wilcox
It's not often that the Yorkton RawTec Maulers leave Wilcox, Saskatchewan, with a victory. However that's exactly what they did last Wednesday night, defeating the host Notre Dame Argos on the international ice surface at the Duncan McNeill Arena by a 3-1 score.
Rookie Mauler blueliner Tyler Stratechuk opened the scoring for the Maulers late in the first period against the Argos with his first of the season, however the lead was very short lived as Notre Dame's Burke Johnstone knotted the game at one just 13 seconds later.
Midway through the second period Argos' forward Kirill Klassen was penalized for tripping, giving the Mauler powerplay a chance to work in the second period.
The powerplay made short work of their chance as Tristyn DeRoose, another Mauler rookie, put his first of the campaign past Argo netminder Dawson Weatherill to make it 2-1.
The DeRoose goal seemed to spark the Mauler bench as the Yorkton club began to carry the flow of play. However they could not beat Weatherill again in the period and after 40 minutes of play the game remained 2-1.
It remained a one goal game for the majority of the third period until second year Mauler Drayson Skulmoski scored his first of the season with 7:27 remaining in the game to give Yorkton a 3-1 lead.
A lacklustre third period by the Argos aided the Maulers in picking up their first victory of the 2014/15 SMAAAHL season, 3-1 over the Notre Dame Argos.
Second year Maulers netminder Carter Phair picked up the win turning aside 20-of-21 shots while Weatherill took the loss, stopping 22-of-25 Mauler chances.
Star-struck
The Yorkton RawTec Maulers came into their weekend series against the Battlefords Stars riding a wave of momentum; momentum that they carried into the first period of Saturday night's game as a pair of early Mauler goals, one each by Austin Shumanski and Logan Casavant, gave the hometown side a 2-0 lead early on.
But the veteran Stars, boasting a lineup of 15 17-year-old players, slowly began to take over the game resulting in a Skulmoski hooking penalty midway through the opening frame.
The Maulers killed the penalty off but just one minute later they were digging the puck out of their net when their lead was cut in half by Battleford forward Derek Frater.
The Stars would draw even later in the period on a goal by Layne Young then take the lead early in the second period on Kyle Salaway's eventual game winning goal.
Phair shouldered the loss for the Maulers, stopping 42-of-45 Battlefords shots while Brett Pongracz, on the strength of a 28 save performance picked up the win.
Following the game interim head coach Kevin Rawlick, taking over for the suspended Dan Cross for the first three games of the season, said that he was proud of the way the Maulers played, especially against a team much older than themselves. "I'm really proud of the way the guys responded. We gave up some goals but at the same time we never quit working and that's what we're trying to do, we're trying to get better every game.
"We also knew we were playing a veteran team. We knew they have fifteen 17-year-olds, five 16-year-olds. No excuses of course but we knew we wanted to come out and have a quick start because we knew what we were up against."
Rawlick also noted that the play of Phair has been unbelievable since the start of the season, but especially in Saturday's game. "He (Phair) played unbelievable tonight," said Rawlick of Phair. "Those two back-door stops, I couldn't believe he got them.
"He's been a real good leader for us so far this year."
The Maulers also took on the Stars for a Sunday afternoon affair but instead of Phair between the pipes it was Rylan Palchewich getting his first start of the season.
The two teams skated to a scoreless first period with each team firing 10 shots at the opposing netminder.
The second period saw the Stars take their first lead of the game when, with Koal Roberts in the penalty box for tripping, Troy Gerein beat Palchewich to make it 1-0 Battlefords.
Skulmoski evened the score for the Maulers nine minutes later when his second of the season got past Pongracz.
The RawTec Maulers then took the lead less than a minute later via the powerplay as Stratechuk wired home his second of the season for a 2-1 Mauler lead.
It looked like the Maulers would take a one goal lead into the second intermission, however midget AP call up Matt Wilgosh was given a double minor for head contact resulting in another Battlefords powerplay.
Layne Young scored three minutes into the double minor to even the game at two after 40 minutes of play.
Two more Stars powerplay goals in the third period, one each by Salaway and Young, resulted in the second loss of the weekend for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers.
Palchewich picked up the loss turning aside 33-of-37 Stars shots while Pongracz registered his second win in as many days, stopping 21 Mauler attempts.
"The penalties killed us today," exclaimed Mauler head coach Dan Cross, back from his three game suspension. "I thought we were very disciplined the first two periods and then I really have no idea what happened.
"I was disappointed with the undisciplined penalties in the third period."
One thing that Cross wasn't disappointed about, however, was the play of his backup netminder Palchewich. "That was his first game of the season there and now we know we've got two goaltenders that are behind us and now we know that we'll be in any game no matter who is back there.
"That's one positive to take out of it."
One other positive that Cross saw throughout the weekend was the play of second year man Drayson Skulmoski, who, with two goals and two assists, has one more point than he did all of last season. "He was probably our best forward all weekend long and he's come back as a second year guy and he's showing his leadership and it's awesome," offered Cross, adding that they will be relying on him as well as the other few veterans pretty heavily all season, but especially early on.
Up next
The next action for the Yorkton RawTec Maulers (1-3-0-0) will be tomorrow, Thursday, October 9 when they host the Tisdale Trojans at the Farrell Agencies Arena. Puck drop is set for 8:00p.m.
